Dual-frequency precipitation radar (DPR) development on the global precipitation measurement (GPM) core observatory

Kojima, Masayasu; Miura, Takuya; Furukawa, Katsuko; Hyakusoku, Yasutoshi; Ishihara, Takayuki; Huang, Kai; Iguchi, Toshio; Hanado, Hiroshi; Nakagawa, Katsuhiro

doi:10.1117/12.976823

Cited by 53 publications

(44 citation statements)

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“…The DPR was extensively calibrated prelaunch (Kojima et al 2012) and its performance meets mission requirements (e.g., Kubota et al 2014Kubota et al , 2016Toyoshima et al 2015). (See also the sidebar on GPM's mission science requirements.…”

Section: The Global Precipitation Measurement (Gpm) Mission For Scienmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission for Science and Society

Skofronick-Jackson

Petersen

Berg

et al. 2017

Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society

632

381

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Precipitation is a key source of freshwater; therefore, observing global patterns of precipitation and its intensity is important for science, society, and understanding our planet in a changing climate. In 2014, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory (CO) spacecraft. The GPM CO carries the most advanced precipitation sensors currently in space including a dual-frequency precipitation radar provided by JAXA for measuring the three-dimensional structures of precipitation and a well-calibrated, multifrequency passive microwave radiometer that provides wide-swath precipitation data. The GPM CO was designed to measure rain rates from 0.2 to 110.0 mm h−1 and to detect moderate to intense snow events. The GPM CO serves as a reference for unifying the data from a constellation of partner satellites to provide next-generation, merged precipitation estimates globally and with high spatial and temporal resolutions. Through improved measurements of rain and snow, precipitation data from GPM provides new information such as details on precipitation structure and intensity; observations of hurricanes and typhoons as they transition from the tropics to the midlatitudes; data to advance near-real-time hazard assessment for floods, landslides, and droughts; inputs to improve weather and climate models; and insights into agricultural productivity, famine, and public health. Since launch, GPM teams have calibrated satellite instruments, refined precipitation retrieval algorithms, expanded science investigations, and processed and disseminated precipitation data for a range of applications. The current status of GPM, its ongoing science, and its future plans are presented.

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Section: The Global Precipitation Measurement (Gpm) Mission For Scienmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission for Science and Society

Skofronick-Jackson

Petersen

Berg

et al. 2017

Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society

632

381

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…In the meantime, it seems that this is not a problem for GPM DPR, because it shares the same footprint size and orbit altitude with TRMM PR. Some researchers have pointed out that the sensitivity of both KaPR and KuPR in GPM DPR is higher than that of TRMM PR [64,65]. This is achieved by increasing the transmitting power of KuPR and using variable pulse repetition frequency, which can optimize the sampling of precipitation echoes [56].…”

Section: Comparison Of Overall Precipitationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Similarities and Improvements of GPM Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) upon TRMM Precipitation Radar (PR) in Global Precipitation Rate Estimation, Type Classification and Vertical Profiling

2017

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Spaceborne precipitation radars are powerful tools used to acquire adequate and highquality precipitation estimates with high spatial resolution for a variety of applications in hydrological research. The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission, which deployed the first spaceborne Ka-and Ku-dual frequency radar (DPR), was launched in February 2014 as the upgraded successor of the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM). This study matches the swath data of TRMM PR and GPM DPR Level 2 products during their overlapping periods at the global scale to investigate their similarities and DPR's improvements concerning precipitation amount estimation and type classification of GPM DPR over TRMM PR. Results show that PR and DPR agree very well with each other in the global distribution of precipitation, while DPR improves the detectability of precipitation events significantly, particularly for light precipitation. The occurrences of total precipitation and the light precipitation (rain rates < 1 mm/h) detected by GPM DPR are~1.7 and~2.53 times more than that of PR. With regard to type classification, the dual-frequency (Ka/Ku) and single frequency (Ku) methods performed similarly. In both inner (the central 25 beams) and outer swaths (1-12 beams and 38-49 beams) of DPR, the results are consistent. GPM DPR improves precipitation type classification remarkably, reducing the misclassification of clouds and noise signals as precipitation type "other" from 10.14% of TRMM PR to 0.5%. Generally, GPM DPR exhibits the same type division for around 82.89% (71.02%) of stratiform (convective) precipitation events recognized by TRMM PR. With regard to the freezing level height and bright band (BB) height, both radars correspond with each other very well, contributing to the consistency in stratiform precipitation classification. Both heights show clear latitudinal dependence. Results in this study shall contribute to future development of spaceborne radar precipitation retrievals and benefit hydrological and meteorological research.

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“…Fig. 1 shows the antenna scanning geometry of the KuPR and the KaPR [2]. The KuPR beam scanning from the 13th to the 37th angle-bins and the KaPR beam scanning from the 1st to the 25th angle-bins are performed synchronously to provide matched KuPR and KaPR beams within an accuracy of 1 km.…”

Section: A Antenna Scanning Geometry Of the Dprmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The GPM Core Observatory, which will be launched in early 2014, carries the Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) [2], and the GPM microwave imager (GMI) provided by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The DPR consists of two radars: Ku-band (13.6 GHz) PR (KuPR) and Ka-band (35.55 GHz) radar (KaPR).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of Precipitation Estimates by at-Launch Codes of GPM/DPR Algorithms Using Synthetic Data from TRMM/PR Observations

Kubota

Yoshida

Urita

et al. 2014

IEEE J. Sel. Top. Appl. Earth Observations Remote Sensing

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The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory will carry a Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) consisting of a Ku-band precipitation radar (KuPR) and a Ka-band precipitation radar (KaPR). In this study, "at-launch" codes of DPR precipitation algorithms, which will be used in GPM ground systems at launch, were evaluated using synthetic data based upon the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Precipitation Radar (PR) data. Results from the codes (Version 4.20131010) of the KuPR-only, KaPR-only, and DPR algorithms were compared with "true values" calculated based upon drop size distributions assumed in the synthetic data and standard results from the TRMM algorithms at an altitude of 2 km over the ocean.The results indicate that the total precipitation amounts during April 2011 from the KuPR and DPR algorithms are similar to the true values, whereas the estimates from the KaPR data are underestimated. Moreover, the DPR estimates yielded smaller precipitation rates for rates less than about 10 mm/h and greater precipitation rates above 10 mm/h. Underestimation of the KaPR estimates was analyzed in terms of measured radar reflectivity ( ) of the KaPR at an altitude of 2 km. The underestimation of the KaPR data was most pronounced during strong precipitation events of < (high attenuation cases) over heavy precipitation areas in the Tropics, whereas the underestimation was less pronounced when the > 26 (moderate attenuation cases). The results suggest that the underestimation is caused by a problem in the attenuation correction method, which was verified by the improved codes.

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Dual-frequency precipitation radar (DPR) development on the global precipitation measurement (GPM) core observatory

Cited by 53 publications

References 0 publications

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission for Science and Society

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission for Science and Society

Similarities and Improvements of GPM Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) upon TRMM Precipitation Radar (PR) in Global Precipitation Rate Estimation, Type Classification and Vertical Profiling

Evaluation of Precipitation Estimates by at-Launch Codes of GPM/DPR Algorithms Using Synthetic Data from TRMM/PR Observations

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