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Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications, Version 2 (MERRA2)

NASAs Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) produces the Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications, Version 2 (MERRA2) which is a 30+ year global climate reanalysis dataset.This dataset complements existing MERRA2 Earth Engine assets: https://developers.google.com/earth-engine/datasets/tags/merra. You can find additional information on this dataset here and read more about the dataset in the climate org data page

Dataset Description

Spatial Information

Parameter Value
Spatial extent Global
Spatial resolution ~50-km (0.5-deg x 0.625-deg)
Temporal resolution Daily
Time span 1980-04-02 to present
Update frequency Updated every 1-2 months

Variables

Variable Details
Minimum temperature, 2m ('T2MMIN') - Units: Degrees Kelvin
- Scale factor: 1.0
Maximum temperature, 2m ('T2MMAX') - Units: Degrees Kelvin
- Scale factor: 1.0
Precipitation ('PRECTOTCORR') - Units: Millimeters
- Scale factor: 1.0
Wind speed, 10m ('WIND2M') - Units: Meters/second
- Scale factor: 1.0
- NOTE: Windspeed outputs are based on the
standard 10m measurement height, despite
the erroneous ‘2M’ suffix.
ASCE Grass Reference Evapotranspiration - Units: Millimeters
('ETo_ASCE') - Scale factor: 1.0
ASCE Alfalfa Reference Evapotranspiration - Units: Millimeters
('ETr_ASCE') - Scale factor: 1.0
Specific humidity, 2m ('QV2M') - Units: kg kg-1
- Scale factor: 1.0
Surface pressure ('PS') - Units: Pa
- Scale factor: 1.0
Surface incoming shortwave flux ('SWGDN') - Units: W m-2
- Scale factor: 1.0
Surface incoming shortwave flux assuming - Units: W m-2
clear sky ('SWGDNCLR') - Scale factor: 1.0

Citation

MERRA-2 Overview: The Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications, Version 2 (MERRA-2), Ronald Gelaro, et al., 2017, J. Clim.,
doi: 10.1175/JCLI-D-16-0758.1

merra_v2

Earth Engine Snippet

// Read in Image Collection and get first image
var merra2_ic = ee.ImageCollection('projects/earthengine-legacy/assets/projects/climate-engine/merra2/daily')
var merra2_i = merra2_ic.first()

// Print first image to see bands
print(merra2_i)

// Visualize select bands from first image — additional bands are present in the Image Collection
var prec_palette = ["#ffffcc", "#c7e9b4", "#7fcdbb", "#41b6c4", "#1d91c0", "#225ea8", "#0c2c84"]
var temp_palette = ["#b2182b", "#ef8a62", "#fddbc7", "#f7f7f7", "#d1e5f0", "#67a9cf", "#2166ac"].reverse()
var eto_palette = ["#ffffb2", "#fed976", "#feb24c", "#fd8d3c", "#fc4e2a", "#e31a1c", "#b10026"]
Map.addLayer(merra2_i.select('PRECTOTCORR'), {min: 0, max: 10, palette: prec_palette}, 'PRECTOTCORR')
Map.addLayer(merra2_i.select('T2MMAX').subtract(273.15), {min: -10, max: 30, palette: temp_palette}, 'T2MMAX')
Map.addLayer(merra2_i.select('T2MMIN').subtract(273.15), {min: -10, max: 30, palette: temp_palette}, 'T2MMIN')
Map.addLayer(merra2_i.select('ETo_ASCE'), {min: 0, max: 10, palette: eto_palette}, 'ETo_ASCE')
Map.addLayer(merra2_i.select('ETr_ASCE'), {min: 0, max: 10, palette: eto_palette}, 'ETr_ASCE')

Sample code: https://code.earthengine.google.com/?scriptPath=users/sat-io/awesome-gee-catalog-examples:/weather-climate/MERRA-2

License

NASA promotes the full and open sharing of all data with research and applications communities, private industry, academia, and the general public.

Keywords: MERRA2, NASA, global, climate, reanalysis, temperature, precipitation, evapotranspiration, evaporative demand, wind

Datasets provided by: NASA

Dataset curated in GEE by: Climate Engine Org

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