MERRA-2: Monthly Atmospheric Moist Tendencies on Pressure Levels

MERRA-2 M2TMNPQDT is a 3-dimensional monthly mean data collection of assimilated moist tendencies on 42 pressure levels. The dataset covers the period from 1980 to the present and is produced by NASA's Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO). It includes tendencies for ice and liquid water due to dynamics, total moisture tendencies, and specific humidity analysis tendencies.

Use Cases

• Analyze global moisture transport dynamics based on assimilated moist tendencies
• Validate climate model simulations of specific humidity based on reanalysis data
• Study long-term trends in atmospheric water vapor based on the 1980-present time series
• Model pressure-level distributions of ice and liquid water tendencies

Strengths

• Data is produced by NASA's Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO)
• Covers a long time series from 1980 to the present
• Provides data on 42 distinct pressure levels
• Includes variance statistics for certain parameters

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment
• Data latency is approximately 3 weeks after the end of a month

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Assimilated reanalysis produced using the Goddard Earth Observing System Model (GEOS) version 5.12.4.

Time Range

1980-present

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 00:28:17.410443; freshness should be verified

Geography

Global