Hourly Carbon Monoxide and Ozone Diagnostics from NASA MERRA-2 Reanalysis

Hourly time-averaged data from 1980 to present provides assimilated diagnostics for carbon monoxide and ozone. NASA's Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) produced this collection using the GEOS 5.12.4 model as part of the MERRA-2 reanalysis project.

Use Cases

• Modeling carbon monoxide column burden and surface concentration trends over multi-decadal timescales.
• Analyzing spatial and temporal patterns of total column ozone from hourly assimilated data.
• Estimating carbon monoxide chemical production and emission rates for atmospheric chemistry studies.
• Validating satellite-derived ozone and carbon monoxide products against reanalysis data.
• Studying diurnal cycles in atmospheric composition using hourly time-stamped data at 00:30 UTC intervals.

Strengths

• Covers a multi-decadal period from 1980 to the present, enabling long-term trend analysis.
• Provides hourly temporal resolution for studying diurnal cycles and short-term events.
• Data is produced by NASA GMAO using the established GEOS 5.12.4 model and assimilation system.
• Global spatial coverage at a 0.625 x 0.5 degree resolution.

Limitations

• Latency of approximately three weeks after the end of a month limits near-real-time applications.
• As assimilated model output, data contains uncertainties inherent to the reanalysis process and may not represent pure observations.
• Specific row counts, file sizes, and detailed error statistics are not provided in the description.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Generated using the Goddard Earth Observing System Model (GEOS) version 5.12.4 for atmospheric reanalysis and data assimilation.

Time Range

1980 to present.

Freshness

Updated monthly with a ~3-week latency.

Geography

Global coverage.