[atlite] Using existing ERA5 .nc files in atlite

[Lisa Müller]

Hi everyone,

I'm currently using atlite to compute wind and solar capacity factors as part of an analysis to identify dark doldrums (Dunkelflauten) across Europe.
Since I’m working with many years of data, I’d like to avoid downloading the ERA5 dataset again  (I already have the necessary ERA5 data available on the server of my university institute).

Is it possible to use atlite’s Cutout functionality with existing ERA5 .nc files that have already been created?

The NetCDF files cover the required region and time span, and I’d like to use them directly in a Cutout to save time and storage.

If anyone has experience with this or can point me in the right direction, I’d really appreciate your help.

Best regards,
Lisa

[Johannes Hampp]

Hi Lisa,

No, that's currently not possible with atlite. You would need to let `atlite` download all of it again.

The code is very much build around the CDS API and mixes retrieval + processing.
To use an already downloaded ERA5 dataset, one would need to rearrange the code in `atlites/datasets.era5.py` and separate retrieval + processing more strictly.

Best,
Johannes

[Lisa Müller]

Hi Johannes,

that's a pity, but thanks a lot for the quick and clear response!

Good to know,  I might take a closer look at the datasets.era5.py code then.

Best regards,
Lisa