NASA and JAXA are going to launch a rainfall and snowfall measurement satellite that will boost environmental research and weather forecasting.
The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration in cooperation with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency will launch the Japanese H-IIA rocket carrying the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory satellite, which will aid rainfall and snowfall measurement, from the Japan Tanegashima Space Center at 1:07 p.m. to 3:07 p.m. EST on Thursday, February 2014.
Michael Freilich, director of NASA's Earth Science Division in Washington, said in a press release, “Launching this core observatory and establishing the Global Precipitation Measurement mission is vitally important for environmental research and weather forecasting. Knowing rain and snow amounts accurately over the whole globe is critical to understanding how weather and climate impact agriculture, fresh water availability, and responses to natural disasters.”
The international satellite mission GPM aims to provide advanced surveillances or rainfall and snowfall around the globe, numerous times in a day to improve our understanding and knowledge of the water and energy cycles that drives the Earth’s weather and climate.
The data collected by the Core Observatory will be used to regulate rainfall measurements made by an international network of other satellites to set qualities and schedules of rains or snows worldwide.
Shizuo Yamamoto, executive director of JAXA also said in the press release, “We will use data from the GPM mission not only for Earth science research but to improve weather forecasting and respond to meteorological disasters. We would also like to aid other countries in the Asian region suffering from flood disasters by providing data for flood alert systems. Our dual-frequency precipitation radar, developed with unique Japanese technologies, plays a central role in the GPM mission.”
The GPM Core Observatory reposes on the sensor equipment created by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), along with a couple of new innovative instruments -- the Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar and the GPM Microwave Imager and the dual-frequency precipitation radar.
The dual-frequency precipitation radar created by JAXA in cooperation of the National Institute of Information and Communication Technology in Tokyo, will transmit radar frequencies that will identify ice light or heavy rains and snow, and will measure characteristics and distribution of raindrops, snow and ice particles. The GPM Microwave Imager built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp. in Colorado will monitor precipitation and snowfall at 13 different frequencies.
