MERRA-2: Monthly Diurnal Land Surface Diagnostics

1980-present monthly diurnal means of land surface diagnostics produced by NASA's Global Modeling and Assimilation Office. The collection includes variables such as baseflow flux, runoff, soil wetness, and soil temperature at multiple layers. Data is generated using the Goddard Earth Observing System Model (GEOS) version 5.12.4 and has a latency of approximately three weeks after the end of each month.

Use Cases

• Modeling hydrological cycles based on baseflow flux and runoff data
• Analyzing soil moisture trends based on surface and root zone soil wetness
• Studying land surface energy budgets based on soil temperature at six layers
• Investigating diurnal variations in land surface diagnostics based on hourly time-stamped means

Strengths

• Long temporal coverage from 1980 to present
• Includes multiple diagnostic variables such as soil wetness at different layers
• 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
• Data reprocessing may result in filename changes, requiring careful version tracking

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Assimilation and modeling using the Goddard Earth Observing System Model (GEOS)

Time Range

1980-present

Freshness

Updated regularly with a latency of ~3 weeks after the end of a month.

Geography

Global, 0.625 x 0.5 degree resolution