MERRA-2 Monthly Diurnal Wind Tendencies on 42 Pressure Levels

MERRA-2 M2TUNPUDT provides 3-dimensional monthly diurnal means of assimilated wind tendencies. NASA's Global Modeling and Assimilation Office produced this reanalysis using the GEOS 5.12.4 model, covering the period from 1980 to the present with a latency of approximately three weeks. The collection includes total wind analysis tendencies and tendencies due to dynamics and turbulence across 42 pressure levels.

Use Cases

• Analyze diurnal cycles of total eastward wind analysis tendency across 42 pressure levels for climate model validation.
• Investigate the contribution of dynamics versus turbulence to northward wind tendencies in atmospheric reanalysis.
• Study long-term trends in assimilated wind tendencies from 1980 to present for climate change research.
• Validate numerical weather prediction model outputs against reanalysis data for wind tendency fields.
• Correlate wind tendency patterns at specific pressure levels with other atmospheric variables from MERRA-2.

Strengths

• Covers a multi-decadal period from 1980 to present, enabling long-term trend analysis.
• Provides data on 42 distinct pressure levels, offering detailed vertical atmospheric profiles.
• Produced by NASA GMAO using the GEOS 5.12.4 model, an authoritative source for atmospheric reanalysis.

Limitations

• Data is a monthly diurnal mean, lacking higher temporal resolution for sub-monthly event analysis.
• Reprocessing events create filename inconsistencies, complicating data version tracking.
• Latency of ~3 weeks after month-end limits near-real-time applications.

Provenance

Source

NASA Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO).

Collection Method

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

Time Range

1980 to present.

Freshness

Updated monthly with a ~3 week latency.

Geography

Global coverage at 0.625 x 0.5 degree resolution.