Enhancements in support of the New and Enhanced Modern Era Retrospective-analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA) Data and Services at the GES DISC

The Modern Era Retrospective-analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA) dataset is a NASA 30 year (1979 – present) reanalysis using the Goddard Earth Observing System Data Assimilation System, Version 5 (GEOS-5). The project, run out of NASA's Global Modeling and Assimilation Office at Goddard Space Flight Center, provides the science and application communities with a state-of-the-art global analysis with emphasis on improved estimates of the hydrological cycle over a broad range of weather and climate time scales. The data is archived and disseminated through by the Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) through its Modeling DISC Web (MDISC) portal. Since its public release the GES DISC has enhanced some of its current capabilities and added new ones to make it more convenient for the user community to utilize and access the data. Current data access methods and services available for MERRA data through MDISC are: (1) Mirador (2) Giovanni (3) On-the-fly subsetting (4) OPeNDAP and via GrADS Data Server (GDS). The focus will to provide incite to the current capabilities; as well as, showcase some of the new enhanced features and capabilities in the On-The-Fly subsetting and the Giovanni instance such as reformatting the data and visualizing hourly data products. Now that 30 years of data are available, a brief study will be presented ustilizing the data. Detailed MERRA data access information is available at GES DISC: http://disc.gsfc.nasa.gov/MDISC