Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) launch, commissioning, and early operations

Abstract

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission is an international partnership co-led by NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The mission centers on the GPM Core Observatory and consists of an international network, or constellation, of additional satellites that together will provide next-generation global observations of precipitation from space. The GPM constellation will provide measurements of the intensity and variability of precipitation, three-dimensional structure of cloud and storm systems, the microphysics of ice and liquid particles within clouds, and the amount of water falling to Earth’s surface. Observations from the GPM constellation, combined with land surface data, will improve weather forecast models; climate models; integrated hydrologic models of watersheds; and forecasts of hurricanes/typhoons/cylcones, landslides, floods and droughts. The GPM Core Observatory carries an advanced radar/radiometer system and serves as a reference standard to unify precipitation measurements from all satellites that fly within the constellation. The GPM Core Observatory improves upon the capabilities of its predecessor, the NASA-JAXA Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), with advanced science instruments and expanded coverage of Earth’s surface. The GPM Core Observatory carries two instruments, the NASA-supplied GPM Microwave Imager (GMI) and the JAXA-supplied Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR). The GMI measures the amount, size, intensity and type of precipitation, from heavy-tomoderate rain to light rain and snowfall. The DPR provides three-dimensional profiles and intensities of liquid and solid precipitation. The French Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES), the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), and the U.S. Department of Defense are partners with NASA and JAXA. The GPM Core Observatory was launched from JAXA’s Tanegashima Space Center on an H-IIA launch vehicle on February 28, 2014 Japan Standard Time (JST). The mission has completed its checkout and commissioning phase and is in Operations Phase. The current status and early results will be discussed.