CloudSat-TRMM and CloudSat-GPM Coincidence Dataset

Captioned Figure 1
CloudSat and GPM scanning patterns

Owing to the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) and the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) core satellite’s unique asynchronous orbits, their orbital ground tracks intersect the orbital of many other sun-synchronous satellites. Of particular interest are the many intersections (coincidences) that occur between the 94-GHz (W-band) CloudSat profiling radar (CPR), and either the TRMM satellite or the GPM core satellite, with a short time separation. For GPM, these combined data offer “pseudo three-frequency” radar profiles (W-band from CPR, Ku/Ka-band from DPR), and the 13-channel (10-183 GHz) GMI radiometer. For TRMM, these combined data offer “pseudo dual-frequency” radar profiles (W-band from CPR, Ku-band from PR), and the 9-channel (10-85 GHz) TMI radiometer. These combined passive/active data are useful for many scientific purposes. Examples include algorithm evaluation and identification of deficiencies, snow and light rain sensitivity studies, cloud process studies, radiative transfer simulations, and studying land surface effects on the radar, radiometer, or combined-sensor precipitation retrieval algorithms.

Product Image Examples

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Example CloudSat and GPM radar time-height profile imagery