A new satellite built by NASA and its Japanese counterpart is set to launch next month on a mission to study rain and snow around the world.
The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory aims to help scientists peer inside clouds and improve weather and climate forecasts, the US space agency said Monday.
The mission is "the first co-ordinated international satellite network to provide near real-time observations of rain and snow every three hours anywhere on the globe," NASA said.
"The data will be used by scientists to study climate change, freshwater resources, floods and droughts, and hurricane formation and tracking," it added.
The satellite has been flown from the US to Japan, and is scheduled for launch from JAXA's Tanegashima Space Center between 05:07 AEDT and 07:07 AEDT on February 28, NASA said.
The GPM Core Observatory will orbit the Earth at a height of 407 kilometres.
It is carrying a Japanese-designed dual-frequency precipitation radar and a US-built microwave imager (GMI).
From May, its data will be conveyed to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland and distributed online.
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