TRMM Ground Validation Radar Site 3D Reflectivity L2 1 hour V7 (TRMM_2A55UW) at GES DISC

This dataset is part of the University of Washington TRMM Ground Validation products.

Multiple-level cartesian grid containing output of NCAR SPRINT interpolation of CZ and VR fields of 1C51UW. Horizontal extent is 150x150km and resolution is 2km. Vertical range is 2-15km and resolution is 1km. Unlike other products, 2A55UW is not created for every volume but only for volumes of interest. These are defined as volumes within +/-15 minutes of overpass times and volumes with significant rainfall (areal rainfall rate greater or equal 0.15mm/hr).

A key component of the TRMM project is the Ground Validation (GV) effort which consists of collecting data from ground-based radar, rain gauges and disdrometers. The data is quality-controlled, and then validation products are produced for comparison with TRMM satellite products.

The four primary GV sites are:

• Darwin, Australia;
• Houston, Texas;
• Kwajalein, Republic of the Marshall Islands;
• Melbourne, Florida.

A significant effort is also being supported at NASA Wallops Flight Facility (WFF) and vicinity to provide high quality, long-term measurements of rain rates (via a network of rain gauges collocated with National Weather Service gauges), as well as drop size distributions (DSD) using a variety of instruments, including impact-type Joss Waldvogel, laser-optical Parsivel, as well as two-dimensional video disdrometers. DSD measurements are also being collected at Melbourne and Kwajalein using Joss-Waldvogel disdrometers.