GLDAS_NOAH025_3H_EP: Global Land Surface Variables at 3-Hourly 0.25-Degree Resolution

NASA's GLDAS-2.1 Noah Land Surface Model Early Product provides 36 land surface fields from January 2000 to the present. The data is simulated at a 3-hourly temporal resolution and a 0.25 x 0.25 degree spatial grid, forced by a combination of model and observational data. This early production stream has a latency of about 1.5 months before being superseded by the main production data.

Use Cases

• Modeling soil moisture dynamics based on the 36 included land surface fields.
• Analyzing global energy and water fluxes based on 3-hourly temporal resolution.
• Assimilating land surface states into weather and climate forecasts based on the Noah model outputs.
• Studying long-term hydrological trends from 2000 to present based on the continuous temporal coverage.

Strengths

• Provides 36 distinct land surface variables for analysis.
• Offers high temporal resolution with 3-hourly data points.
• Covers a long and consistent time series from January 2000 onward.
• Simulated at a relatively fine 0.25 x 0.25 degree global spatial grid.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• This is an 'Early Product' stream with about 1.5 month latency, later replaced by a main production version.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Simulated with the Noah Model 3.6 in the Land Information System (LIS) Version 7, forced by NOAA/GDAS, GPCP, and AGRMET data.

Time Range

January 2000 to present

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 02:38:21.260374; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global