See Brief request syntax to understand each keyword.

We have created some request examples. You can see the explanation and then a link to the ECMWF Public Dataset web interface.

When click to the "ECMWF Public Dataset web interface" link, the values will be pre-selected. To see the script you have to use "View MARS Request" button.

ERA-Interim Surface

  • 2m temperature(165.128), 10m u wind component(166.128), 10m v wind component(167.128).
  • July 2014
  • Time: 00,06,12,18 UTC
  • Step: 0

ECMWF Public Dataset web interface

A basic example

#!/usr/bin/env python
from ecmwfapi import ECMWFDataServer
   
server = ECMWFDataServer()
   
server.retrieve({
    'stream'    : "oper",
    'levtype'   : "sfc",
    'param'     : "165.128/166.128/167.128",
    'dataset'   : "interim",
    'step'      : "0",
    'grid'      : "0.75/0.75",
    'time'      : "00/06/12/18",
    'date'      : "2014-07-01/to/2014-07-31",
    'type'      : "an",
    'class'     : "ei",
    'target'    : "interim_2014-07-01to2014-07-31_00061218.grib"
})


Add 'format' : "netcdf" to request the data in NetCDF format instead of grib

Same request NetCDF format
#!/usr/bin/env python
from ecmwfapi import ECMWFDataServer
   
server = ECMWFDataServer()
   
server.retrieve({
    'stream'    : "oper",
    'levtype'   : "sfc",
    'param'     : "165.128/166.128/167.128",
    'dataset'   : "interim",
    'step'      : "0",
    'grid'      : "0.75/0.75",
    'time'      : "00/06/12/18",
    'date'      : "2014-07-01/to/2014-07-31",
    'type'      : "an",
    'class'     : "ei",
    'format'    : "netcdf",
    'target'    : "interim_2014-07-01to2014-07-31_00061218.nc"
 })

Specify the desired sub-area of data to be extracted

Same request NetCDF format
#!/usr/bin/env python
from ecmwfapi import ECMWFDataServer
   
server = ECMWFDataServer()
   
server.retrieve({
    'stream'    : "oper",
    'levtype'   : "sfc",
    'param'     : "165.128/166.128/167.128",
    'dataset'   : "interim",
    'step'      : "0",
    'grid'      : "0.75/0.75",
    'time'      : "00/06/12/18",
    'date'      : "2014-07-01/to/2014-07-31",
    'type'      : "an",
    'class'     : "ei",
    'area'      : "73.5/-27/33/45",
    'format'    : "netcdf",
    'target'    : "interim_2014-07-01to2014-07-31_00061218.nc"
 })

ERA-Interim Monthly Means of Daily Means

  • 2m temperature.
  • May 2014 mean

ECMWF Public Dataset web interface

ERA-Interim Model Levels

  • 2m temperature(165.128), 10m u wind component(166.128), 10m v wind component(167.128).
  • June 2014
  • Time: 00,06,12,18 UTC
  • Step: 0
  • 60 model levels

ECMWF Public Dataset web interface

ERA-Interim Pressure Levels

  • Cloud cover, relative humidity, Specific cloud ice water content, temperature.
  • All the pressure levels.
  • March 2014

ECMWF Public Dataset web interface

1 Comment

  1. Karl Hennermann

    ERA-Interim forecasts, on pressure levels
    #!/usr/bin/env python
from ecmwfapi import ECMWFDataServer
server = ECMWFDataServer()

# This script downloads ERA-Interim forecasts, on pressure levels.
# Adapt the script to your requirements. 
# The data volume for all pressure level data is about 5GB per day, and all pressure level data for more than a single day will exceed the WebAPI limit of 600.000 fields. Thus please restrict the download to what you really need.
# It is likely you need to split your request, this is best done by time periods, ie. first download for month 1, then for month 2, etc.

server.retrieve({
    # Specify the ERA-Interim data archive. Don't change.
    "class": "ei",
    "dataset": "interim",
    "expver": "1",
    "stream": "oper",
    # pressure levels (levtype:pl), all available levels (levelist)
    "levtype": "pl",
    "levelist": "1/2/3/5/7/10/20/30/50/70/100/125/150/175/200/225/250/300/350/400/450/500/550/600/650/700/750/775/800/825/850/875/900/925/950/975/1000",
    # forecast (type:fc), from both daily forecast runs (time) with all available forecast steps (step, in hours)
    "type": "fc",  
    "time": "00:00:00/12:00:00",
    "step": "3/6/9/12/15/18/21/24/30/36/42/48/60/72/84/96/108/120/132/144/156/168/180/192/204/216/228/240",
    # all available parameters, for codes see http://apps.ecmwf.int/codes/grib/param-db
    "param": "60.128/129.128/130.128/131.128/132.128/133.128/135.128/138.128/155.128/157.128/203.128/246.128/247.128/248.128",
    # two days worth of data
    "date": "2016-01-01/to/2016-01-02",
    # in 0.75 degrees lat/lon
    "grid": "0.75/0.75",
    # optionally restrict area to Europe (in N/W/S/E).
    # "area": "75/-20/10/60",
    # Optionally get output in NetCDF format. However, for NetCDF timestamps (time+step) must not overlap, so use e.g. "time":"00:00:00/12:00:00","step":"12"
    # "format" : "netcdf",
    # set an output file name
    "target": "CHANGEME",
})