GLDAS VIC10 3H: Global Land Surface Variables, 1948-2014

NASA's GLDAS-2.0 VIC 3-hourly data set contains a series of land surface variables simulated with the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) 4.1.2 Land Surface Model. The data set covers from January 1948 to December 2014 at a 1.0-degree spatial resolution and is forced by the Princeton meteorological forcing data set. It is archived and distributed in netCDF format by NASA's GES DISC.

Use Cases

• Modeling long-term soil moisture trends based on the VIC land surface model simulations.
• Analyzing global surface temperature patterns based on the 3-hourly temporal resolution.
• Studying snow and ice dynamics in the terrestrial hydrosphere based on the archived land surface variables.
• Assessing precipitation and atmospheric water vapor interactions based on the meteorological forcing data.

Strengths

• Covers a 67-year time series from 1948 to 2014, providing long-term consistency.
• Uses a 3-hourly temporal resolution and 1.0-degree global spatial grid.
• Post-processed in October 2020 with a MODIS land mask to correct inland water data.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Data is not updated beyond 2014, limiting analysis of recent climate trends.
• Row count and file size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Simulated with the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) 4.1.2 Land Surface Model forced by Princeton meteorological data.

Time Range

January 1948 to December 2014

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 02:37:45.892157; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global coverage