Return of the MERRA Blog

As many readers will understand, the demands on time can be many, and there is never enough time to do all that you want to do. Being spread thin for some time, the MERRA blog fell into neglect. However, with a lot of interesting things going on, from research with MERRA to formulating plans for subsequent reanalyses (and noticing in the last month a fair number of hits from around the world), I will be trying hard to find time to make regular posts.

The original purpose of the blog was to 1) follow the development of the MERRA system and eventually the production of data and then 2) follow the research that was being done with MERRA and other reanalyses. #2 never fully materialized, but there is a lot of work being published on reanalyses lately.  So, for the near future, summaries of published research or perhaps topical discussions involving several papers/reports will likely be the regular topic. However, new reanalysis development is on the horizon, as well.

Mostly, I figure that the hits on the MERRA blog are coming from internet searches for hard to find information, now that the MERRA overview paper is printed. This is an important issue, as users need to know if a reanalysis is applicable to a research topic, and its strengths and weaknesses. So, perhaps this can open the communication, just a little more.