MERRA-2 M2TMNPCLD: Monthly Mean Cloud Diagnostics on Pressure Levels

1980-present monthly mean cloud diagnostics from NASA's MERRA-2 atmospheric reanalysis. The collection includes assimilated parameters such as updraft areal fraction, cloud fraction for radiation, and in-cloud liquid/ice mass fraction across 42 pressure levels. It is produced by NASA's Global Modeling and Assimilation Office using the GEOS model version 5.12.4.

Use Cases

• Analyze cloud fraction variability for radiation modeling based on the cloud fraction for radiation parameter
• Study vertical distribution of cloud liquid water based on the mass fraction of cloud liquid water parameter
• Model atmospheric updraft dynamics based on the updraft areal fraction parameter
• Investigate cloud ice content for climate studies based on the in-cloud cloud ice for radiation parameter

Strengths

• Covers a long temporal period from 1980 to present
• Includes data on 42 distinct pressure levels
• Produced by NASA's Global Modeling and Assimilation Office using a documented model (GEOS 5.12.4)

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 atmospheric reanalysis using the Goddard Earth Observing System Model (GEOS)

Time Range

1980-present

Freshness

Updated 2026-03-13; data has a latency of ~3 weeks after the end of a month.

Geography

Global