Welcome to DISDRODB!
======================


Motivation
===========

The raindrop size distribution (DSD) describes the concentration and size
distributions of raindrops in a volume of air.
It is crucial for modeling the propagation of microwave signals
through the atmosphere (key for telecommunication and weather radar remote sensing calibration),
to improve microphysical schemes in numerical weather prediction models, and
to understand land surface processes (rainfall interception, soil erosion).

The need for understanding the DSD spatio-temporal variability has led scientists
all around the globe to "count the drops" by deploying DSD recording instruments
known as disdrometers.
Numerous measurement campaigns have been run by various meteorological services,
national agencies (NASA, NCAR, ARM, ...), and university research groups.
However, only a small fraction of those data is easily accessible.
Data are stored in disparate formats with poor documentation, making them difficult to share, analyse, compare and reuse.
Additionally, very limited software exists or is publicly available for DSD processing.

In response to these challenges, the **disdrodb** software provides a
set of tools to download, process and archive disdrometer data
following the best open science practices.

The goal of the DISDRODB initiative is to:

- create a decentralized archive of disdrometer data from all around the world,
- promote the exchange of data across the scientific community,
- document the available data and type of disdrometer sensors,
- provide a common framework to process disdrometer data,
- develop a set of scientific products to study the DSD spatio-temporal variability at global scale,
- create a community to develop, share and improve DSD models and algorithms.


Software
===========

The software currently enables you to:

- download raw disdrometer data from stations in the DISDRODB Decentralized Data Archive,
- upload raw disdrometer data to the DISDRODB Decentralized Data Archive,
- read raw measurements from over 400 disdrometer stations and save them in a standard NetCDF format (DISDRODB L0 product).

The disdrodb software can ingest data from various disdrometer sensors and manufacturers, and it is designed so that everyone
can easily add support for new instruments.

Currently, disdrodb enables processing of data acquired from the following disdrometer sensors:

- Distromet RD-80 (``RD80``),
- OTT Parsivel (``PARSIVEL``),
- OTT Parsivel2 (``PARSIVEL2``),
- Thies Laser Precipitation Monitor (``LPM``),
- Campbell Present Weather Sensor 100 (``PWS100``).

If you have data from other disdrometer types and would like to contribute to the DISDRODB project,
we welcome your help. We're especially interested in adding support for:

- Eigenbrot Optical Disdrometer 470 (``ODM470``),
- Vaisala Forward Scatter Sensor FD70 (``FD70``),
- Biral Visibility and Present Weather Sensors (``SWS250``, ``VPF730``, ``VPF750``),
- Joanneum Research Two Dimensional Video Disdrometer (``2DVD``).


Data Archive
==============

The DISDRODB Decentralized Data Archive collects disdrometer data from all around the world.

The data are stored in remote data repositories but are easily accessible through the disdrodb software.

The metadata of each stations are stored in a `centralized repository hosted on GitHub <https://github.com/ltelab/DISDRODB-METADATA>`__.

The currently available disdrometer stations can be explored in the following interactive map.
You can also access the full-screen map `here <https://ltelab.github.io/DISDRODB-METADATA/stations_map.html>`_.

.. raw:: html

   <iframe src="https://ltelab.github.io/DISDRODB-METADATA/stations_map.html"
           width="100%" height="650" style="border:none;">
   </iframe>


.. .. image:: /static/map_stations.png
..    :width: 100%
..    :align: center


.. warning::

    Users are expected to properly acknowledge the data they use by citing
    and referencing each station. The corresponding references, recommended
    citations, and DOIs are available in the DISDRODB netCDFs/xarray.Dataset
    global attributes, as well as in the DISDRODB Metadata Archive.


Community
===========

The DISDRODB Working Group is a open community of scientists and engineers interested in advancing the DISDRODB initiative.

We are currently finalizing the development of the DISDRODB L1 product,
featuring quality-checked disdrometer data, along with a suite of scientific-research-oriented DISDRODB L2 products.

Your ideas, algorithms, data, and expertise could significantly shape the future of DISDRODB products,
and we would be happy to have you part of this collaborative project.

If you are eager to contribute or simply curious about what we do, please do not hesitate to reach out.

Feel warmly invited to join the `DISDRODB Slack Workspace <https://join.slack.com/t/disdrodbworkspace/shared_invite/zt-25l4mvgo7-cfBdXalzlWGd4Pt7H~FqoA>`__
and say hi !


Documentation
=============

.. toctree::
   :maxdepth: 2

   installation
   quick_start
   products
   metadata_archive
   metadata
   processing
   readers
   sensor_configs
   contribute_data
   contributors_guidelines
   maintainers_guidelines
   software_structure
   authors

.. toctree::
   :maxdepth: 2

   DISDRODB API <api/modules>





Indices and tables
==================

* :ref:`genindex`
* :ref:`modindex`
* :ref:`search`