NOAA's preparation for NASA's Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission – successes and obstacles

Since 2002, NOAA/NESDIS has been engaged with NASA on several aspects related to the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission, the core satellite of which is scheduled for launch in July 2013. Early aspects of this relationship was on algorithm development, in particular, through NOAA's participation on the TRMM and eventual PMM (Precipitation Measurement Missions, i.e., TRMM and GPM) science team. As plans for GPM matured at NASA, the engagement between the two agencies expanded, including NOAA's participation on several GPM working groups and panels, including instrument specifications and GPM ground segment and validation plans. As the congressional mandate for “R2O” ensued, NOAA's commitment to GPM has manifested itself through NOAA's contribution to it's scientists on the PMM Science Team; budgeting activities to support a potential transition of GPM's ground processing system (e.g, the PPS – Precipitation Processing System) from NASA to NOAA, and to support R&D to accelerate the use of GPM data at NOAA; the First NOAA GPM User Workshop (August 2010); considerations for a follow on mission or set of dedicated precipitation sensors.

It is the purpose of this paper to highlight the successes and obstacles over the past 8 years and outline tentative R2O plans from NOAA's perspective.