SALDAS Atmospheric Forcing Data for South America 2000-2004

SALDAS forcing data provides high-resolution atmospheric fields for land surface modeling across South America. The dataset combines modeled and observational sources from the South American Regional Reanalysis (SARR), offering 3-hourly data at a 0.125-degree resolution. It was produced by NASA and partners, covering a 5-year period from 2000 to 2004.

Use Cases

• Calibrating regional climate models using 3-hourly air temperature, wind speed, and specific humidity fields.
• Analyzing surface energy budgets with downward shortwave and longwave radiation data.
• Studying hydrological cycles and precipitation patterns across South America at high temporal resolution.
• Providing boundary conditions for ecosystem and carbon cycle models within the LBA-ECO project framework.
• Assessing the performance of regional reanalysis products like SARR for specific atmospheric variables.

Strengths

• High spatiotemporal resolution: data covers all South America at 0.125 degrees with a 3-hourly time step.
• Dynamically consistent source: built around the South American Regional Reanalysis (SARR).
• Substantial temporal coverage: includes a continuous 5-year period from 2000 to 2004.
• Cross-platform presence: availability on multiple authoritative platforms signals importance and reliability.

Limitations

• Conflicting metadata: 'last updated' dates conflict between 2004-12-31 (nasa_earthdata) and 2026-03-13 (datagov).
• Limited time range: data is only available for a specific 5-year window, not updated to present.
• Large file size: each monthly zip file is approximately 1 GB, requiring significant storage and bandwidth.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), INPE/CPTEC.

Collection Method

Derived by combining modeled data from the South American Regional Reanalysis (SARR) with observation-based sources.

Time Range

2000 to 2004

Freshness

2026-03-13 17:40:00.531600

Geography

Entire continent of South America