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Full catalog/GPM_PRL1KU
GPM_PRL1KU·v07·dataset

Raw rain-radar signal strength (GPM, Ku-band)

GPM DPR Ku-band Received Power L1B 1.5 hours 5 km V07 (GPM_PRL1KU) at GES DISC
atmosphere NASA GES_DISC Level 1 active
In plain English

What it measures. The raw strength of the radar signal that bounces back to the satellite's Ku-band rain radar, captured along narrow strips about 245 km wide with roughly 5-km footprints.

How it's made. Recorded by the Ku-band radar of the Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar aboard the core satellite of the Global Precipitation Measurement mission, at a calibrated but low processing stage.

How & where you'd use it. A raw building-block input that scientists convert into rainfall estimates; almost no one uses it directly, instead relying on the higher-level precipitation products built from it.

What's measured

ATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC WATER VAPORATMOSPHERE › PRECIPITATIONSPECTRAL/ENGINEERING › MICROWAVE › BRIGHTNESS TEMPERATURE

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2014-03-08 → ongoing
  • Measured byGPM (GMI)
  • Processing levelLevel 1
  • Spatial extent-180, -70, 180, 70
  • 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 07 is the current version of the data set. Older versions are no longer available and have been superseded by Version 07. This product contains the calibrated received power from the Ku-band Radar of the Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) aboard the core satellite of the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission. The Ku-radar scan pattern is simpler than that of the Ka-band Radar, and is similar to the TRMM PR. It only has "Normal Scan" (NS) swath consisting of 49 footprints cross-track in a scan and the footprint size is about 5 km in diameter. The scan swath is 245 km.

Get the data

gpm_prl1ku_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="GPM_PRL1KU",
    version="07",
    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.