Global Change Observation Mission-Water (GCOM-W) Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2) Level 2 Precipitation Products

GCOM-W Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2) Level 2 Products (AMSR2_L2) - The GCOM-W project is a 13-year mission with a series of three satellites that aims to measure global-scale water-cycle changes over a long period of time. GCOM-W1 is the first satellite in the GCOM-W series and was launched in May 2012 by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The AMSR-2 instrument onboard the GCOM-W1 satellite will continue Aqua/AMSR-E observations of water vapor, cloud liquid water, precipitation, sea surface temperature, sea surface wind speed, sea ice concentration, snow depth, and soil moisture. NESDIS processes GCOM-W1 data and generates NOAA unique operational products for users. It ingests the GCOM-W1 AMSR-2 RDRs and generates Level 1B (L1B) products with software provided by JAXA and generates Level 2 (L2) products using the GCOM-W1 AMSR2 Algorithm Software Package (GAASP) provided by NESDIS STAR. This product archive contains seven L2 products (data types): 1) Microwave Brightness Temperatures (MBT files) for 7 AMSR2 channels; 2) Precipitation Product (PRECIP files) containing Rain Rate; 3) Ocean Product (OCEAN files) containing CLW, SST, TPW, SSW, and PT/R; 4) Soil Moisture (SOIL files) containing SM/T; 5) Cryosphere (SNOW files) containing SC/D and SWE; and 6/7) Sea Ice Concentration (SEAICE-NH and SEAICE-SH files) for Northern and Southern Hemispheres. All products are orbital files, with approximately 14 to 15 files per day per product.