## 4 Discussion and Conclusions
The results shown are not representative of the actual occurrences during 4 years in the Mediterranean area, but only of the event captured by the GPM-CO radar and radiometer at the time of the overpass. The unique role of the GPM-CO satellite is to make, for the first time, spaceborne precipitation radar measurements available over the mid-latitudes, enabling us to have information related to the vertical structure of precipitating events, together with the precipitation intensity and microphysical structure inferred also by the radiometer measurements. A future goal of this research will be to exploit long data record of GPM-CO measurements and use the DPR as a reference for the GMI-based analysis to define an operational algorithm for deep convection (including OPFs and hailstorms) detection and characterization, optimized for the Mediterranean area. As a further step, the analysis will be extended to all conically scanning radiometers in the LEO satellite constellation to improve the spatial and temporal sampling, as well as to be able to extend the analysis to a longer period, before and beyond the GPM-CO satellite era. Conceptualization, D.H. and G.P. ; Methodology, D.H.; Dataset creation, C.L. ; Software, D.H., D.C., P.S. and L.P.D. ; Formal analysis, D.H.; Investigation, D.H.; Discussion and analysis of results, D.H., G.P., D.C., P.S., L.P.D. and C.L. ; Resources, G.P. ; writing--original draft preparation, D.H.; writing--review and editing, G.P., D.C., P.S., L.P.D. and C.L. ; visualization, D.H.  
and L.P.D. ; supervision, G.P. ; project administration, G.P. ; funding acquisition, G.P. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript. This research was partially funded by EUMETSAT Satellite Application Facility for Hydrology and Water Management (H SAF) Third Continuous Development and Operation Phase (CDOP-3), and by the project PON ARS01 00405 CT4 CLIMA Sviluppo di tecnologie innovative di Osservazione della Terra per lo studio del Cambiamento Climatico e dei suoi impatti sull'ambiente (Development of Innovative Earth Observation Technologies for the Study of Climate Change and Its Impacts on the Environment), funded by the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR), in the framework of the National Operational Programme (PON), Research and Innovation 2014-2020, Specialization Area Aerospace. Not applicable. The GPM Precipitation Feature (PF) database was created and is updated by Prof. [PERSON], and it is freely available at [[http://atmos.tamucc.edu/trmm/data/](http://atmos.tamucc.edu/trmm/data/)]([http://atmos.tamucc.edu/trmm/data/](http://atmos.tamucc.edu/trmm/data/)) (accessed on 26 April 2021). The authors express their sincere gratitude to [PERSON] (formerly at CNR-ISAC) for her valuable support and contribution during the study, and to [PERSON] and [PERSON] (CNR-ISAC) for their suggestions. The PMM Research Program and EUMETSAT are acknowledged for supporting H SAF and GPM collaboration through the approval of the no-cost H SAF-GPM proposal \"H SAF and GPM: precipitation algorithm development and validation activity\". The five Reviewers are also acknowledged for their valuable comments and suggestions. The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.