Plans for Global Precipitation Measurement ground validation

This paper introduces plans for ground validation (GV) for the Global Precipitation Measurement. At NASA´s request, a Ground Validation Working Group, formed from the meteorological and hydrological communities, is recommending plans to guide the GV program. Ground validation efforts will commence as early as 2003 with the Spring 2003 Pilot Experiment and described herein. The Pilot Experiment is focused on mitigating engineering and scientific risk to the GPM program and, in particular, to the ground validation program.