Systematic evaluation of Earth System Models (ESMs) contributed to the Couple Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP) requires use of numerous observational datasets. To facilitate this evaluation, the World Climate Research Programme’s (WCRP’s) observations for Model Intercomparison Project (obs4MIPs) aims to technically align observational products with data standards established for CMIP. Recently, a workflow template has been established at Remote Sensing Systems (RSS) to bring NASA products into obs4MIPs compliance. These datasets are prime candidates for obs4MIPs due to their high spatial and temporal coverage (e.g., from various satellites or blended Level 4 products).

In this presentation, we summarize ongoing work at RSS to bring diverse, latest-version NASA datasets into compliance with obs4MIPs standards. This task is complicated by the fact that the selected observational datasets are typically provided in different formats, with only partial consistency in how they are described, and are averaged to different temporal and spatial scales. With specific examples, this presentation will give an overview of how we approach this challenge for various NASA datasets, with special attention given to making this process transparent. We will also briefly discuss efforts to prototype inclusion of more “exploratory” datasets in obs4MIPs that may be particularly useful for process-relevant model evaluation.