GPM GROUND VALIDATION NOAA S-BAND PROFILER ORIGINAL DWELL DATA MC3E V1

The GPM Ground Validation NOAA S-Band Profiler Original Dwell Data MC3E dataset was gathered during the Midlatitude Continental Convective Clouds Experiment (MC3E) in Oklahoma from April 16, 2011 to June 7, 2011. The overarching goal was to provide the most complete characterization of convective cloud systems, precipitation, and the environment that has ever been obtained, providing constraints for model cumulus parameterizations and space-based rainfall retrieval algorithms over land that had never before been available. The S-band profiler operated at 2.8 GHz, pointed vertically, and measured the backscattered power from raindrops and ice particles as precipitating cloud systems passed overhead. The S-band operated in two modes: precipitation mode and attenuated mode. The precipitation mode was the normal or full-power mode, and the attenuated mode was the low-power mode. The profiler alternated between modes collecting either 7 or 9 consecutive precipitation mode profiles separated by 1 attenuated mode profile. Both modes processed radar pulses collected during a 7-second dwell before calculating the Doppler velocity spectra at each radar range gate that were separated by 60-meters in the vertical. The attenuated and precipitation mode data are available in moment, pop spectra (uncalibrated raw spectra) and calibrated spectra hourly files. The S-band spectra were calibrated against the surface disdrometer to determine a radar calibration constant. Calibrated spectra were constructed for each profile and are expressed as reflectivity spectral density. After calibration, the instrument provides a reflectivity estimate through the precipitation. Data is in hourly files in the netCDF format.