MERRA-2: Monthly 3D Atmospheric Climatology from NASA

M2TCNPLTM is a 3-dimensional monthly climatological dataset derived from NASA's MERRA-2 atmospheric reanalysis. It provides long-term means and standard deviations for meteorological fields like temperature, wind, and humidity across 12 vertical pressure levels. Version 1 of this collection is calculated from data spanning the 30-year period from 1981 to 2010.

Use Cases

• Analyze climatological wind patterns based on 3D wind component fields
• Study long-term temperature trends across vertical pressure levels
• Model atmospheric moisture transport based on humidity variables
• Assess interannual variability in meteorological conditions using standard deviation fields

Strengths

• Derived from NASA's latest global atmospheric reanalysis (MERRA-2)
• Provides data across 12 vertical pressure levels (e.g., 850 hPa, 500 hPa, 200 hPa)
• Calculated from a 30-year climatological baseline (1981-2010)

Limitations

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

Provenance

Source

NASA Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO)

Collection Method

Reanalysis using the Goddard Earth Observing System Model (GEOS) version 5.12.4

Time Range

1981-2010 (V1)

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 00:51:41.324330; freshness should be verified

Geography

Global