MERRA-2 M2I3NPASM: Global Atmospheric Reanalysis at Pressure Levels

NASA's MERRA-2 global atmospheric reanalysis provides assimilated meteorological fields at 42 pressure levels. The dataset covers the period from 1980 to the present, with data available at 3-hour intervals. It is produced by NASA's Global Modeling and Assimilation Office using the GEOS model.

Use Cases

• Modeling atmospheric circulation based on assimilated wind components.
• Analyzing vertical atmospheric structure based on temperature profiles across 42 pressure levels.
• Studying water vapor transport and distribution based on water vapor mass mixing ratio.
• Investigating ozone layer dynamics based on ozone mass mixing ratio.
• Calculating geopotential heights and layer thicknesses based on layer height data.

Strengths

• Provides data at 42 distinct pressure levels, offering detailed vertical atmospheric profiles.
• Covers a long temporal range from 1980 to the present.
• Data is available at a high temporal resolution of 3-hour intervals.

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

Collection Method

Assimilated from satellite and other observational data using the Goddard Earth Observing System Model (GEOS) version 5.12.4.

Time Range

1980-present

Freshness

Updated with a latency of approximately 3 weeks after the end of a month.

Geography

Global, at a spatial resolution of 0.625 x 0.5 degrees.