ERA5Land returning in zipped format even for single file

Datasets and Usage C3S - Datasets and Usage
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1

Hello,

When downloading ERA5Land data, it seems like request for “unarchived” is not adhered to? Is everything zipped by default now?

Here’s an example of a script that downloads a single zip file although the expectation is that it should be a single grib file. When the zip file is unzipped, there is only a single file inside name “data.grib”.

import cdsapi

dataset = "reanalysis-era5-land"
request = {
    "variable": ["2m_temperature"],
    "year": "2025",
    "month": "01",
    "day": ["01"],
    "time": ["00:00"],
    "data_format": "grib",
    "download_format": "unarchived"
}

client = cdsapi.Client()
client.retrieve(dataset, request).download()

Thanks and any help would be greatly appreciated!

Joseph

2 Likes
2

Having the same problem. It started 3 days ago.

3

Same issue, also I found ERA5-land data from 1950-1958 is not available anymore. Strange:(

4

I’m experiencing the same issue on my end today, any updates would be greatly appreciated.

5

I have the same issue. I tried for netcdf format.

Also the data for 20 Jan 2025 seems incomplete.

6

Same problem here but only with Hourly data, the daily aggregated statistic products keep downloading a non-zipped output.

7

Hi,
could you please try now?
Thanks

8

Forbidden for url: https://cds.climate.copernicus.eu/api/retrieve/v1/processes/reanalysis-era5-land/execution
permission denied
Download form temporarily closed due to maintenance actions on data source

9

Hi,
could you please try now?
Thanks

10

The request is now submitted and runs, but it keeps downloading a zip file instead of a netcdf

11

Hi,
please make sure that you are not retrieving the data from the cache:

Thanks

12

Now it seems to be downloading a netcdf file, so the issue seems to be solved

13

Thanks @Michela - this seems to be resolved. Thanks for the quick fix!

With regards to the GRIB file generated, was there a change in the GRIB format? It seems like the data that is downloaded is GRIB version 1.

14

Even with nocache, I am still receiving a *.zip file for the following request:

{'name': 'reanalysis-era5-land', 
'request': {
    'product_type': 'reanalysis',
    'variable': ['2m_temperature'], 
    'year': ['2025'], 
    'month': ['01'], 
    'day': ['21'], 
    'time': ['00:00', '01:00', '02:00', '3:00', '04:00', '05:00', '06:00', '07:00', '08:00', '09:00', '10:00', '11:00', '12:00', '13:00', '14:00', '15:00', '16:00', '17:00', '18:00', '19:00', '20:00', '21:00', '22:00', '23:00'], 
    'area': [90, -180, -90, 180], 
    'grid': [0.1, 0.1], 
    'nocache': '22190722'
}}
15

Hi,
please check on the documentation the GRIB version for each parameter: ERA5-Land: data documentation - Copernicus Knowledge Base - ECMWF Confluence Wiki

Thanks

1 Like
16

We are also getting zip files despite using format=grib and nocache. Is this an expected change in behavior?

17

Hi,
I’m seeing a slightly different change retrieving ‘reanalysis-era5-land’ data, ‘variable’:‘2m_dewpoint_temperature’, using a program that used to function successfully:

  • I specifying format=‘netcdf’ in the request, but the downloaded files seem to be compressed ‘GRIB’ format.
  • I’ve also still seeing downloaded files actually containing compressed data, despite specifying the ‘nocache’ key with a random 3 digit string value.

era5land_d2m_27_2025_01.nc is the downloaded file.

mv era5land_d2m_27_2025_01.nc era5land_d2m_27_2025_01.nc.gz
gunzip era5land_d2m_27_2025_01.nc.gz
file era5land_d2m_27_2025_01.nc
era5land_d2m_27_2025_01.nc: Gridded binary (GRIB) version 1

This happened yesterday, Jan 29th at about 5pm.
Any help appreciated.
Ian.

18

Have you check this? I used also format as parameter and was getting a zip file containing a grib file.

2 Likes
19

For the year 2024, it persists as zip files. For other years, it is OK.

20

Thanks for the extra pointer - these changes have fixed the download .

1 Like