GUI access for single point downloads is maintained separately here: https://power.larc.nasa.gov/data-access-viewer/
This tool exists as a back end interface that can help integrate the modeled data into your own application
Download python and Anaconda as necessary. Use the provided environment.yml file with conda to create the virtual environment required to run this tool
The project will be moving away from csv's as a data storage medium due to the fact that re-building the metadata is tedious and time consuming. Instead the project will focus on the HDF5 format which can be used to store local files and preserve metadata information. A legacy pathway will be enabled in the connector object dealing with downloads, so if users insist on CSV's, they can still use them.
This repository contains an API that streamlines solar irradiation data downloads from NASA's POWER (Prediction Of Worldwide Energy Resources) program.
The config file contains all the required parameters to run this tool. The main components of it are the locations.json file, parameters.csv and runtime.json
Locations.json consists of a json file with the locations where solar data is going to be extracted. The main JSON header is the city name, followed by a Yes/No parameter for use in the program and a latitude and longitude parameter. Ensure that the format is as follows:
"Ottawa":{
"Use":"Yes",
"Latitude": "X",
"Longitude": "Y"
}
A hypothetically unlimited number of locations may be used in this tool, but do keep in mind that a larger locations.json file will require more time for data pull completion. I cannot guarantee that server timeouts will not be a problem on the POWER API side for very large data pulls.
This csv file contains pre defined parameters from the NASA POWER API. All parameters which are intended to be downloaded must be marked as "Yes" under the Use column. Parameters marked as "No" will simply be skipped for the runtime of the tool. More parameters can be found in the included hyperlinks to the POWER API. However, some parameters will not work wih the API call included in the library... modifications may have to be made to the baseline functions in order to get it to work with other params.
| Parameter | Definition |
|---|---|
| ALLSKY_SFC_SW_DWN | CERES SYN1deg All Sky Surface Shortwave Downward Irradiance (Wh/m^2) |
| CLRSKY_SFC_SW_DWN | CERES SYN1deg Clear Sky Surface Shortwave Downward Irradiance (Wh/m^2) |
| ALLSKY_KT | CERES SYN1deg All Sky Insolation Clearness Index (dimensionless) |
| ALLSKY_SRF_ALB | CERES SYN1deg All Sky Surface Albedo (dimensionless) |
| SZA | CERES SYN1deg Solar Zenith Angle (Degrees) |
| ALLSKY_SFC_PAR_TOT | CERES SYN1deg All Sky Surface PAR Total (W/m^2) |
| ALLSKY_SFC_UV_INDEX | CERES SYN1deg All Sky Surface UV Index (dimensionless) |
| ALLSKY_SFC_UVB | CERES SYN1deg All Sky Surface UVB Irradiance (W/m^2) |
| ALLSKY_SFC_UVA | CERES SYN1deg All Sky Surface UVA Irradiance (W/m^2) |
| CLRSKY_SFC_PAR_TOT | CERES SYN1deg Clear Sky Surface PAR Total (W/m^2) |
| T2M | MERRA-2 Temperature at 2 Meters (C) |
| T2MDEW | MERRA-2 Dew/Frost Point at 2 Meters (C) |
| T2MWET | MERRA-2 Wet Bulb Temperature at 2 Meters (C) |
| QV2M | MERRA-2 Specific Humidity at 2 Meters (g/kg) |
| RH2M | MERRA-2 Relative Humidity at 2 Meters (%) |
| PRECTOTCORR | MERRA-2 Precipitation Corrected (mm/hour) |
| PS | MERRA-2 Surface Pressure (kPa) |
| WS10M | MERRA-2 Wind Speed at 10 Meters (m/s) |
| WD10M | MERRA-2 Wind Direction at 10 Meters (Degrees) |
| WS50M | MERRA-2 Wind Speed at 50 Meters (m/s) |
| WD50M | MERRA-2 Wind Direction at 50 Meters (Degrees) |
NOTE: Only 15 parameters out of the 20 provided here can be picked at any one time on an API call. Adding multiple parameters may drastically increase download time.
This file contains important runtime variables for the tool. Timeformat can be either "UTC" or "LST". Communities should always be set to "RE", and the start and end dates ("sDate", "eDate") are up to the user to input
Currently the tool is set up to run from a mac bash script. However, that should not be an issue for windows/linux users. As long as you can set up environment.yml, simply cd to the directory, and use conda to run irradiance.py once you've activated the required virtual environment. the tool was also developed in a hybrid notebook, so if using vscode or pycharm, you can default to that option.
https://power.larc.nasa.gov/docs/services/api/temporal/hourly/
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Create a streamlined json/csv input interface for running the tool
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Created a shell interface to run the tool so that jupyter or a python IDE is not necessary
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Formatted the tool better so that all libraries are separated from main, all config options are isolated etc.
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More readable and modular code: created objects with discrete methods
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integrate h5py storage medium as defaul (csv legacy pathway will be preserved)
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proper logging through a logger module for easier bug detection
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additional meteorological parameters such as temp, humidity, wind speed
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batch file interface for windows users (currently supports macOS shell scripts)
- Feel free to open a ticket about changes you'd like to see