MERRA-2 Monthly Diurnal Surface Flux Diagnostics

Global atmospheric reanalysis data providing monthly diurnal means of surface flux diagnostics from 1980 to present. NASA's Global Modeling and Assimilation Office produced this dataset using the Goddard Earth Observing System Model version 5.12.4. The collection includes hourly time-stamped means for variables like total precipitation and surface air temperature.

Use Cases

• Analyzing diurnal cycles of total precipitation and bias corrected total precipitation for hydrological modeling.
• Modeling land-atmosphere interactions using surface air temperature and surface specific humidity time series.
• Studying surface wind energy potential with global surface wind speed data at hourly resolution.
• Investigating evaporation from turbulence to understand surface moisture fluxes.
• Validating climate model outputs against assimilated surface flux diagnostics spanning over 40 years.

Strengths

• Temporal coverage from 1980 to present provides over 40 years of continuous data.
• Data is produced by NASA's Global Modeling and Assimilation Office using a documented assimilation system (GEOS 5.12.4).
• Hourly diurnal means offer detailed temporal resolution for analyzing daily cycles.

Limitations

• Surface layer height is modeled as ~60 meters, not ground level, which may limit direct surface applications.
• Data has a latency of approximately 3 weeks after the end of each month, not real-time.
• Reprocessing events can create filename inconsistencies requiring user awareness.

Provenance

Source

NASA Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO)

Collection Method

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

Time Range

1980 to present

Freshness

Updated monthly with ~3 week latency.

Geography

Global coverage at 0.625 x 0.5 degree resolution