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Full catalog/M2I1NXINT
M2I1NXINT·v5.12.4·dataset

Total water and energy in the air column, hourly (MERRA-2)

MERRA-2 inst1_2d_int_Nx: 2d,1-Hourly,Instantaneous,Single-Level,Assimilation,Vertically Integrated Diagnostics 0.625 x 0.5 degree V5.12.4 (M2I1NXINT) at GES DISC
atmosphere NASA GES_DISC Level 4 active
In plain English

What it measures. Hourly snapshots of totals integrated through the whole column of air at each location, such as total energy and total precipitable water (vapor, liquid, and ice).

How it's made. Comes from MERRA-2, NASA's modern reanalysis that blends decades of satellite observations into a consistent model record, here at hourly steps on a roughly half-degree grid.

How & where you'd use it. Used for climate research and atmospheric studies that need a long, consistent record of moisture and energy in the air, going back to 1980.

What's measured

ATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC WATER VAPOR › WATER VAPOR INDICATORS › TOTAL PRECIPITABLE WATERATMOSPHERE › CLOUDS › CLOUD MICROPHYSICS › CLOUD LIQUID WATER/ICEATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC WATER VAPORATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY › OXYGEN COMPOUNDSATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC TEMPERATURE › SURFACE TEMPERATURE › POTENTIAL TEMPERATUREOCEANS › OCEAN TEMPERATURE › POTENTIAL TEMPERATUREATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE › AIR MASS/DENSITY

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span1980-01-01 → ongoing
  • Measured byMERRA-2 (NOT APPLICABLE)
  • Processing levelLevel 4
  • Spatial extent-180, -90, 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

M2I1NXINT (or inst1_2d_int_Nx) is an instantaneous 2-dimensional hourly data collection in Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications version 2 (MERRA-2). This collection consists of vertically integrated diagnostics, such as kinetic energy, virtual potential temperature, and total precipitable water (or ice, liquid, and vapor). The timestamp of a data field is on each hour starting from 00:00 UTC, e.g.: 00:00, 01:00, … , 23:00 UTC. MERRA-2 is the latest version of global atmospheric reanalysis for the satellite era produced by NASA Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) using the Goddard Earth Observing System Model (GEOS) version 5.12.4. The dataset covers the period of 1980-present with the latency of ~3 weeks after the end of a month. Data Reprocessing: Please check “Records of MERRA-2 Data Reprocessing and Service Changes” linked from the “Documentation” tab on this page. Note that a reprocessed data filename is different from the original file. MERRA-2 Mailing List: Sign up to receive information on reprocessing of data, changing of tools and services, as well as data announcements from GMAO. Contact the GES DISC Help Desk (gsfc-dl-help-disc@mail.nasa.gov) to be added to the list. Questions: If you have a question, please read "MERRA-2 File Specification Document", “MERRA-2 Data Access – Quick Start Guide”, and FAQs linked from the ”Documentation” tab on this page. If that does not answer your question, you may post your question to the NASA Earthdata Forum (forum.earthdata.nasa.gov) or email the GES DISC Help Desk (gsfc-dl-help-disc@mail.nasa.gov).

Get the data

m2i1nxint_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="M2I1NXINT",
    version="5.12.4",
    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.