GLDAS VIC: Global Land Surface Variables at 3-Hourly, 1.0 Degree Resolution

January 2000 to present data from NASA's Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS-2.1) main production stream. It contains 34 land surface fields, simulated with the VIC 4.1.2 Land Surface Model and forced with a combination of model and observational data. The data is archived in NetCDF format and has been post-processed with a MODIS land mask to correct inland water representation.

Use Cases

• Modeling soil moisture and temperature dynamics based on the 34 included land surface fields.
• Analyzing precipitation and radiation impacts on land surface processes based on the combined meteorological forcing data.
• Studying long-term hydrological trends from 2000 to present based on the temporally consistent data series.
• Validating other land surface or climate models based on the assimilated observational data sources.

Strengths

• Contains 34 distinct land surface fields for analysis.
• Provides data from January 2000 to the present, offering over two decades of temporal coverage.
• Uses a combination of model and observational forcing data, including NOAA/GDAS, GPCP, and AGRMET.
• Post-processed with a MODIS land mask to improve accuracy over inland water bodies.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Simulated with the VIC 4.1.2 Land Surface Model within the Land Information System (LIS) Version 7, forced with combined meteorological data.

Time Range

January 2000 to present

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 02:37:29.929681; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global at 1.0 x 1.0 degree resolution