FLDAS: Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) Land Data Assimilation System

  • The FLDAS dataset is designed to assist with food security assessments in data-sparse, developing country settings by providing information on various climate-related variables.

  • This specific FLDAS dataset uses the Noah version 3.6.1 surface model with downscaled CHIRPS-6 hourly rainfall data and is available monthly from 1982 to 2025.

  • Data from the GES DISC archive, including this dataset, is available free to the user community for research, education, and nonprofit use.
NASA/FLDAS/NOAH01/C/GL/M/V001
Dataset Availability
1982-01-01T00:00:00Z–2026-01-01T00:00:00Z
Dataset Producer
Earth Engine Snippet
ee.ImageCollection("NASA/FLDAS/NOAH01/C/GL/M/V001")
Cadence
1 Month
Tags
climate cryosphere evapotranspiration humidity ldas monthly nasa precipitation runoff snow soil soil-moisture soil-temperature temperature water-vapor wind
famine
fldas

Description

The FLDAS dataset (McNally et al. 2017), was designed to assist with food security assessments in data-sparse, developing country settings. It includes information on many climate-related variables including moisture content, humidity, evapotranspiration, average soil temperature, total precipitation rate, etc.

There are multiple different FLDAS datasets; this one uses Noah version 3.6.1 surface model with CHIRPS-6 hourly rainfall that has been downscaled using the NASA Land Surface Data Toolkit. which is part of the Land Information System framework. Temporal desegregation is required so that daily rainfall inputs can be used in both energy and water balance calculations

For forcing data, this simulation uses a combination of the new version of Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications version 2 (MERRA-2) data and Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with Station data (CHIRPS), a quasi-global rainfall dataset designed for seasonal drought monitoring and trend analysis (Funk et al., 2015).

Documentation:

Bands

Bands

Pixel size: 11132 meters (all bands)

Name Units Pixel Size Description
Evap_tavg kg/m^2/s 11132 meters

Evapotranspiration
LWdown_f_tavg W/m^2 11132 meters

Downward longwave radiation flux
Lwnet_tavg W/m^2 11132 meters

Net longwave radiation flux
Psurf_f_tavg Pa 11132 meters

Surface pressure
Qair_f_tavg Mass fraction 11132 meters

Specific humidity
Qg_tavg W/m^2 11132 meters

Soil heat flux
Qh_tavg W/m^2 11132 meters

Sensible heat net flux
Qle_tavg W/m^2 11132 meters

Latent heat net flux
Qs_tavg kg/m^2/s 11132 meters

Storm surface runoff
Qsb_tavg kg/m^2/s 11132 meters

Baseflow-groundwater runoff
RadT_tavg K 11132 meters

Surface radiative temperature
Rainf_f_tavg kg/m^2/s 11132 meters

Total precipitation rate
SnowCover_inst 11132 meters

Snow cover fraction
SnowDepth_inst m 11132 meters

Snow depth
Snowf_tavg kg/m^2/s 11132 meters

Snowfall rate
SoilMoi00_10cm_tavg Volume fraction 11132 meters

Soil moisture (0 - 10 cm underground)
SoilMoi10_40cm_tavg Volume fraction 11132 meters

Soil moisture (10 - 40 cm underground)
SoilMoi100_200cm_tavg Volume fraction 11132 meters

Soil moisture (100 - 200 cm underground)
SoilMoi40_100cm_tavg Volume fraction 11132 meters

Soil moisture (40 - 100 cm underground)
SoilTemp00_10cm_tavg K 11132 meters

Soil temperature (0 - 10 cm underground)
SoilTemp10_40cm_tavg K 11132 meters

Soil temperature (10 - 40 cm underground)
SoilTemp100_200cm_tavg K 11132 meters

Soil temperature (100 - 200 cm underground)
SoilTemp40_100cm_tavg K 11132 meters

Soil temperature (40 - 100 cm underground)
SWdown_f_tavg W/m^2 11132 meters

Surface downward shortwave radiation
SWE_inst kg/m^2 11132 meters

Snow water equivalent
Swnet_tavg W/m^2 11132 meters

Net shortwave radiation flux
Tair_f_tavg K 11132 meters

Near surface air temperature
Wind_f_tavg m/s 11132 meters

Near surface wind speed

Terms of Use

Terms of Use

Distribution of data from the Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) is funded by NASA's Science Mission Directorate (SMD). Consistent with NASA Earth Science Data and Information Policy, data from the GES DISC archive are available free to the user community. For more information visit the GES DISC Data Policy page.

Citations

Citations:

  • If you use these data in your research or applications, please include a reference in your publication(s) similar to the following example: Amy McNally NASA/GSFC/HSL (2018), FLDAS Noah Land Surface Model L4 Global Monthly 0.1 x 0.1 degree (MERRA-2 and CHIRPS), Greenbelt, MD, USA, Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC), Accessed: [Data Access Date], doi:10.5067/5NHC22T9375G

  • McNally, A., Arsenault, K., Kumar, S., Shukla, S., Peterson, P., Wang, S., Funk, C., Peters-Lidard, C.D., & Verdin, J. P. (2017). A land data assimilation system for sub-Saharan Africa food and water security applications. Scientific Data, 4, 170012.

Explore with Earth Engine

Code Editor (JavaScript)

var dataset=ee.ImageCollection('NASA/FLDAS/NOAH01/C/GL/M/V001')
              .filter(ee.Filter.date('2018-11-01', '2018-12-01'));
var layer = dataset.select('Evap_tavg');

var band_viz = {
  min: 0.0,
  max: 0.00005,
  opacity: 1.0,
  palette: ['black', 'blue', 'purple', 'cyan', 'green', 'yellow', 'red']
};

Map.setCenter(30.0, 30.0, 2);
Map.addLayer(layer, band_viz, 'Average Evapotranspiration');
Open in Code Editor
The FLDAS dataset (McNally et al. 2017), was designed to assist with food security assessments in data-sparse, developing country settings. It includes information on many climate-related variables including moisture content, humidity, evapotranspiration, average soil temperature, total precipitation rate, etc. There are multiple different FLDAS datasets; this one uses Noah version …
NASA/FLDAS/NOAH01/C/GL/M/V001, climate,cryosphere,evapotranspiration,humidity,ldas,monthly,nasa,precipitation,runoff,snow,soil,soil-moisture,soil-temperature,temperature,water-vapor,wind
1982-01-01T00:00:00Z/2026-01-01T00:00:00Z
-60 -180 90 180
Google Earth Engine