MERRA-2 M2T1NXFLX: Hourly Surface Flux Diagnostics, 1980-Present

Hourly time-averaged assimilated surface flux diagnostics from NASA's MERRA-2 global atmospheric reanalysis. The dataset covers the period from 1980 to the present, with a latency of approximately three weeks after each month. It is produced by NASA's Global Modeling and Assimilation Office using the Goddard Earth Observing System Model version 5.12.4.

Use Cases

• Modeling global precipitation patterns based on total precipitation and bias-corrected precipitation fields.
• Analyzing surface energy exchange based on evaporation from turbulence data.
• Studying near-surface atmospheric conditions based on surface air temperature, specific humidity, and wind speed.
• Validating climate models against a long-term, satellite-era reanalysis record.
• Investigating land-atmosphere interactions using assimilated surface flux diagnostics.

Strengths

• Data spans from 1980 to the present, providing a continuous long-term record.
• Hourly temporal resolution offers fine-grained analysis of diurnal cycles.
• Produced by NASA GMAO using the GEOS model, indicating authoritative source modeling.
• Includes multiple key surface flux variables such as precipitation, temperature, humidity, and evaporation.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• The 'surface' is defined as the model surface layer, which varies in height (~60 meters), not the literal ground.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for large-scale ML tasks.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Global Modeling and Assimilation Office

Collection Method

Assimilated global atmospheric reanalysis using the Goddard Earth Observing System Model (GEOS) version 5.12.4.

Time Range

1980-present

Freshness

Updated with a latency of ~3 weeks after the end of a month; last metadata update recorded on 2026-03-13.

Geography

Global, at 0.625 x 0.5 degree resolution