GLDAS-2.0: Global Land Surface Parameters at 0.25 Degree, 3-Hourly from 1948-2014

January 1948 to December 2014 of global land surface parameters simulated at 3-hourly intervals and 0.25 x 0.25 degree spatial resolution. The data is produced by NASA's Global Land Data Assimilation System Version 2.0 (GLDAS-2.0) using the Noah land surface model, forced with Princeton meteorological data. It was reprocessed in November 2019 and post-processed with a MODIS land mask in October 2020.

Use Cases

• Modeling long-term soil moisture trends based on the simulated land surface parameters.
• Analyzing global energy and water fluxes at high temporal resolution based on the 3-hourly model output.
• Validating other climate or hydrological models using the temporally consistent 1948-2014 time series.
• Studying land surface processes like snow cover and soil temperature using the Noah model simulations.

Strengths

• Provides a temporally consistent series from 1948 through 2014, covering over 66 years.
• High spatiotemporal resolution at 0.25 degree and 3-hourly intervals.
• Post-processed in October 2020 with a MODIS land mask to correct data over inland water.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Data coverage ends in 2014; more recent conditions are not represented in this version.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Simulated from the Noah Model 3.6 within the GLDAS-2.0 framework, forced by Princeton University meteorological data.

Time Range

1948-01-01 to 2014-12-31

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 02:30:10.339984; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global