The GPM Core Observatory was launched by the H-IIA rocket No. 23 from the Tanegashima Space Center at 3:37 a.m. on February 28, 2014 (Japan standard time). It has exceeded its design life of three years and two months, and even now, 10 years after launch, it continues to observe global precipitation. In November 2023, the altitude of the GPM orbit was changed from approximately 407 km to approximately 442 km to extend the mission period. It is expected that it will continue to observe precipitation around the world in the future.

The GPM Core Observatory is equipped with a Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) jointly developed by JAXA and the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT). By observing the three-dimensional structure of precipitation at two different frequencies, the DPR can accurately observe heavy to light rain, as well as snow. The observation range has been expanded from the Precipitation Radar (PR) installed on the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite, and it is now possible to observe from 65 degrees south to 65 degrees north.

JAXA also operates the Global Satellite Mapping of Precipitation (GSMaP), which provides global precipitation data with a horizontal resolution of 0.1 degrees and a time resolution of 1 hour, derived by combining observation data from DPR, GPM constellation satellites, and geostationary meteorological satellites. The latest algorithm, GSMaP MVK (V8), provides precipitation data from January 1998 to the present.

This page summarizes images of precipitation climatology observed by GPM/DPR and GSMaP for the 10-year period from March 2014 to February 2024.