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Full catalog/M2I6NVANA
M2I6NVANA·v5.12.4·dataset

Modeled winds, temperature and pressure aloft (6-hourly)

MERRA-2 inst6_3d_ana_Nv: 3d,6-Hourly,Instantaneous,Model-Level,Analysis,Analyzed Meteorological Fields 0.625 x 0.5 degree V5.12.4 (M2I6NVANA) at GES DISC
atmosphere NASA GES_DISC Level 4 active
In plain English

What it measures. Modeled weather conditions through the depth of the atmosphere, including temperature, wind speed and direction, humidity, and the pressure thickness of each layer, given as snapshots every six hours across 72 vertical levels.

How it's made. Produced by NASA's MERRA-2 reanalysis, which merges a global atmospheric model with observations to estimate these fields on a worldwide grid.

How & where you'd use it. A core dataset for studying weather and climate patterns and for driving other models, since it provides a consistent picture of the atmosphere stretching back to 1980.

What's measured

ATMOSPHERE › ALTITUDE › GEOPOTENTIAL HEIGHTATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY › OXYGEN COMPOUNDS › ATMOSPHERIC OZONEATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE › SURFACE PRESSUREATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC TEMPERATURE › SURFACE TEMPERATURE › AIR TEMPERATUREATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC TEMPERATURE › UPPER AIR TEMPERATUREATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC WATER VAPORATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC WATER VAPOR › WATER VAPOR INDICATORS › HUMIDITY › SPECIFIC HUMIDITYATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC WINDS › UPPER LEVEL WINDS › U/V WIND COMPONENTSATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC WINDS › SURFACE WINDS › U/V WIND COMPONENTSATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY › OXYGEN COMPOUNDS › ATMOSPHERIC OZONE › OZONE PROFILES

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

M2I6NVANA (or inst6_3d_ana_Nv) is an instantaneous 3-dimensional 6-hourly data collection in Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications version 2 (MERRA-2). This collection consists of analized meteorological fields at 72 model layers, such as temperature, wind components,specific humidity, and layer pressure thickness. The data field is available every six hour starting from 00:00 UTC, e.g.: 00:00, 06:00, … , 18:00 UTC. Section 4.2 of the MERRA-2 File Specification document provides pressure values nominal for a 1000 hPa surface pressure and refers to the top edge of the layer. The lev=1 is for the top layer, and lev=72 is for the bottom (or surface) model layer. 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

m2i6nvana_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="M2I6NVANA",
    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.