MERRA-2 M2SMNXEDI: Monthly Extreme Weather Indices for Temperature and Precipitation

M2SMNXEDI is a monthly data collection of extreme detection indices derived from NASA's MERRA-2 reanalysis. Version 1 is computed based on the 1981-2010 climatology, covering the period from January 1980 to December 2022. The dataset is produced by the NASA Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) using the Goddard Earth Observing System Model (GEOS) version 5.12.4.

Use Cases

• Analyzing heatwave frequency and intensity trends based on temperature extreme indices
• Studying changes in cold spell duration based on temperature extreme indices
• Monitoring dry day and wet day frequency patterns based on precipitation extreme indices
• Validating climate models using reanalysis-derived extreme event statistics

Strengths

• Based on the latest version of global atmospheric reanalysis (MERRA-2) from NASA GMAO
• Provides a long temporal coverage from January 1980 to December 2022 for Version 1
• Indices are computed based on a defined climatology period (1981-2010 for V1)

Limitations

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

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Derived from daily Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications version 2 (MERRA-2) datasets

Time Range

January 1980 to December 2022 (Version 1)

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 00:52:49.631874; freshness should be verified

Geography

Global