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Full catalog/FLDAS_NOAH01_C_GL_MA
FLDAS_NOAH01_C_GL_MA·v001·dataset

How unusual soil and water are vs normal (monthly)

FLDAS Noah Land Surface Model L4 Global Monthly Anomaly 0.1 x 0.1 degree (MERRA-2 and CHIRPS) V001 (FLDAS_NOAH01_C_GL_MA) at GES DISC
atmosphere NASA GES_DISC Level 4 active
In plain English

What it measures. How unusual a given month's land and water conditions were compared with normal - for example whether soil moisture, runoff, or evaporation was higher or lower than the long-term average. It covers the globe at about 10 km resolution.

How it's made. Produced by the Noah land-surface computer model (fed by weather and rainfall data), which compares each month against a 35-year average to flag departures from normal.

How & where you'd use it. Built for famine early-warning work, it helps spot droughts and other water stress by showing where conditions are far from typical for the time of year.

What's measured

ATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC TEMPERATURE › SURFACE TEMPERATURE › AIR TEMPERATUREATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC WATER VAPOR › WATER VAPOR PROCESSES › EVAPOTRANSPIRATIONATMOSPHERE › PRECIPITATION › LIQUID PRECIPITATION › RAINLAND SURFACE › SOILS › SOIL MOISTURE/WATER CONTENTTERRESTRIAL HYDROSPHERE › SURFACE WATER › SURFACE WATER PROCESSES/MEASUREMENTS › RUNOFF › TOTAL RUNOFF

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span1982-01-01 → ongoing
  • Measured byNoah-LSM (NOT APPLICABLE)
  • Processing levelLevel 4
  • Spatial extent-180, -60, 180, 90
  • StatusACTIVE

What you can do with it

  • Map air pollutants — NO₂, aerosols, ozone
  • Track greenhouse gases and Earth's energy budget
  • Feed weather and air-quality analysis
Official description

The monthly anomaly data set contains a series of land surface parameters simulated from the Noah 3.6.1 model in the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) Land Data Assimilation System (FLDAS). The dataset comprises of monthly files, each representing how the month compares to the 35-year monthly climatology from 1982 to 2016, based on the FLDAS Noah Land Surface Model L4 Global Monthly 0.1 x 0.1 degree (MERRA-2 and CHIRPS) V001 (FLDAS_NOAH01_C_GL_M_001) monthly data. The data are in 0.10 degree resolution and the spatial coverage is global (60S, 180W, 90N, 180E). The FLDAS regional monthly anomaly datasets will no longer be available and have been superseded by the global monthly anomaly dataset. More information about the monthly FLDAS can be found from the dataset landing page for FLDAS_NOAH01_C_GL_M_001 and the FLDAS README document. In November 2020, all FLDAS data were post-processed with the MOD44W MODIS land mask.  Previously, some grid boxes over inland water were considered as over land and, thus, had non-missing values.  The post-processing corrected this issue and masked out all model output data over inland water; the post-processing did not affect the meteorological forcing variables. More information on this can be found in the FLDAS README document, and the MOD44W MODIS land mask is available on the FLDAS Project site. If you had downloaded any FLDAS data prior to November 2020, please download the data again to receive the post-processed data. 

Get the data

fldas_noah01_c_gl_ma_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="FLDAS_NOAH01_C_GL_MA",
    version="001",
    bounding_box=(-122.5, 37.2, -121.8, 37.9),  # your area (W,S,E,N)
    temporal=("2024-01-01", "2024-12-31"),       # your dates
)
files = earthaccess.open(results)   # stream straight from GES_DISC
Browsing CMR needs no login. Downloading or streaming bytes needs a free Earthdata Login + the earthaccess package.