01 / Contract Profile

80NSSC22K1781 Federal Contract Award

Agency code 8000

THE GLOBAL PRECIPITATION MEASUREMENT MISSION (GPM) OF NASA IS AMONG THESE MISSIONS THAT EMPHASIZE IMPROVING THE ESTIMATION AND PROVISION OF PRECIPITATION DATA FOR A WIDE RANGE OF APPLICATIONS. DUAL-FREQUENCY PRECIPITATION RADAR (DPR) AND THE GPM MICROWAVE IMAGER ARE THE ADVANCEMENTS OF GPM OVER TRMM. THERE ARE ALSO EFFORTS FROM NASA TO INCREASE GROUND VALIDATIONS BY INCREASING THE DENSITY OF RAIN GAUGES AND RADARS OVER DIFFERENT REGIONS OF THE EARTH. CONCURRENT TO THE MISSION OF NASA TO INCREASE THE NETWORK OF GROUND OBSERVATIONS IN MINORITY SERVING INSTITUTIONS, THIS PROJECT IS INTENDED TO INSTALL A GPM RAIN GAUGE ON THE RESEARCH FARM OF THE COOPERATIVE AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH CENTER OF PRAIRIE VIEW A&M UNIVERSITY (PVAMU). THE MAIN GOAL OF THE PROJECT IS TO INSTALL A GPM RAIN GAUGE AND USE IT FOR THE EVALUATION AND CALIBRATION OF IMERG PRECIPITATION DATA AND USE THEM IN WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH AT PVAMU. THE GPM RAIN GAUGE AND IMERG PRECIPITATION DATASETS WILL BE FURTHER USED FOR HYDROLOGICAL MODEL SIMULATION AND OTHER WATER AND CLIMATE-RELATED APPLICATIONS. THE PROJECT WILL BE HELPFUL TO INVOLVE STUDENTS IN FIELD MEASUREMENTS, DATA PRE-PROCESSING, AND APPLICATION OF THE DATA FOR CLIMATE, HYDROLOGY, AND WATERSHED MANAGEMENT-RELATED RESEARCH. THE PROPOSED RESEARCH PROJECT, THEREFORE, HAS THE FOLLOWING SPECIFIC TASKS 1. INSTALL GPM RAIN GAUGE IN AN AGRICULTURAL WATERSHED/RESEARCH FARM IN SOUTHERN TEXAS 2. EVALUATE THE PERFORMANCE OF IMERG PRECIPITATION DATASETS IN SIMULATING IN-SITU (E.G., NCDC, USDA-NRCS SCAN, EC FLUX TOWER) AND GPM RAIN GAUGE PRECIPITATION DATASETS 3. DEVELOP CALIBRATED AND VALIDATED IMERG PRECIPITATION DATASETS USING GPM RAIN GAUGE PRECIPITATION 4. USE THE GPM RAIN GAUGE AND CALIBRATED IMERG PRECIPITATION DATASETS FOR HYDROLOGICAL MODELS SIMULATION 5. TRAIN STUDENTS AND EARLY CAREER RESEARCHERS OF PVAMU FOR THE EVALUATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF GPM RAIN GAUGE AND IMERG PRECIPITATION DATASETS IN GENERAL, THIS PROPOSED PROJECT WILL PROVIDE MICRO-SCALE PRECIPITATION DATA WHICH CAN BE IMPORTANT TO THE FOLLOWING NASA EARTH SCIENCE FOCUS AREA: 1) WEATHER, 2) CLIMATE VARIABILITY AND CHANGE, AND 3) WATER AND ENERGY CYCLE. THE PROPOSED USER COMMUNITIES WHO WILL BE BENEFITED FROM THIS PROJECT INCLUDE 1) UNIVERSITY GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS 2) HYDROLOGISTS/METEOROLOGISTS 3) STATE AND FEDERAL AGENCIES INVOLVED IN CLIMATE CHANGE AND WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT AND OTHER STAKEHOLDERS WHO ARE INTERESTED IN WEATHER AND CLIMATE INFORMATION.