Skip to content

Datasets

All datasets accepted by the source argument of fetch_climate_data and the other API functions.

Auth: "EE" sources are served through Google Earth Engine and need a one-time free setup. "None" sources work with no credentials.

source Dataset Type Native resolution Coverage Variables Auth
agera_5 ERA5-Land daily aggregates Reanalysis 0.1° (~11 km) 1979–present precip, tmax/tmin/tmean, humidity, wind, solar EE
era_5 ERA5 daily Reanalysis 0.25° (~28 km) 1979-01-02 – 2020-07-09 (static asset; live coverage checked at runtime) precip, tmax/tmin, wind EE
terraclimate TerraClimate Monthly climate & water balance 1/24° (~4 km) 1958–present, monthly precip, tmax/tmin, wind, solar, soil moisture EE
imerg GPM IMERG v07 Satellite precipitation 0.1° (~11 km) 2000–present precip EE
chirps_v2 (alias chirps) CHIRPS v2 daily Blended satellite–gauge precipitation 0.05° (~5.5 km) 1981–present precip EE
chirps_v3_daily_rnl CHIRPS v3 daily (RNL) Blended satellite–gauge precipitation 0.05° (~5.5 km) 1981–present precip EE
chirts CHIRTS daily Satellite–station temperature 0.05° (~5.5 km) 1983–2016 tmax/tmin EE
cmip_6 NASA GDDP-CMIP6 Downscaled projections 0.25° (~27 km) historical + scenarios precip, tmax/tmin EE
nex_gddp NEX-GDDP-CMIP6 Downscaled projections (per GCM × SSP) 0.25° (~27 km) historical to 2014-12-31; scenarios from 2015-01-01 precip, tmax/tmin, humidity EE
nasa_power NASA POWER daily Reanalysis-derived point API ~0.5° 1984–present precip, tmax/tmin/tmean, humidity None
tamsat TAMSAT v3.1 African rainfall (satellite) 0.05° (~4 km), Africa only 1983–present precip, soil moisture None
ghcn_daily GHCN-Daily Weather station observations point station-dependent precip, tmax/tmin None
gsod NOAA GSOD Weather station observations point station-dependent precip, tmax/tmin None
soil_grid ISRIC SoilGrids / OpenLandMap Static soil properties 250 m static texture, bulk density, pH, organic carbon, CEC EE
hwsd FAO HWSD v2 Static soil properties ~1 km static root depth, AWC, drainage, bulk density EE

agera_5 is backed by ERA5-Land

The agera_5 source reads the Earth Engine asset ECMWF/ERA5_LAND/DAILY_AGGR (ERA5-Land daily aggregates), which shares ERA5-Land's 0.1° grid. It is the recommended default for recent daily data because of its variable breadth and continuously updated coverage.

Choosing a source

  • Recent daily data, most variables → agera_5 (needs EE).
  • Zero-setup start → nasa_power (no credentials, coarser grid).
  • Best precipitation detail → chirps_v3_daily_rnl (0.05°, precip only); pair with a temperature source via precip_source / temp_source.
  • Future climate → nex_gddp with model (e.g. 'GFDL-ESM4') and scenario (e.g. 'ssp245'); pass models="all" on the CLI for ensembles.
  • Ground truth / validation → ghcn_daily or gsod stations, then compare_station_to_grids.
  • Soil inputs for water balance → fetched automatically by the hazard and statistics functions; request explicitly via SoilVariable members.

Variables

Request variables with ClimateVariable enum members:

from climate_toolkit.fetch_data.source_data.sources.utils.models import (
    ClimateVariable,
    SoilVariable,
)

ClimateVariable: precipitation, max_temperature, min_temperature, mean_temperature, rainfall, wind_speed, solar_radiation, humidity, soil_moisture.

SoilVariable (for soil_grid / hwsd): root_depth, available_water_capacity, drainage, bulk_density, coarse_fragments, field_capacity, wilting_point, ph, sand_content, clay_content, silt_content, organic_carbon, organic_carbon_stock, cation_exchange_capacity, soil_moisture.

Not every source provides every variable (see the table above). Requests outside a source's coverage window are clipped with a warning, or raise ValueError when there is no overlap.