MERRA-2 M2TMNXLFO: Monthly Land Surface Forcing Data

M2TMNXLFO is a monthly mean data collection from NASA's MERRA-2 global atmospheric reanalysis. It contains land surface forcing parameters like bias-corrected precipitation and surface radiation, covering the period from 1980 to the present with a latency of about three weeks after each month. The data is produced by NASA's Global Modeling and Assimilation Office using the GEOS version 5.12.4 model.

Use Cases

• Modeling hydrological cycles based on bias-corrected precipitation data
• Analyzing surface energy budgets based on shortwave and longwave radiation parameters
• Studying climate variability and trends based on long-term, globally consistent reanalysis data
• Assessing land surface model performance based on variance data for certain parameters

Strengths

• Data covers a long temporal range from 1980 to present
• Produced by NASA's Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) using the GEOS 5.12.4 model
• Includes variance data for certain parameters to aid uncertainty assessment

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 satellite-era reanalysis methodology

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO)

Collection Method

Generated using the Goddard Earth Observing System Model (GEOS) version 5.12.4 for atmospheric reanalysis.

Time Range

1980-present

Freshness

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

Geography

Global, at 0.625 x 0.5 degree resolution