MERRA-2 M2IMNXLFO: Monthly Land Surface Forcing Parameters

MERRA-2 M2IMNXLFO is an instantaneous 2-dimensional monthly mean data collection of land surface forcing parameters, including height, specific humidity, wind, and air temperature. The dataset is produced by NASA's Global Modeling and Assimilation Office using the GEOS model version 5.12.4 and covers the period from 1980 to the present. Data is available with a latency of approximately three weeks after the end of each month.

Use Cases

• Modeling land surface energy balance based on air temperature and wind parameters
• Analyzing atmospheric moisture transport based on specific humidity data
• Studying surface layer dynamics based on height and variance parameters
• Investigating long-term climate trends based on the 1980-present time range

Strengths

• Produced by NASA's Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO), an authoritative source.
• Covers a long temporal range from 1980 to the present.
• Includes variance data for certain parameters, which can be useful for uncertainty analysis.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data reprocessing may result in filename changes, requiring careful version tracking.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Generated by the Goddard Earth Observing System Model (GEOS) version 5.12.4 as part of the MERRA-2 reanalysis.

Time Range

1980-present

Freshness

Data has a latency of ~3 weeks after the end of a month; last metadata update was 2026-03-13.

Geography

Global, at 0.625 x 0.5 degree resolution