Transitioning the NASA GPM Precipitation Processing System to NOAA Operations

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) satellite mission, a joint venture between NASA and JAXA that builds off of the highly successful Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM), also involves other international satellite missions that form a satellite “constellation” to provide next–generation observations of precipitation across the globe. The concept and development of GPM was initiated by NASA and JAXA; however, the mission is evolving into a partnership among several nations and agencies interested in improving the coverage and accuracy of satellite precipitation measurements through their satellite and ground validation assets. Interest in GPM stems from the need for improved satellite observations of rain and snow, which are used for in a wide range of operational products and services. One of the recommendations of a 2007 National Research Council Study: NOAA's Role in Space-Based Global Precipitation Estimation and Application, was that NOAA should formalize its GPM Mission planning by developing a comprehensive, coordinated, agency-wide strategic plan for engagement in the NASA GPM Mission. In response to this recommendation, NOAA and NASA began actively collaborating on several aspects of the GPM Mission, including NOAA leadership and participation on several GPM working groups and panels (e.g. instrument specifications, GPM ground segment and validation plans) as well as NOAA scientist participation on NASA's Precipitation Measurement Missions Science Team. In order to gain NOAA stakeholder interest in GPM, NOAA organized two GPM workshops: The first workshop, held in 2010, focused on user requirements. A second workshop, held in 2011, dealt with user applications of GPM-era data and products. One of the recommendations of the second workshop called for NOAA “to obtain specific NOAA requirements for GPM-era data through the development of the Level 1 Requirements Document and subsequent Transition Plan for a NOAA-specific, operational version of NASA's GPM Precipitation Processing System (PPS), including the necessary IT infrastructure to meet latency requirements.” To implement this recommendation, NOAA formed a tiger team to develop level-1 requirements, which will then be used to determine what parts of the NASA PPS need to be transitioned to NOAA. This presentation will highlight the benefits of GPM to NOAA and the progress made by the tiger team to lay the foundation necessary to transition the GPM PPS from NASA to NOAA to support 24 hours per day, 7 days per week operations.