Summary

Description

This monthly climatology data set contains a series of land surface parameters simulated from the Noah 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. The temporal resolution is monthly, ranging from January to December. The NLDAS-2 monthly climatology data are the monthly data averaged over the thirty years (1980 - 2009) of the NLDAS-2 monthly data. The file format is WMO GRIB-1. Brief description about the NLDAS-2 hourly and monthly Noah LSM data can be found from the GCMD DIFs for GES_DISC_NLDAS_NOAH0125_H_V002 and GES_DISC_NLDAS_NOAH0125_M_V002 at http://gcmd.gsfc.nasa.gov/getdif.htm?GES_DISC_NLDAS_NOAH0125_H_V002 and http://gcmd.gsfc.nasa.gov/getdif.htm?GES_DISC_NLDAS_NOAH0125_M_V002. Details about the NLDAS-2 configuration of the Noah LSM can be found in Xia et al. (2012). The NLDAS-2 Noah monthly climatology data contain fifty-two fields. The data set applies a user-defined parameter table to indicate the contents and parameter number. The GRIBTAB file (http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/hydrology/grib_tabs/gribtab_NLDAS_NOAH.002.txt) shows a list of parameters for this data set, along with their Product Definition Section (PDS) IDs and units. There are four vertical levels for the Soil Moisture Content (PDS 086) and Soil Temperature (PDS 085) in the Noah GRIB files. For more information, please see the README Document at ftp://hydro1.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/data/s4pa/NLDAS/README.NLDAS2.pdf or the GrADS ctl file at ftp://hydro1.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/data/gds/NLDAS/NLDAS_NOAH0125_MC.002.ctl.