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Full catalog/GLDAS_VIC10_M_EP
GLDAS_VIC10_M_EP·v2.1·dataset

Land water, soil and energy from a model (early monthly, 1 deg)

GLDAS VIC Land Surface Model L4 monthly 1.0 x 1.0 degree Early Product V2.1 (GLDAS_VIC10_M_EP) at GES DISC
atmosphere NASA GES_DISC Level 4 active
In plain English

What it measures. Monthly estimates of land-surface water and energy conditions, such as soil moisture, runoff, and how heat and moisture move between the ground and air, on a roughly 1-degree global grid.

How it's made. Produced by running the VIC land-surface model fed with a mix of weather observations and model data; this is the faster 'early' release issued before some rainfall data arrive, so it is later replaced by a final version.

How & where you'd use it. Useful for studying droughts, floods, water availability, and climate, though the early version is best for timely looks rather than the most polished long-term record.

What's measured

ATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE › SURFACE PRESSUREATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC RADIATION › HEAT FLUXATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC RADIATION › LONGWAVE RADIATIONATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC RADIATION › SHORTWAVE RADIATIONATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC TEMPERATURE › SURFACE TEMPERATUREATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC WATER VAPOR › WATER VAPOR INDICATORS › HUMIDITYATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC WATER VAPOR › WATER VAPOR PROCESSES › EVAPOTRANSPIRATIONATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC WINDS › SURFACE WINDSATMOSPHERE › PRECIPITATION › LIQUID PRECIPITATION › RAINATMOSPHERE › PRECIPITATION › PRECIPITATION RATEATMOSPHERE › PRECIPITATION › SOLID PRECIPITATION › SNOWLAND SURFACE › SOILS › SOIL MOISTURE/WATER CONTENTLAND SURFACE › SOILS › SOIL TEMPERATURELAND SURFACE › SURFACE THERMAL PROPERTIES › LAND SURFACE TEMPERATURE

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2019-12-01 → ongoing
  • Measured byVIC-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

NASA Global Land Data Assimilation System Version 2 (GLDAS-2) has three components: GLDAS-2.0, GLDAS-2.1, and GLDAS-2.2. GLDAS-2.0 is forced entirely with the Princeton meteorological forcing input data and provides a temporally consistent series from 1948 through 2014. GLDAS-2.1 is forced with a combination of model and observation data from 2000 to present. GLDAS-2.2 product suites use data assimilation (DA), whereas the GLDAS-2.0 and GLDAS-2.1 products are "open-loop" (i.e., no data assimilation). The choice of forcing data, as well as DA observation source, variable, and scheme, vary for different GLDAS-2.2 products. GLDAS-2.1 data products are now available in two production streams: one stream is forced with combined forcing data including GPCP version 1.3 (the main production stream), and the other stream is processed without this forcing data (the early production stream). Since the GPCP Version 1.3 data have a 3-4 month latency, the GLDAS-2.1 data products are first created without it, and are designated as Early Products (EPs), with about 1.5 month latency. Once the GPCP Version 1.3 data become available, the GLDAS-2.1 data products are processed in the main production stream and are removed from the Early Products archive. This data product is an Early Product for GLDAS-2.1 VIC 1.0 degree monthly dataset. The GLDAS-2.1 VIC 1.0 degree monthly data product, was generated through temporal averaging of GLDAS-2.1 VIC 3-hourly data simulated with the VIC Land Surface Model 4.1.2 in Land Information System (LIS) Version 7. The data product contains 34 land surface fields from January 2000 to present. The GLDAS-2.1 simulation started on January 1, 2000 using the conditions from the GLDAS-2.0 simulation. This simulation was forced with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)/Global Data Assimilation System (GDAS) atmospheric analysis fields (Derber et al., 1991), the disaggregated Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP) V1.3 Daily Analysis precipitation fields (Adler et al., 2003; Huffman et al., 2001), and the Air Force Weather Agency's AGRicultural METeorological modeling system (AGRMET) radiation fields. The simulation used with GDAS and GPCP only from 2000 to February 2001, followed by addition of AGRMET for March 1, 2001 onwards. The GLDAS-2.1 products supersede their corresponding GLDAS-1 products. The GLDAS-2.1 data are archived and distributed in NetCDF format.

Get the data

gldas_vic10_m_ep_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="GLDAS_VIC10_M_EP",
    version="2.1",
    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.