CNL-TN-2026-026_YEA_Atmosphere_Panel.md

YEA Atmosphere Panel: GPM-Driven Precipitation Layer Specification

Document ID: CNL-TN-2026-026
Version: 0.1 (Draft)
Date: March 1, 2026
Author: Michael P. Hamilton, Ph.D.

AI Assistance Disclosure: This technical note was developed with assistance from Perplexity (GPT‑5.1). The AI contributed to conceptual design, document structuring, and initial text drafting. The author takes full responsibility for the content, accuracy, and conclusions.

1. Abstract

This technical note specifies the design of an Atmosphere panel for the Your Ecological Address (YEA) system, with particular emphasis on integrating NASA’s Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) / IMERG satellite precipitation data as a Mapbox GL overlay. The Atmosphere panel is conceived as a point-centric view of conditions in the atmospheric column above a selected ground location, complementing existing terrain and ecological information already implemented in YEA. It synthesizes four main classes of variables: satellite-derived precipitation, modeled cloud state, vegetation greenness (NDVI), and modeled air quality.

For precipitation, the design uses IMERG’s half-hourly, 0.1° global precipitation fields to provide both a global raster visualization and a point-level estimate of current precipitation rate, with optional short-term accumulation. Cloud variables and air quality are obtained from the existing Open-Meteo APIs, while NDVI values are sourced from external EO datasets specified in separate documents. The Atmosphere panel combines these sources into a unified user interface element composed of: (1) a toggleable precipitation overlay rendered as a semi-transparent raster in Mapbox GL, and (2) a compact information card summarizing current atmospheric conditions at the selected point.

This specification defines the conceptual model, panel layout, required variables, and Mapbox GL layer configuration, while deliberately abstracting over low-level ETL details for IMERG ingestion and tiling. The resulting design aims to preserve scientific transparency, exploit open and public datasets, and align with the broader YEA philosophy of representing ecological context at human-relevant spatial and temporal scales.

2. Introduction

2.1 Context and motivation

Your Ecological Address (YEA) is a web-based system for exploring ecological context at arbitrary locations using a combination of open geospatial datasets, modeled climate and weather products, and custom visualization components. Existing YEA panels focus primarily on terrain, vegetation, and ecological systems derived from land-based datasets.

Atmospheric processes, particularly precipitation, cloud cover, and air quality, are central drivers of ecological dynamics but have not yet been represented as a coherent, point-centric “layer” in the current YEA interface. This gap is particularly noticeable when users seek to understand how “what is above this point” relates to surface conditions, vegetation health, and longer-term climate narratives.

2.2 Objectives

The objectives of this technical note are to:

1. Define an Atmosphere panel concept that characterizes the atmospheric column directly above an arbitrary ground point within YEA.
2. Specify the data sources and variables used to describe precipitation, cloud state, NDVI, and air quality for that column.
3. Describe a Mapbox GL raster overlay using NASA GPM / IMERG precipitation data for near real-time global precipitation visualization.
4. Outline high-level backend responsibilities and data flows without prescribing a specific implementation for ingesting and tiling IMERG.

2.3 Scope

This document covers:

• Conceptual design of the Atmosphere panel.
• Mapping of variables from GPM/IMERG, Open-Meteo, NDVI sources, and Open-Meteo Air Quality into the panel.
• Mapbox GL configuration for the precipitation layer.
• High-level backend requirements for providing both tiles and point-level samples.

It does not cover detailed ETL pipelines, database schema changes, or performance tuning.

3. Methodology

3.1 Conceptual design process

The Atmosphere panel design builds on the existing YEA architecture, where user interaction centers on selecting a geographic point and retrieving a structured set of contextual metrics. The design process for this panel followed three steps:

1. Use-case analysis:
   Identify how a user might want to understand “what is happening above this point right now” and how that understanding relates to ecological systems and vegetation.

2. Data source evaluation:
   Review candidate sources for precipitation, cloud state, NDVI, and air quality, with a preference for open data and transparent methodologies. NASA GPM/IMERG and Open-Meteo were selected as primary sources for precipitation and modeled atmospheric variables, respectively.

3. UI and data-flow integration:
   Fit these variables into YEA’s existing card-based UI and Mapbox GL map layer framework, minimizing disruption to the current stack while enabling future extension.

3.2 Data sources and selection criteria

3.2.1 NASA GPM / IMERG

• Product family: GPM IMERG (Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM).
• Resolution: 0.1° × 0.1° grid (~10 km).
• Temporal resolution: 30-minute time steps (half-hourly L3 products).[1][2]
• Coverage: Global land and ocean.
• Latency tiers: Early, Late, and Final, offering a tradeoff between timeliness and calibration.[2][3]

Selection criteria:

• Global coverage, including oceans and data-sparse regions.
• Consistent grid and temporal resolution suitable for ecological-scale visualization.
• Open access and well-documented algorithmic lineage.[4][2]

3.2.2 Open-Meteo (clouds and weather)

• Provider: Open-Meteo free, open-source weather API.[5][6]
• Variables of interest:
  • Total cloud cover (%).
  • Low, mid, high cloud cover (%), where available.
  • Cloud base height and related atmospheric indicators, as supported.

Selection criteria:

• Existing integration with YEA for weather and climate variables.
• Transparent use of open NWP models from national meteorological services.[6][5]
• Consistent API patterns with YEA’s current backend.

3.2.3 NDVI (vegetation greenness)

• Source: External EO-based NDVI composites (e.g., MODIS or Sentinel).
• Role: Provide a surface vegetation greenness metric beneath the atmospheric column.

Selection criteria:

• Ability to derive a stable NDVI value at the YEA point location.
• Sufficient temporal coverage (monthly/seasonal composites are acceptable for this panel).
• Defined elsewhere in NDVI-specific documentation.

3.2.4 Open-Meteo Air Quality

• Provider: Open-Meteo Air Quality API.[7][5]
• Variables of interest:
  • PM2.5 and PM10.
  • O₃, NO₂, SO₂ where available.
  • Overall AQ index or region-specific air quality indices.

Selection criteria:

• Open, model-based air quality forecasts aligned with existing Open-Meteo integration.
• Consistent coordinate and time query patterns.

3.3 Integration with Mapbox GL

The precipitation visualization is implemented as a Mapbox GL raster overlay:

• A dedicated raster source provides tiles derived from IMERG precipitation fields.
• A corresponding raster layer is drawn above the base map but below point markers and UI elements.
• The YEA Atmosphere panel’s state controls the visibility of this layer.

The detailed Mapbox GL configuration is described in Section 5.

4. Results

4.1 Atmosphere panel conceptual model

The Atmosphere panel treats each YEA point as the base of an atmospheric column. For a given (lat, lon, time), it aggregates:

1. Precipitation (GPM/IMERG):

   • Current precipitation rate (mm/hr) at the nearest IMERG grid cell.
   • Optional recent accumulation (e.g., last 3 or 24 hours) when available.

2. Cloud state (Open-Meteo):

   • Total cloud cover (%) and classification (e.g., clear, scattered, broken, overcast).
   • Distribution across low, mid, and high layers when supported.

3. Vegetation signal (NDVI):

   • NDVI value and qualitative class (e.g., barren, sparse, moderate, dense).

4. Air quality (Open-Meteo Air Quality):

   • PM2.5 concentration and qualitative category.
   • Optional second pollutant or overall AQ index.

These values are presented both numerically and textually in the Atmosphere panel.

4.2 User interface layout

The Atmosphere panel is accessed alongside other YEA panels (e.g., Ground/Ecosystem) when a user clicks a map location. The Atmosphere tab contains:

• A brief textual summary (e.g., “Light rain, broken clouds, dense canopy, moderate air quality”).
• Subsections for Precipitation, Cloud State, Vegetation, and Air Quality, each with numeric values and qualitative descriptors.
• A small legend for the precipitation map overlay when that layer is active.

4.3 Mapbox GL precipitation layer

The precipitation layer is defined as:

• Source ID: gpm_precip
• Type: raster
• Tiles: XYZ URLs pointing to internally hosted IMERG-derived tiles, e.g.,
  /tiles/gpm-imerg/latest/{z}/{x}/{y}.png
• Tile size: 256 px (or 512 px if upsampling is preferred).
• Zoom range: minzoom ≈ 1–2, maxzoom ≈ 8–9.

Color mapping encodes precipitation rate (mm/hr) using a continuous ramp categorized into ecologically meaningful classes (see Section 5.3).

5. Discussion

5.1 Advantages of GPM/IMERG for YEA

GPM/IMERG’s global coverage and regular 30-minute cadence provide a consistent, satellite-based view of precipitation that is not limited to radar networks in developed regions. For YEA’s ecological framing, this offers several benefits:[3][1][2]

• It allows users to see precipitation over oceans and remote landscapes where ground radar is sparse.
• It avoids dependence on a single national radar system (e.g., NEXRAD), making the approach globally consistent.
• It aligns with YEA’s emphasis on open, well-documented data sources.

The 0.1° resolution is coarse relative to local weather, but appropriate for ecological scales and the YEA map’s typical zoom levels.

5.2 Complementarity with Open-Meteo

Open-Meteo provides model-based forecasts and historical reanalysis, while IMERG provides observation-based precipitation fields. Combining them within a single panel allows:[2][5][6]

• Cross-checking modeled precipitation against satellite estimates.
• Using model-derived variables (cloud cover, air quality) alongside satellite-derived rainfall to describe the atmospheric column.
• Maintaining architectural coherence, since Open-Meteo is already integrated into YEA.

5.3 Color ramp and legend design

For ecological interpretation, the precipitation color ramp is discretized into categories that loosely align with hydrological and ecological thresholds. An example scheme:

• 0.0 mm/hr: Transparent (no color) – “No precipitation”.
• 0.1–1 mm/hr: Pale blue – “Drizzle / very light rain”.
• 1–4 mm/hr: Medium blue – “Light rain”.
• 4–10 mm/hr: Green – “Moderate rain”.
• 10–25 mm/hr: Yellow–orange – “Heavy rain”.
• 25–50 mm/hr: Red – “Very heavy rain”.

• 50 mm/hr: Magenta – “Extreme rainfall / intense storm”.

This scheme helps users quickly relate the overlay to ecological processes such as interception, infiltration, and runoff.

5.4 Limitations and user messaging

Several limitations should be communicated:

• IMERG data are satellite-based estimates and may differ from local ground observations.[3][2]
• Resolution is not sufficient for street-scale interpretation or hazard warning.
• Latency depends on whether Early, Late, or Final products are used.

The Atmosphere panel should include brief explanatory text or tooltips clarifying these points.

6. Limitations

Key limitations of the current design include:

1. Spatial resolution:
   IMERG’s 0.1° grid (~10 km) may smooth local precipitation gradients in complex terrain, limiting fine-scale interpretation.

2. Temporal latency:
   Near real-time products may still lag wall-clock time by tens of minutes, and Final products lag by months.[2][3]

3. Data gaps and quality variability:
   IMERG performance can vary by region and storm type, with known challenges in convective regimes and mountainous areas.[8][2]

4. NDVI and air quality coupling:
   NDVI and air quality datasets have their own temporal and spatial resolutions that may not coincide exactly with IMERG timestamps.

This note does not attempt to resolve these limitations, but the Atmosphere panel should avoid over-precision in both presentation and user messaging.

7. Conclusion

This technical note defines an Atmosphere panel for the YEA system that integrates NASA GPM/IMERG precipitation data, Open-Meteo cloud and air quality variables, and NDVI into a coherent, point-centric representation of “what is above this location.” The core design choices—global satellite precipitation, open-source weather and air-quality models, and a modest-resolution raster overlay in Mapbox GL—aim to balance scientific transparency, practicality, and ecological relevance.

By adding a GPM-based precipitation layer, YEA gains a global, near real-time view of rainfall that complements its existing terrain and ecosystem context. Future work will focus on implementing the IMERG tiling pipeline, refining the color ramp and thresholds, and expanding atmospheric variables to include vertical profiles and storm-related metrics.

8. References

NASA Global Precipitation Measurement Mission. “IMERG: Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM.” https://gpm.nasa.gov/data/imerg (accessed March 1, 2026).[9][1]

UCAR Climate Data Guide. “IMERG precipitation algorithm and the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission.” https://climatedataguide.ucar.edu/climate-data/gpm-global-precipitation-measurement-mission (accessed March 1, 2026).[10][2]

NASA GPM. “Data Frequently Asked Questions.” https://gpm.nasa.gov/data/faq (accessed March 1, 2026).[11][3]

NASA GPM. “Precipitation Data Directory.” https://gpm.nasa.gov/data/directory (accessed March 1, 2026).[12][4]

Open-Meteo. “Open-Meteo.com: Free Open-Source Weather API.” https://open-meteo.com (accessed March 1, 2026).[13][5]

Open-Meteo. “open-meteo/open-meteo: Free Weather Forecast API for… (GitHub repository).” https://github.com/open-meteo/open-meteo (accessed March 1, 2026).[14][6]

Open-Meteo. “Air Quality API – Open-Meteo.com.” https://open-meteo.com/en/docs/air-quality-api (accessed March 1, 2026).[15][7]

Canemah Nature Laboratory. “Your Ecological Address (YEA) — System Specification.” https://canemah.org/archive/document.php?id=CNL-TN-2026-025 (accessed March 1, 2026).[16]

9. Document History

End of Technical Note

Sources [1] IMERG: Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM https://gpm.nasa.gov/data/imerg [2] IMERG precipitation algorithm and the Global ... - Climate Data Guide https://climatedataguide.ucar.edu/climate-data/gpm-global-precipitation-measurement-mission [3] Data Frequently Asked Questions https://gpm.nasa.gov/data/faq [4] Precipitation Data Directory https://gpm.nasa.gov/data/directory [5] Open-Meteo.com: 🌤️ Free Open-Source Weather API https://open-meteo.com [6] open-meteo/open-meteo: Free Weather Forecast API for ... - GitHub https://github.com/open-meteo/open-meteo [7] Air Quality API - Open-Meteo.com https://open-meteo.com/en/docs/air-quality-api [8] IMERG Rainfall Data - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/imerg-rainfall-data [9] Global precipitation map - Weather from OpenWeatherMap https://openweathermap.org/api/global-precipitation-map [10] Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) https://gee-community-catalog.org/projects/gpm/ [11] Data | NASA Global Precipitation Measurement Mission https://gpm.nasa.gov/data [12] Meteosource - The Global Weather API & Mapping Platform - current ... https://www.meteosource.com [13] How to Visualize Global Precipitation Weather Data on a Map https://www.tomorrow.io/blog/how-to-visualize-global-precipitation-weather-data-on-a-map/ [14] radolan package - github.com/jonnyschaefer/radolan - Go Packages https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/jonnyschaefer/radolan [15] Radar server in the cloud for NOAA computing project - GitHub https://github.com/tjturnage/cloud-radar-server [16] jalibu/MMM-RAIN-MAP - GitHub https://github.com/jalibu/MMM-RAIN-MAP