Precipitation Occurrence Sensor System (POSS)
The Precipitation Occurrence Sensor System (POSS) is a small X-band 10.525 GHz continuous-wave bi-static vertically pointing Doppler radar. The system reports precipitation occurrence, type and intensity of precipitation at 1-min temporal resolution. Raw measurements are 960 samples per minute. Doppler velocity and return power of hydrometeors intersect the sensing volume near and up to about 3 m above the sensor head.
Post-processing of the spectral data produces a results file containing derived precipitation rate and radar reflectivity, for both liquid and solid precipitation assumptions, at 1-minute temporal resolution.
The minutely POSS precipitation rates are estimated using two different methods. The “mass flux (MF) method” is for liquid precipitation. The “regression method” or “Z-R method” is used by large-scale precipitation radars where there is a relationship (regression) between radar reflectivity (Z) and precipitation rate (R).
POSS units have been deployed at a number of sites worldwide. Datasets are listed as follows,
1) YEU, 2007-07-28 to 2020-03-01 - Eureka, Nunavut, Canada.
2) GNL, 2010-09-15 to 2020-05-01 - Summit Station, Greenland Ice Sheet.
3) CAR, 2011-01-01 to 2019-08-23 - Egbert, Ontario, Canada.
4) YYZ, 2013-06-11 to 2019-05-23 - Toronto Pearson Int. Airport, Ontario, Canada.
5) JAR, 2010-09-17 to 2011-04-20 - Jarvenpaa (40 km N of Helsinki), Finland.
6) EMA, 2010-09-18 to 2010-10-22 - Emasalo (50 km E of Helsinki), Finland.
Datasets available for download
Additional Info
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| Last Updated | October 20, 2025, 03:15 (UTC) |
| Created | October 20, 2025, 03:15 (UTC) |
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Domain / Topic
Domain or topic of the dataset being cataloged.
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Title
Title for the Dataset.
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Precipitation Occurrence Sensor System (POSS) |
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Description
A description of the dataset.
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The Precipitation Occurrence Sensor System (POSS) is a small X-band 10.525 GHz continuous-wave bi-static vertically pointing Doppler radar. The system reports precipitation occurrence, type and intensity of precipitation at 1-min temporal resolution. Raw measurements are 960 samples per minute. Doppler velocity and return power of hydrometeors intersect the sensing volume near and up to about 3 m above the sensor head. Post-processing of the spectral data produces a results file containing derived precipitation rate and radar reflectivity, for both liquid and solid precipitation assumptions, at 1-minute temporal resolution. The minutely POSS precipitation rates are estimated using two different methods. The “mass flux (MF) method” is for liquid precipitation. The “regression method” or “Z-R method” is used by large-scale precipitation radars where there is a relationship (regression) between radar reflectivity (Z) and precipitation rate (R). POSS units have been deployed at a number of sites worldwide. Datasets are listed as follows, 1) YEU, 2007-07-28 to 2020-03-01 - Eureka, Nunavut, Canada. 2) GNL, 2010-09-15 to 2020-05-01 - Summit Station, Greenland Ice Sheet. 3) CAR, 2011-01-01 to 2019-08-23 - Egbert, Ontario, Canada. 4) YYZ, 2013-06-11 to 2019-05-23 - Toronto Pearson Int. Airport, Ontario, Canada. 5) JAR, 2010-09-17 to 2011-04-20 - Jarvenpaa (40 km N of Helsinki), Finland. 6) EMA, 2010-09-18 to 2010-10-22 - Emasalo (50 km E of Helsinki), Finland. |
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Tags / Keywords
Keywords/tags categorizing the dataset.
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Format (CSV, XLS, TXT, PDF, etc)
File format of the dataset.
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Dataset Size
Dataset size in megabytes.
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Metadata Identifier
Metadata identifier – can be used as the unique identifier for catalogue entry
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Published Date
Published date of the dataset.
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2022-05-06 |
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Time Period Data Span (start date)
Start date of the data in the dataset.
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Time Period Data Span (end date)
End date of time data in the dataset.
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GeoSpatial Area Data Span
A spatial region or named place the dataset covers.
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Access category
Type of access granted for the dataset (open, closed, service, etc).
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License
License used to access the dataset.
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Open Government Licence - Canada |
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Limits on use
Limits on use of data.
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Location
Location of the dataset.
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https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/c916c624-20c8-480b-ac86-2fb3ccc654da |
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Data Service
Data service for accessing a dataset.
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Owner
Owner of the dataset.
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Environment and Climate Change Canada | Environnement et Changement climatique Canada |
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Contact Point
Who to contact regarding access?
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Government of Canada; Environment and Climate Change Canada; Science and Technology Branch, 4167394536, [email protected] |
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Contact Point Email
The email to contact regarding access?
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Publisher
Publisher of the dataset.
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Publisher Email
Email of the publisher.
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[email protected] |
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Author
Author of the dataset.
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Author Email
Email of the author.
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Accessed At
Date the data and metadata was accessed.
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Identifier
Unique identifier for the dataset.
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Language
Language(s) of the dataset
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Link to dataset description
A URL to an external document describing the dataset.
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Persistent Identifier
Data is identified by a persistent identifier.
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Globally Unique Identifier
Data is identified by a persistent and globally unique identifier.
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Contains data about individuals
Does the data hold data about individuals?
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Contains data about identifiable individuals
Does the data hold identifiable data about individual?
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Contains Indigenous Data
Does the data hold data about Indigenous communities?
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Portal Type
Platform type of the source portal.
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Version
Version of the datatset
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None |
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Source
Source of the dataset.
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None |
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Version notes
Version notes about the dataset.
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Is version of another dataset
Link to dataset that it is a version of.
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Other versions
Link to datasets that are versions of it.
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Provenance Text
Provenance Text of the data.
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Provenance URL
Provenance URL of the data.
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Temporal resolution
Describes how granular the date/time data in the dataset is.
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GeoSpatial resolution in meters
Describes how granular (in meters) geospatial data is in the dataset.
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GeoSpatial resolution (in regions)
Describes how granular (in regions) geospatial data is in the dataset.
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Indigenous Community Permission
Who holds the Indigenous Community Permission. Who to contact regarding access to a dataset that has data about Indigenous communities.
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Community Permission
Community permission (who gave permission).
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The Indigenous communities the dataset is about
Indigenous communities from which data is derived.
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Number of data rows
If tabular dataset, total number of rows.
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Number of data columns
If tabular dataset, total number of unique columns.
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Number of data cells
If tabular dataset, total number of cells with data.
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Number of data relations
If RDF dataset, total number of triples.
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Number of entities
If RDF dataset, total number of entities.
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Number of data properties
If RDF dataset, total number of unique properties used by the triples.
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Data quality
Describes the quality of the data in the dataset.
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Metric for data quality
A metric used to measure the quality of the data, such as missing values or invalid formats.
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