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Dataset Sources

TopoPyScale relies on two main types of data: climate and topographical data. These data can be freely available for your region and we list here a number of public and open access data repository relevant to TopoPyScale.

Climate data

ERA5

ERA5 comes in two parts:

From Copernicus repository

Copernicus whom generate the ERA5 data is also a portal to download the data. TopoPyScale has a routine to download the data given identification to the cds system has been done.

From Google Cloud Storage repository

Google Cloud Storage maintains a publicly accessible repository of the ERA5 data. TopoPyScale includes a routine to download data from there given authentification to Google Cloud has been done has explained by Google: https://cloud.google.com/sdk/docs/install

Digital Elevation models

WARNING: At the moment TopoPyScale only accepts projections that are cartesian in the metric system (e.g. UTM)

SRTM (global)

SRTM is a global product produced by NASA. There are 2 basic products available, the 30m and 90m resolution. Useful links to download tiles:

  • https://search.earthdata.nasa.gov/search?q=SRTM
  • https://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/srtm/
  • https://dwtkns.com/srtm30m/

ArcticDEM (global/Arctic)

ArcticDEM provides DEMs for the global Arctic region at a fine spatial resolution.

Copernicus DEM

The European Copernicus program produces a series of digital elevation product based on a number of data sources. These dataset are: - 10m DEM over Europe including overseas territories: - Global 30m and 90m DEM:

Example downloading the Global 30m Copernicus public DEM for part of the Alps: 

from TopoPyScale import fetch_dem as fd

# extent: [East, West, South, North] boundaries.
fd.fetch_copernicus_dem(extent=[7,10,45,47], product='COP-DEM_GLO-30-DGED/2023_1', n_download_threads=5)
Warning: it may happen the server hangs and the routine will need to be relaunched. The data are downloaded as .tar archive files for each tile. The script will unpack the archive. Then gdal_merge can be used to merge all the tiles into one single DEM with the command:

# Create a text file listing all tiles to merge
ls Copernicus_DSM_*.tif > tile_list.txt

# Merge tiles into one single DEM with -9999 as NaN
gdal_merge.py -init -9999 -o Copernicus_DSM_merged.tif --optfile tile_list.txt

Observation Datasets