NLDAS Primary Forcing Data L4 Monthly 0.125 x 0.125 degree V2.0 (NLDAS_FORA0125_M) at GES DISC

This data product contains the monthly primary forcing data "File A" for Phase 2 of the North American Land Data Assimilation System (NLDAS-2). The data are in 1/8th degree grid spacing and range from Jan 1979 to the present. The temporal resolution is monthly. The file format is netCDF (converted from the GRIB data files).

The NLDAS-2 monthly primary forcing data were generated from the NLDAS-2 hourly primary forcing data, as monthly accumulation for total precipitation, convective precipitation, and potential evaporation, and monthly average for other variables. The convective precipitation monthly total is the hourly convective fraction multiplied by the hourly precipitation (both from the NLDAS-2 "File A" files), and then summed over all hours of the month. Monthly period of each month is from 00Z at start of the month to 23:59Z at end of the month. The one exception to this is the first month (Jan. 1979) that starts from 00Z 02 Jan 1979, except for the monthly accumulated precipitation and convective precipitation that both start from 12Z 01 Jan 1979.

The monthly land surface forcing fields for NLDAS-2 are grouped into two files, "File A" and "File B". "File A" is the primary (default) forcing file and contains eleven meteorological forcing fields. Details about the generation of the NLDAS-2.0 forcing datasets can be found in Xia et al. (2012).

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field Value
Maintainer Earthdata Forum
Last Updated June 8, 2026, 22:10 (UTC)
Created April 1, 2025, 18:03 (UTC)
accessLevel public
bureauCode {026:00}
catalog_conformsTo https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
harvest_object_id 2bba334f-8cf1-464c-8071-af0e039966c0
harvest_source_id b99e41c6-fe79-4c19-bbc3-9b6c8111bfac
harvest_source_title Science Discovery Engine
identifier 10.5067/2DPKB5B5N14O
license https://www.usa.gov/government-works
modified 2026-06-03T16:52:50Z
programCode {026:000}
publisher NASA/GSFC/SED/ESD/TISL/GESDISC
resource-type Dataset
source_datajson_identifier true
source_hash dff0986b92a777498eff557c683266692832c57db675a0d639dd8044ca342f7c
source_schema_version 1.1
spatial ["CARTESIAN", [{"WestBoundingCoordinate": -125, "NorthBoundingCoordinate": 53, "EastBoundingCoordinate": -67, "SouthBoundingCoordinate": 25}]]
temporal 1979-01-01/2026-06-03
theme {"Earth Science"}