ERA5 hourly data on pressure levels for wind developers

Name: ERA5 hourly data on pressure levels for wind developers - Earth Data Hub
Creator: ECMWF

This dataset contains the low altitude ERA5 pressure levels data for world atmospheric quantities derived from ERA5 hourly data on pressure levels. Only pressure levels 1000, 975 and 950 hPa are included. The dataset is tailored for the analysis of offshore wind farm sites typically required by wind developers.

The data are available from 1940 until the last closed month and updated monthly. They are presented as a ARCO Zarr v3 archive optimised for time analysis.

Accessing this dataset requires a Zarr v3-compatible library (e.g., zarr-python >= 3.x). Python users can upgrade via pip install "zarr>3".

This dataset is a curated subset of low altitude pressure levels quantities derived from ECMWF’s ERA5 hourly data on pressure levels.

Built upon the Climate Data Store (CDS) version of ERA5, this dataset is distributed as a Zarr archive and targeted at the needs of wind developers. It is designed to offer a fast, highly accessible alternative for querying ERA5 pressure levels time series data. The current subset only includes pressure levels pressure levels 1000, 975 and 950 [hPa].

📊 Chunking Specifications

The dataset employs a spatio-temporal chunking scheme of 180 days × 5° latitude × 5° longitude. This corresponds to an array chunk shape of 4320 (valid_time) × 20 (latitude) × 20 (longitude).

⚠️ Changelog

To access this dataset, you will need a Zarr v3-compatible library (e.g., zarr-python >= 3.x). Python users can upgrade their environment using: pip install "zarr>3".

How to download the data

The default (and preferred) way to access the data requires accessing the api.earthdatahub.destine.eu domain and a valid API key.

Method 1: quick access

It is possible to include the token directly in the URL.

1import xarray as xr
2
3xr.open_dataset(
4    "https://edh:<your personal access token>@api.earthdatahub.destine.eu/era5/era5-pressure-levels-for-wind-developers-v0.zarr",
5    chunks={},
6    engine="zarr",
7    zarr_format=3,
8)

Method 2: advanced access

The Python snippet gather the token from a netrc file.

It's required to before running the code snippet below.

1import xarray as xr
2
3xr.open_dataset(
4    "https://api.earthdatahub.destine.eu/era5/era5-pressure-levels-for-wind-developers-v0.zarr",
5    storage_options={"client_kwargs":{"trust_env":True}},
6    chunks={},
7    engine="zarr",
8    zarr_format=3,
9)

Variables

Short Name	Units	Description
r	%	Relative humidity
t	K	Temperature
u	m s^-1	U component of wind
v	m s^-1	V component of wind
w	Pa s^-1	Vertical velocity
z	m² s^-2	Geopotential