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Full catalog/M2T1NXLFO
M2T1NXLFO·v5.12.4·dataset

Sunlight, rain and wind reaching the land, hourly (MERRA-2)

MERRA-2 tavg1_2d_lfo_Nx: 2d,1-Hourly,Time-Averaged,Single-Level,Assimilation,Land Surface Forcings 0.625 x 0.5 degree V5.12.4 (M2T1NXLFO) at GES DISC
atmosphere NASA GES_DISC Level 4 active
In plain English

What it measures. Hourly estimates of the sunlight, rain, and other energy and water reaching the land surface, including corrected precipitation and the warming and cooling radiation hitting the ground.

How it's made. Comes from MERRA-2, NASA's computer reconstruction that blends satellite-era observations with a weather model to produce a continuous record from 1980 onward.

How & where you'd use it. Used to drive land and hydrology models and to study how energy and water flow into the land surface over time.

What's measured

ATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC RADIATION › LONGWAVE RADIATIONATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC RADIATION › SHORTWAVE RADIATIONATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC RADIATION › HEAT FLUXATMOSPHERE › PRECIPITATION › LIQUID PRECIPITATIONTERRESTRIAL HYDROSPHERE › SNOW/ICE

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

M2T1NXLFO (or tavg1_2d_lfo_Nx) is an hourly time-averaged 2-dimensional data collection in Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications version 2 (MERRA-2). This collection consists of land surface forcing parameters, such as bias corrected precipitation, shortwave and longwave radiation at surface. The data field is time-stamped with the central time of an hour starting from 00:30 UTC, e.g.: 00:30, 01:30, … , 23:30 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

m2t1nxlfo_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="M2T1NXLFO",
    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.