Monthly Aerosol Diagnostics from NASA MERRA-2 Reanalysis

MERRA-2 M2TMNXADG provides monthly mean, time-averaged 2D data on assimilated aerosol diagnostics. NASA's Global Modeling and Assimilation Office produced this dataset using the GEOS model, covering the period from 1980 to the present with approximately three weeks latency.

Use Cases

• Modeling dust emission and sedimentation fluxes for different particle size bins to study desert dust cycles.
• Analyzing dry and wet deposition rates of sulfate, black carbon, and organic carbon aerosol components.
• Investigating organic carbon convective scavenging processes within global climate models.
• Studying temporal variance in aerosol diagnostic parameters from 1980 onward.

Strengths

• Global atmospheric reanalysis provides a spatially and temporally consistent record from 1980 to present.
• Data is produced by NASA GMAO using the validated GEOS 5.12.4 model.

Limitations

• Specific row counts, file sizes, and complete column details are not provided in the description.
• Data undergoes reprocessing, leading to filename changes that can complicate version tracking.

Provenance

Source

NASA Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) via the Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC).

Collection Method

Generated by the Goddard Earth Observing System Model (GEOS) version 5.12.4 through atmospheric data assimilation.

Time Range

1980 to present.

Freshness

Updated monthly with a latency of about three weeks after the end of each month.

Geography

Global coverage at a 0.625 x 0.5 degree resolution.