Earth Data School
About
Full catalog/NLDAS_MOS0125_M
NLDAS_MOS0125_M·v2.0·dataset

Soil moisture, runoff and energy across the U.S. (monthly)

NLDAS Mosaic Land Surface Model L4 Monthly 0.125 x 0.125 degree V2.0 (NLDAS_MOS0125_M) at GES DISC
atmosphere NASA GES_DISC Level 4 active
In plain English

What it measures. Provides monthly maps across the continental United States of land and water conditions, including soil moisture, runoff, evapotranspiration, snowmelt, and energy fluxes, totaling 37 variables at about 12.5 km spacing, with a record going back to 1979.

How it's made. Simulated by the Mosaic land surface model as part of the North American Land Data Assimilation System, built up from hourly model runs into monthly summaries (a Level 4 modeled product).

How & where you'd use it. Used to study U.S. water and energy budgets, monitor droughts and floods, and support hydrology research and water-resource planning.

What's measured

ATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC RADIATION › HEAT FLUXATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC RADIATION › LONGWAVE RADIATIONATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC RADIATION › SHORTWAVE RADIATIONATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC TEMPERATURE › SURFACE TEMPERATUREATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC WATER VAPOR › WATER VAPOR PROCESSES › EVAPORATIONATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC WATER VAPOR › WATER VAPOR PROCESSES › EVAPOTRANSPIRATIONATMOSPHERE › PRECIPITATION › LIQUID PRECIPITATION › RAINATMOSPHERE › PRECIPITATION › SOLID PRECIPITATION › SNOWBIOSPHERE › VEGETATION › CANOPY CHARACTERISTICSBIOSPHERE › VEGETATION › LEAF CHARACTERISTICSBIOSPHERE › VEGETATION › VEGETATION COVERLAND SURFACE › SOILS › SOIL MOISTURE/WATER CONTENTLAND SURFACE › SOILS › SOIL TEMPERATURELAND SURFACE › SURFACE RADIATIVE PROPERTIES › ALBEDO

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span1979-01-01 → ongoing
  • Measured byMosaic-LSM (NOT APPLICABLE)
  • Processing levelLevel 4
  • Spatial extent-125, 25, -67, 53
  • 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

This data set contains thirty-seven fields simulated from the Mosaic land-surface model (LSM) for Phase 2 of the North American Land Data Assimilation System (NLDAS-2). The data are in 1/8th degree grid spacing and range from Jan 1979 to the present. The temporal resolution is monthly. The file format is netCDF (converted from the GRIB format). The NLDAS-2 monthly Mosaic model data, containing thirty-seven fields, were generated from the NLDAS-2 hourly Mosaic model data, as monthly accumulation for rainfall, snowfall, subsurface runoff, surface runoff, total evapotranspiration, and snow melt, and monthly average for other variables. Monthly period of each month is from 00Z at start of the month to 23:59Z at end of the month, except the first month (Jan. 1979) that starts from 00Z 02 Jan 1979. Details about the NLDAS-2 configuration of the Mosaic LSM can be found in Xia et al. (2012).

Get the data

nldas_mos0125_m_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="NLDAS_MOS0125_M",
    version="2.0",
    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.