MERRA-2 Daily Atmospheric Statistics from 1980 to Present

MERRA-2 M2SDNXSLV provides daily aggregated statistics for global atmospheric variables, including daily mean air temperature at 2 meters and maximum precipitation rate. This collection is produced by NASA's Global Modeling and Assimilation Office using the GEOS model and covers the period from 1980 to the present with approximately a three-week latency.

Use Cases

• Modeling daily mean 2-meter air temperature trends across a global 0.625x0.5 degree grid.
• Analyzing spatial patterns of maximum daily precipitation rate for extreme weather studies.
• Validating climate model outputs against reanalysis data for variables like daily minimum and maximum air temperature.
• Investigating interannual variability in surface diagnostic statistics from the satellite era.

Strengths

• Global spatial coverage at 0.625x0.5 degree resolution.
• Continuous temporal coverage from 1980 to present, updated monthly.

Limitations

• Data has a latency of approximately three weeks after each month ends, limiting near-real-time analysis.
• Specific row counts, file sizes, and complete variable list are not provided in the description.

Provenance

Source

NASA Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) via GES DISC.

Collection Method

Atmospheric reanalysis using the Goddard Earth Observing System Model (GEOS) version 5.12.4.

Time Range

1980 - Present

Freshness

Updated monthly with ~3-week latency.

Geography

Global