MERRA-2: Hourly Global Atmospheric Reanalysis Data from 1980 to Present

MERRA-2 is NASA's latest global atmospheric reanalysis for the satellite era, produced by the Global Modeling and Assimilation Office. The dataset provides hourly time-averaged, single-level diagnostics like air temperature, wind components, and sea level pressure at a 0.625 x 0.5 degree resolution. It covers the period from 1980 to the present with a latency of approximately three weeks after each month.

Use Cases

• Climate trend analysis based on global air temperature and pressure data.
• Weather model validation based on assimilated wind component and precipitable water vapor fields.
• Hydrological studies based on total precipitable water vapor and ice/liquid water content.

Strengths

• Data is produced by NASA's Global Modeling and Assimilation Office, a leading authority.
• Covers a long temporal range from 1980 to the present.
• Provides hourly time-averaged data at a consistent 0.625 x 0.5 degree spatial resolution.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect temporal bias inherent to the reanalysis methodology.

Provenance

Source

NASA Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO)

Collection Method

Reanalysis produced 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 each month.

Geography

Global