Monthly rainfall maps from a weather satellite (METOP-A)
What it measures. Monthly maps of average rainfall across the globe, laid out on a grid of roughly 25 km squares. It captures both rain and frozen precipitation in the atmosphere.
How it's made. Produced by the GPROF algorithm from microwave readings on the METOP-A weather satellite, then averaged into a monthly gridded product using consistent climate-reference background data.
How & where you'd use it. Helpful for climate studies that need steady, comparable monthly rainfall totals across many years and regions.
What's measured
Coverage & cadence
- Time span2006-11-01 → 2019-12-31
- Measured byMETOP-A (MHS)
- Processing levelLevel 3
- Spatial extent-180, -90, 180, 90
- StatusCOMPLETE
What you can do with it
- Map air pollutants — NO₂, aerosols, ozone
- Track greenhouse gases and Earth's energy budget
- Feed weather and air-quality analysis
Official description
Version 08 is the current version of the data set. Older versions are no longer available and have been superseded by Version 08. The "CLIM" products differ from their "regular" counterparts (without the "CLIM" in the name) by the ancillary data they use. They are Climate-Reference products, which requires homogeneous ancillary data over the climate time series. Hence, the ECMWF-Interim (European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, 2-3 months lag behind the regular production) reanalysis is used as ancillary data to derive surface and atmospheric conditions required by the GPROF algorithm for the "CLIM" output. The GPROF databases are also adjusted accordingly for these climate-referenced retrievals. 3GPROF products provide global gridded monthly/daily precipitation averages from multiple satellites that can be used for climate studies. The 3GPROF products are based on retrievals from high-quality microwave sensors, which are sensitive to liquid and ice-phase precipitation hydrometeors in the atmosphere.
Get the data
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc") # free Earthdata Login
results = earthaccess.search_data(
short_name="GPM_3GPROFMETOPAMHS_CLIM",
version="08",
bounding_box=(-122.5, 37.2, -121.8, 37.9), # your area (W,S,E,N)
temporal=("2024-01-01", "2024-12-31"), # your dates
)
files = earthaccess.open(results) # stream straight from GES_DISC Browsing CMR needs no login. Downloading or streaming bytes needs a free Earthdata Login + the earthaccess package. Official links
- Access the data via HTTPS GET DATA
- Use the Earthdata Search to find and retrieve data sets across multiple data centers. GET DATA
- README Document VIEW RELATED INFORMATION
- FILE SPECIFICATION DOCUMENT VIEW RELATED INFORMATION
- Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document VIEW RELATED INFORMATION
- Instrument Description from EUMETSAT VIEW RELATED INFORMATION
- Instrument Description from NOAA VIEW RELATED INFORMATION
- GPM and partner sensors anomalous events VIEW RELATED INFORMATION