MERRA-2 M2IUNXINT: Vertically Integrated Atmospheric Diagnostics

M2IUNXINT is an instantaneous 2-dimensional monthly diurnal means data collection from NASA's MERRA-2 global atmospheric reanalysis. It consists of vertically integrated diagnostics, such as kinetic energy and total precipitable water, provided as hourly means from 00:00 to 23:00 UTC. The dataset covers the period from 1980 to the present and is produced by NASA's Global Modeling and Assimilation Office using the GEOS version 5.12.4 model.

Use Cases

• Analyze diurnal cycles of atmospheric energy based on hourly kinetic energy data
• Study global water vapor distribution based on total precipitable water diagnostics
• Model atmospheric thermodynamic processes based on virtual potential temperature fields
• Validate climate model outputs against reanalysis data for the satellite era

Strengths

• Data covers a long temporal range from 1980 to the present
• Provides hourly means for each day, enabling diurnal cycle analysis
• Produced by NASA's Global Modeling and Assimilation Office using a documented model version (GEOS 5.12.4)

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment
• Data reprocessing history requires checking linked documentation

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Generated by NASA Global Modeling and Assimilation Office using the Goddard Earth Observing System Model version 5.12.4.

Time Range

1980-present

Freshness

Latency of approximately 3 weeks after the end of a month; last metadata update recorded as 2026-03-13.

Geography

Global, with a spatial resolution of 0.625 x 0.5 degree.