The Global Precipitation Climatology Project(GPCP) is an element of the Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment (GEWEX) of the World Climate Research program (WCRP). It was established by the WCRP in 1986 with the initial goal of providing monthly mean precipitation data on a 2.5 x 2.5 degree latitude -longitude grid for the period 1986-1995. This was recently extended to the year 2000. The GPCP will accomplish this by merging infrared and microwave satellite estimates of precipitation with rain gauge data from more than 30,000 stations. Infrared precipitation estimates are obtained from GOES (United States), GMS (Japan) and Meteosat (European Community) geostationary satellites and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) operational polar orbiting satellites. Microwave estimates are obtained from the U.S. Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellites using the Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I). These data sets will be used to validate general circulation and climate models, study the global hydrological cycle and diagnose the variability of the global climate system. Data are available beginning in January 1986. Merged satellite and gauge data are available starting with July 1987. The GPCP is developing new products. One product that is under development is a one degree global daily product. Another set of products under development include SSM/I derived rain variability parameters (rainfall, variance, aerial coverage, etc). Contact: Arnold Gruber Office of Research and Applications NESDIS E/RA Washington D.C. 20233 Ph: 301-763-8127 Fax: 301-763-8108 e-mail: Arnold.Gruber@noaa.gov For more information, link to "http://cics.umd.edu/GPCP"
GPCP
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