MERRA-2 Monthly Diurnal Aerosol Diagnostic Data

MERRA-2 tavgU_2d_adg_Nx provides time-averaged 2-dimensional monthly diurnal means for assimilated aerosol diagnostics. The dataset is produced by NASA's Global Modeling and Assimilation Office using the GEOS model version 5.12.4 and covers the period from 1980 to the present.

Use Cases

• Modeling global dust emission and sedimentation fluxes for different particle size bins.
• Analyzing diurnal cycles in dry and wet deposition rates for sulfate, sea salt, black carbon, and organic carbon aerosol components.
• Studying long-term trends in organic carbon convective scavenging using hourly time-stamped data fields.
• Validating chemical transport model outputs against reanalysis data for aerosol diagnostic variables.

Strengths

• Global spatial coverage at 0.625 x 0.5 degree resolution.
• Continuous temporal coverage from 1980 to present, updated with ~3 week latency.
• Provides diurnal (hourly) data aggregated into monthly means for detailed cycle analysis.

Limitations

• Data is a model reanalysis product, not direct observations, introducing assimilation uncertainties.
• Spatial resolution of about 50-70 km may not capture local-scale aerosol phenomena.
• Users must check for reprocessing records as file naming conventions change.

Provenance

Source

NASA Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO).

Collection Method

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

Time Range

1980 - Present

Freshness

Updated monthly with a latency of approximately three weeks.

Geography

Global