MERRA-2 M2I3NXGAS: Global Aerosol Optical Depth Analysis, 1980-Present

MERRA-2 M2I3NXGAS is a 3-hourly instantaneous 2-dimensional data collection for aerosol optical depth analysis. The dataset covers the period from 1980 to the present and is produced by NASA's Global Modeling and Assimilation Office using the GEOS model version 5.12.4. Data is available every three hours starting from 00:00 UTC.

Use Cases

• Modeling aerosol transport and climate forcing based on global 3-hourly assimilation data
• Analyzing trends in atmospheric aerosol optical depth from 1980 to present
• Validating satellite-derived aerosol measurements against reanalysis data
• Studying the impact of specific aerosol events on regional air quality and visibility

Strengths

• Provides global coverage at a 0.625 x 0.5 degree spatial resolution
• Offers a long temporal record from 1980 to the present
• Data is produced by NASA GMAO using the GEOS 5.12.4 model

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment
• Data has a latency of approximately 3 weeks after the end of a month

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Assimilation of satellite and observational data into the GEOS model.

Time Range

1980-present

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 00:30:22.811802; freshness should be verified

Geography

Global