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Full catalog/NLDAS_VIC0125_M
NLDAS_VIC0125_M·v2.0·dataset

Modeled soil water and runoff, monthly US (NLDAS-VIC, 0.125 deg)

NLDAS VIC Land Surface Model L4 Monthly 0.125 x 0.125 degree V2.0 (NLDAS_VIC0125_M) at GES DISC
atmosphere NASA GES_DISC Level 4 active
In plain English

What it measures. Computer-simulated land-surface conditions over North America, including soil water, runoff, evaporation, snowmelt, and related variables, summarized monthly on a fine grid.

How it's made. Generated by the VIC land-surface model as part of the North American Land Data Assimilation System, not measured directly by a satellite, at one-eighth-degree spacing from 1979 onward.

How & where you'd use it. Used for water-resource studies, drought analysis, and understanding land-surface water and energy patterns across North America.

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 byVIC-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 forty-three fields simulated from the VIC 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 January 1979 to present. The temporal resolution is monthly. The file format is netCDF (converted from GRIB format). The NLDAS-2 monthly Noah model data were generated from the NLDAS-2 hourly Noah model data, as monthly accumulation for rainfall, snowfall, subsurface runoff, surface runoff, total evapotranspiration, snow melt, and monthly averages for other variables. Each monthly period is from 00Z at start of the month to 23:59Z at end of the month, with the exception of the very first month in the data set (January 1979), which starts at 00Z 02 January 1979. Also, for the first month (January 1979), since the variables listed as instantaneous in the README file do not have valid data exactly on 00Z 02 January 1979, this one hour is not included in the average for this one month. Details about the NLDAS-2 configuration of the VIC LSM can be found in Xia et al. (2012).

Get the data

nldas_vic0125_m_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="NLDAS_VIC0125_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.