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gpmepfl·v1·dataset

Raindrop size measurements on the ground (Lausanne, Switzerland)

GPM Ground Validation NASA EPFL-LTE Parsivel DSD Data Lausanne, Switzerland
atmosphere NASA GHRC_DAAC Level 2 ASCII
In plain English

What it measures. Ground measurements of raindrop sizes during rain events near Lausanne, Switzerland, captured by a network of 16 sensors spread across a small area.

How it's made. Collected by Parsivel disdrometers (instruments that count and size falling drops) deployed on a university campus over about 16 months, with both raw and cleaned versions provided.

How & where you'd use it. Helps researchers understand the makeup of rainfall and improve how satellite and radar rain estimates are interpreted.

What's measured

Atmosphere › Precipitation › Liquid Precipitation › RainAtmosphere › Precipitation › Precipitation RateAtmosphere › Precipitation › Solid Precipitation › SnowAtmosphere › Precipitation › Precipitation AmountAtmosphere › Precipitation › Droplet Size

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2008-11-26 → 2010-09-29
  • Measured byGROUND STATIONS (DISDROMETERS)
  • Processing levelLevel 2
  • Spatial extent6.56273, 46.5176, 6.57258, 46.5219
  • FormatsASCII
  • 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

The GPM Ground Validation NASA EPFL-LTE Parsivel DSD Data Lausanne, Switzerland dataset consists of a network of 16 Parsivel disdrometers deployed on the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) campus in Lausanne, Switzerland for about 16 months from March 2009 to July 2010. The distribution of the disdrometers was to cover a typical operational radar pixel (about 1x1 km2). Since all the stations were not deployed at the same time, additional data are available from November 2008 to September 2010. The dataset also consists of a list of precipitation events that occurred throughout the study period. There are two types of data, raw data and filtered volumic drop size distribution data. These data are in ASCII (.dat, .txt) format that are compressed into .gz files.

Get the data

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

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="gpmepfl",
    version="1",
    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 GHRC_DAAC
Browsing CMR needs no login. Downloading or streaming bytes needs a free Earthdata Login + the earthaccess package.