This data is early release data from new instrumentation. The aim of releasing the data very early in the development process is to solicit feedback from potential users and to capture any issues with the data before the algorithm goes into production. It would be appreciated if users of this data work closely with the ARM Precipitation Radar Instrument Translator, Scott Collis. Furthermore sending an email to scollis@anl.gov informing us of the use of this data will help in the prioritization of work and future development efforts. We will be endeavoring to inform all users of revisions to new evaluation versions and when a full release occurs. Also note: For the first time in the program data will be in NetCDF4 this allows in-line compression and manageable file sizes.
Precipitation rates from cloud systems can give a fundamental insight into the processes occurring in-cloud. While rain gauges and disdrometers can give information at a point, remote sensors such as Radars can give areal rainfall information.
Note that this is the first of a series of QPE products, a future release will include an ensemble of estimates including using phase, reflectivity and a synthetic method.
Note that these are rainfall rates not accumulations. Future work includes producing hourly and daily files, as well as high order products.
Calculation methods are site specific. Please see the site specific README.html files in each site directory for more information.
A. Ryzhkov, M. Diederich, P. Zhang, and C. Simmer "Potential utilization of specific attenuation for rainfall estimation, mitigation of partial beam blockage, and radar networking", submitted to the Journal of the Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology.