MERRA-2: 3-Hourly Global Atmospheric Radiation Diagnostics

72 model layers of assimilated radiation diagnostics, such as air temperature tendency due to longwave and shortwave radiation, are available every three hours starting from 01:30 UTC. NASA's Global Modeling and Assimilation Office produced this dataset using the GEOS model version 5.12.4, covering the period from 1980 to the present with a latency of approximately three weeks after each month.

Use Cases

• Model atmospheric radiative forcing based on assimilated longwave and shortwave radiation diagnostics.
• Analyze diurnal cycles of atmospheric heating based on 3-hourly time-averaged data.
• Validate climate model outputs based on NASA's global reanalysis data.
• Study vertical profiles of radiation effects based on diagnostics across 72 model layers.

Strengths

• Data covers a long temporal range from 1980 to present.
• Provides high temporal resolution with 3-hourly averages.
• Includes detailed vertical resolution with 72 model layers.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Assimilated reanalysis produced by NASA's Global Modeling and Assimilation Office using the Goddard Earth Observing System Model.

Time Range

1980-present

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 00:51:57.360627; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global, 0.625 x 0.5 degree resolution