MERRA-2 M2T1NXAER: Aerosol Diagnostics V5.12.4

Dataset Availability

1980-01-01T00:00:00Z–2025-07-01T23:00:00Z

Dataset Provider

NASA/MERRA

Earth Engine Snippet

ee.ImageCollection("NASA/GSFC/MERRA/aer/2")

Cadence

1 Hour

Tags

aerosol atmosphere carbon dust mass merra nasa sea-salt so2 so4

Description

M2T1NXAER (or tavg1_2d_aer_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 assimilated aerosol diagnostics, such as column mass density of aerosol components (black carbon, dust, sea-salt, sulfate, and organic carbon), surface mass concentration of aerosol components, and total extinction (and scattering) aerosol optical thickness (AOT) at 550 nm. The total PM1.0, PM2.5, and PM10 may be derived with the formula described in the in the FAQ

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.

Bands

Pixel Size
69375 meters

Y Pixel Size
55000 meters

Bands

Name	Units	Pixel Size	Description
BCANGSTR		meters	Black carbon angstrom parameter [470-870 nm]
BCCMASS	kg/m^2	meters	Black carbon column mass density
BCEXTTAU		meters	Black carbon extinction AOT [550 nm]
BCFLUXU	kg/m/s	meters	Black carbon column u-wind mass flux
BCFLUXV	kg/m/s	meters	Black carbon column v-wind mass flux
BCSCATAU		meters	Black carbon scattering AOT [550 nm]
BCSMASS	kg/m^3	meters	Black carbon surface mass concentration
DMSCMASS	kg/m^2	meters	Dms column mass density
DMSSMASS	kg/m^3	meters	Dms surface mass concentration
DUANGSTR		meters	Dust angstrom parameter [470-870 nm]
DUCMASS25	kg/m^2	meters	Dust column mass density - PM2.5
DUCMASS	kg/m^2	meters	Dust column mass density
DUEXTT25		meters	Dust extinction AOT [550 nm] - PM2.5
DUEXTTAU		meters	Dust extinction AOT [550 nm]
DUFLUXU	kg/m/s	meters	Dust column u-wind mass flux
DUFLUXV	kg/m/s	meters	Dust column v-wind mass flux
DUSCAT25		meters	Dust scattering AOT [550 nm] - PM2.5
DUSCATAU		meters	Dust scattering AOT [550 nm]
DUSMASS25	kg/m^3	meters	Dust surface mass concentration - PM2.5
DUSMASS	kg/m^3	meters	Dust surface mass concentration
OCANGSTR		meters	Organic carbon angstrom parameter [470-870 nm]
OCCMASS	kg/m^2	meters	Organic carbon column mass density
OCEXTTAU		meters	Organic carbon extinction AOT [550 nm]
OCFLUXU	kg/m/s	meters	Organic carbon column u-wind mass flux
OCFLUXV	kg/m/s	meters	Organic carbon column v-wind mass flux
OCSCATAU		meters	Organic carbon scattering AOT [550 nm]
OCSMASS	kg/m^3	meters	Organic carbon surface mass concentration
SO2CMASS	kg/m^2	meters	So2 column mass density
SO2SMASS	kg/m^3	meters	So2 surface mass concentration
SO4CMASS	kg/m^2	meters	SO4 column mass density
SO4SMASS	kg/m^3	meters	SO4 surface mass concentration
SSANGSTR		meters	Sea salt angstrom parameter [470-870 nm]
SSCMASS25	kg/m^2	meters	Sea salt column mass density - PM2.5
SSCMASS	kg/m^2	meters	Sea salt column mass density
SSEXTT25		meters	Sea salt extinction AOT [550 nm] - PM2.5
SSEXTTAU		meters	Sea salt extinction AOT [550 nm]
SSFLUXU	kg/m/s	meters	Sea salt column u-wind mass flux
SSFLUXV	kg/m/s	meters	Sea salt column v-wind mass flux
SSSCAT25		meters	Sea salt scattering AOT [550 nm] - PM2.5
SSSCATAU		meters	Sea salt scattering AOT [550 nm]
SSSMASS25	kg/m^3	meters	Sea salt surface mass concentration - PM2.5
SSSMASS	kg/m^3	meters	Sea salt surface mass concentration
SUANGSTR		meters	SO4 angstrom parameter [470-870 nm]
SUEXTTAU		meters	SO4 extinction AOT [550 nm]
SUFLUXU	kg/m/s	meters	SO4 column u-wind mass flux
SUFLUXV	kg/m/s	meters	SO4 column v-wind mass flux
SUSCATAU		meters	SO4 scattering AOT [550 nm]
TOTANGSTR		meters	Total aerosol angstrom parameter [470-870 nm]
TOTEXTTAU		meters	Total aerosol extinction AOT [550 nm]
TOTSCATAU		meters	Total aerosol scattering AOT [550 nm]

Terms of Use

Terms of Use

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Code Editor (JavaScript)

var dataset = ee.ImageCollection('NASA/GSFC/MERRA/aer/2')
                  .filter(ee.Filter.date('2022-02-01', '2022-02-02'));
var black_carbon_column_u_wind_mass_flux = dataset.select('BCFLUXU');
var bccVis = {
  min: -0.0000116,
  max: 0.0000165,
  palette: ['001137', '01abab', 'e7eb05', '620500']
};
Map.setCenter(-95.62, 39.91, 2);
Map.addLayer(black_carbon_column_u_wind_mass_flux, bccVis);

Open in Code Editor

MERRA-2 M2T1NXAER: Aerosol Diagnostics V5.12.4

M2T1NXAER (or tavg1_2d_aer_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 assimilated aerosol diagnostics, such as column mass density of aerosol components (black carbon, dust, sea-salt, sulfate, and organic carbon), surface mass concentration of aerosol components, …

NASA/GSFC/MERRA/aer/2, aerosol,atmosphere,carbon,dust,mass,merra,nasa,sea-salt,so2,so4

1980-01-01T00:00:00Z/2025-07-01T23:00:00Z

-90 -180 90 180

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