ISLSCP II: Near-Surface Meteorology and Land State Reanalysis

Global data provides near-surface meteorological variables, surface fluxes, and land surface state variables at a 1-degree latitude/longitude resolution. The dataset, derived from the NCEP/DOE AMIP-II reanalysis, covers the period from 1986 to 1995 and includes four temporal categories: time-invariant fields, monthly means, monthly 3-hourly diurnal cycles, and 3-hourly fields. Its primary purpose is the validation of General Circulation Models (GCMs).

Use Cases

• Validating General Circulation Model (GCM) outputs against reanalysis-derived surface states and fluxes.
• Analyzing diurnal and seasonal cycles of heat, moisture, and momentum fluxes at the land surface.
• Studying spatial patterns of soil moisture and temperature for land surface process research.
• Investigating long-term (decadal) near-surface meteorological trends over the 1986-1995 period.

Strengths

• Provides a long-term, consistent record covering a full decade (1986-1995).
• Offers multiple temporal resolutions, from monthly to 3-hourly, enabling analysis of diurnal cycles.
• Contains a wide range of physical variables, including fluxes, state variables, and radiative properties.
• Data is regridded to a standardized 1-degree global grid, facilitating inter-comparison with other datasets.

Limitations

• Source metadata conflicts on last update date (1995 vs. 2026), suggesting potential documentation gaps.
• Specific column names and the exact count of data rows are not provided in the available metadata.
• Data is stored in numerous (136) compressed ASCII files, which may require preprocessing for convenient analysis.

Provenance

Source

Center for Ocean-Land Atmosphere Studies (COLA), derived from NCEP/DOE AMIP-II reanalysis.

Collection Method

Reanalysis data regridded from a native T62 Gaussian grid to a uniform 1-degree ISLSCP II grid.

Time Range

1986 to 1995

Freshness

2026-04-10 02:03:18.834163

Geography

Global at 1-degree latitude/longitude resolution