MERRA-2 M2T1NXAER: Aerosol Diagnostics V5.12.4

  • The dataset M2T1NXAER (MERRA-2) provides hourly time-averaged 2-dimensional aerosol diagnostics.

  • It includes data on column mass density and surface mass concentration of various aerosol components, as well as total extinction and scattering aerosol optical thickness (AOT).

  • The dataset covers the period from 1980 to the present with hourly updates.

  • Data is available for open sharing for research, applications, private industry, academia, and the general public.
NASA/GSFC/MERRA/aer/2
Dataset Availability
1980-01-01T00:00:00Z–2026-02-01T23:00:00Z
Dataset Producer
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

Bands

Pixel size: 69375x55000 meters (all bands)

Name Units Pixel Size Description
BCANGSTR 69375x55000 meters

Black carbon angstrom parameter [470-870 nm]
BCCMASS kg/m^2 69375x55000 meters

Black carbon column mass density
BCEXTTAU 69375x55000 meters

Black carbon extinction AOT [550 nm]
BCFLUXU kg/m/s 69375x55000 meters

Black carbon column u-wind mass flux
BCFLUXV kg/m/s 69375x55000 meters

Black carbon column v-wind mass flux
BCSCATAU 69375x55000 meters

Black carbon scattering AOT [550 nm]
BCSMASS kg/m^3 69375x55000 meters

Black carbon surface mass concentration
DMSCMASS kg/m^2 69375x55000 meters

Dms column mass density
DMSSMASS kg/m^3 69375x55000 meters

Dms surface mass concentration
DUANGSTR 69375x55000 meters

Dust angstrom parameter [470-870 nm]
DUCMASS25 kg/m^2 69375x55000 meters

Dust column mass density - PM2.5
DUCMASS kg/m^2 69375x55000 meters

Dust column mass density
DUEXTT25 69375x55000 meters

Dust extinction AOT [550 nm] - PM2.5
DUEXTTAU 69375x55000 meters

Dust extinction AOT [550 nm]
DUFLUXU kg/m/s 69375x55000 meters

Dust column u-wind mass flux
DUFLUXV kg/m/s 69375x55000 meters

Dust column v-wind mass flux
DUSCAT25 69375x55000 meters

Dust scattering AOT [550 nm] - PM2.5
DUSCATAU 69375x55000 meters

Dust scattering AOT [550 nm]
DUSMASS25 kg/m^3 69375x55000 meters

Dust surface mass concentration - PM2.5
DUSMASS kg/m^3 69375x55000 meters

Dust surface mass concentration
OCANGSTR 69375x55000 meters

Organic carbon angstrom parameter [470-870 nm]
OCCMASS kg/m^2 69375x55000 meters

Organic carbon column mass density
OCEXTTAU 69375x55000 meters

Organic carbon extinction AOT [550 nm]
OCFLUXU kg/m/s 69375x55000 meters

Organic carbon column u-wind mass flux
OCFLUXV kg/m/s 69375x55000 meters

Organic carbon column v-wind mass flux
OCSCATAU 69375x55000 meters

Organic carbon scattering AOT [550 nm]
OCSMASS kg/m^3 69375x55000 meters

Organic carbon surface mass concentration
SO2CMASS kg/m^2 69375x55000 meters

So2 column mass density
SO2SMASS kg/m^3 69375x55000 meters

So2 surface mass concentration
SO4CMASS kg/m^2 69375x55000 meters

SO4 column mass density
SO4SMASS kg/m^3 69375x55000 meters

SO4 surface mass concentration
SSANGSTR 69375x55000 meters

Sea salt angstrom parameter [470-870 nm]
SSCMASS25 kg/m^2 69375x55000 meters

Sea salt column mass density - PM2.5
SSCMASS kg/m^2 69375x55000 meters

Sea salt column mass density
SSEXTT25 69375x55000 meters

Sea salt extinction AOT [550 nm] - PM2.5
SSEXTTAU 69375x55000 meters

Sea salt extinction AOT [550 nm]
SSFLUXU kg/m/s 69375x55000 meters

Sea salt column u-wind mass flux
SSFLUXV kg/m/s 69375x55000 meters

Sea salt column v-wind mass flux
SSSCAT25 69375x55000 meters

Sea salt scattering AOT [550 nm] - PM2.5
SSSCATAU 69375x55000 meters

Sea salt scattering AOT [550 nm]
SSSMASS25 kg/m^3 69375x55000 meters

Sea salt surface mass concentration - PM2.5
SSSMASS kg/m^3 69375x55000 meters

Sea salt surface mass concentration
SUANGSTR 69375x55000 meters

SO4 angstrom parameter [470-870 nm]
SUEXTTAU 69375x55000 meters

SO4 extinction AOT [550 nm]
SUFLUXU kg/m/s 69375x55000 meters

SO4 column u-wind mass flux
SUFLUXV kg/m/s 69375x55000 meters

SO4 column v-wind mass flux
SUSCATAU 69375x55000 meters

SO4 scattering AOT [550 nm]
TOTANGSTR 69375x55000 meters

Total aerosol angstrom parameter [470-870 nm]
TOTEXTTAU 69375x55000 meters

Total aerosol extinction AOT [550 nm]
TOTSCATAU 69375x55000 meters

Total aerosol scattering AOT [550 nm]

Terms of Use

Terms of Use

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

Explore with Earth Engine

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
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/2026-02-01T23:00:00Z
-90 -180 90 180
Google Earth Engine