MERRA-2 M2TUNXOCN: Hourly Ocean Surface Diagnostics, 1980-Present

NASA's MERRA-2 reanalysis provides monthly diurnal means of ocean surface diagnostics like sea skin temperature and heat fluxes. The collection covers the period from 1980 to the present, with data produced by the NASA Global Modeling and Assimilation Office using the GEOS 5.12.4 model. Files are timestamped with the central hour from 00:30 to 23:30 UTC.

Use Cases

• Modeling ocean-atmosphere heat exchange based on latent and sensible energy flux variables
• Analyzing diurnal cycles of sea surface temperature based on hourly time-averaged data
• Studying long-term trends in ocean surface energy balance based on data spanning 1980-present
• Validating satellite-derived ocean surface measurements against reanalysis model outputs

Strengths

• Data spans from 1980 to the present, providing a long-term record
• Produced by NASA's Global Modeling and Assimilation Office using the GEOS 5.12.4 model
• Provides hourly diurnal means for detailed temporal analysis

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

Generated by the Goddard Earth Observing System Model (GEOS) version 5.12.4 for the MERRA-2 reanalysis.

Time Range

1980-present

Freshness

Updated with a latency of ~3 weeks after the end of a month; last metadata update was 2026-03-13.

Geography

Global, at a 0.625 x 0.5 degree resolution.