# Need help downloading globally ERA5-Land hourly/daily data faster (CDS too slow) **URL:** \ **Category:** C3S - Datasets and Usage\ **Tags:** era5-land\ **Created:** [29 April 2026 09:38 UTC](https://forum.ecmwf.int/t/need-help-downloading-globally-era5-land-hourly-daily-data-faster-cds-too-slow/14920 "2026-04-29T09:38:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bacha\_khan](https://forum.ecmwf.int/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/ecc23a/32.png) [@Bacha\_khan](https://forum.ecmwf.int/u/Bacha_khan)\ **Post date:** [29 April 2026 09:38 UTC](https://forum.ecmwf.int/t/need-help-downloading-globally-era5-land-hourly-daily-data-faster-cds-too-slow/14920/1 "2026-04-29T09:38:21Z")
Please, can anyone help me? I’m trying to download ERA5-Land data (hourly and daily), but I’m facing serious issues. I have checked many sources, but I still haven’t been able to get the complete dataset. I tried downloading from the Climate Data Store (CDS), but it is extremely slow. I’ve been downloading for the last 3 days, and I’ve only managed to get about 5 years of data 😭 I even wrote scripts to download all years automatically, but still only around five years of data were downloaded. Another problem is that it doesn’t allow downloading all years at once. For example, I can only download small chunks like one month (e.g., January 1950), then I have to repeat the process again and again. Can anyone recommend a reliable and faster source where I can download ERA5-Land hourly or daily data more efficiently? Any help would be really appreciated! ---
**Author:** ![Kitinya\_Kirina](https://forum.ecmwf.int/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Kitinya\_Kirina](https://forum.ecmwf.int/u/Kitinya_Kirina)\ **Post date:** [11 June 2026 08:23 UTC](https://forum.ecmwf.int/t/need-help-downloading-globally-era5-land-hourly-daily-data-faster-cds-too-slow/14920/2 "2026-06-11T08:23:17Z")
I am currently facing the same issue, I need ERA5-Land data covering large areas(17 countries) for 5 variables on daily basis but download process is sooo slow. @Bacha_khan did you find a way out? ---
**Author:** ![robert\_van\_bekkum](https://forum.ecmwf.int/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/a88e57/32.png) [@robert\_van\_bekkum](https://forum.ecmwf.int/u/robert_van_bekkum)\ **Post date:** [13 July 2026 09:13 UTC](https://forum.ecmwf.int/t/need-help-downloading-globally-era5-land-hourly-daily-data-faster-cds-too-slow/14920/3 "2026-07-13T09:13:55Z")
One of the design failures is, you get null values for the locations not on land. I think I’ll be a month busy to find out what are the land locations. Could someone please provide a file with only the locations that give valid data. Thank You. ---
**Author:** ![Kevin\_Marsh](https://forum.ecmwf.int/user_avatar/forum.ecmwf.int/kevin_marsh/32/368_2.png) [@Kevin\_Marsh](https://forum.ecmwf.int/u/Kevin_Marsh)\ **Post date:** [17 July 2026 15:36 UTC](https://forum.ecmwf.int/t/need-help-downloading-globally-era5-land-hourly-daily-data-faster-cds-too-slow/14920/4 "2026-07-17T15:36:41Z")
Hi Robert, The ERA5-Land land-sea mask is available under “Invariants” from the CDS download page at: > **[ERA5-Land hourly data from 1950 to present](https://cds.climate.copernicus.eu/datasets/reanalysis-era5-land?tab=download)** > > ERA5-Land is a reanalysis dataset providing a consistent view of the evolution of land variables over several decades at an enhanced resolution compared to ERA5. ERA5-Land has been produced by replaying the land component of the ECMWF ERA5 climate... Hope that helps, Kevin ---
**Author:** ![Navya\_Amaratunga](https://forum.ecmwf.int/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/df788c/32.png) [@Navya\_Amaratunga](https://forum.ecmwf.int/u/Navya_Amaratunga)\ **Post date:** [1 October 2026 07:59 UTC](https://forum.ecmwf.int/t/need-help-downloading-globally-era5-land-hourly-daily-data-faster-cds-too-slow/14920/5 "2026-10-01T07:59:00Z")
Hi Bacha, did you manage to figure out a way to download your data faster? I am currently facing a similar issue and was wondering if I have to continue obtaining data the way I am doing now or if there is a faster way to do so…The approval of my datasets is taking a lot of time the more data requests I submit. Hope to hear a reply soon! Thanks, Navii ---
**Author:** ![Alexis\_Rufer](https://forum.ecmwf.int/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@Alexis\_Rufer](https://forum.ecmwf.int/u/Alexis_Rufer)\ **Post date:** [7 October 2026 08:45 UTC](https://forum.ecmwf.int/t/need-help-downloading-globally-era5-land-hourly-daily-data-faster-cds-too-slow/14920/6 "2026-10-07T08:45:14Z")
Hello, facing the same issues here. More than 4 hours to retrieve 30 Mb of data is quite slow.. 😕 I feel like it’s the queues that is too long. Tried Parallelising and do 10 requests at a time but does not seem to work. Please reach out to me if you found a solution. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Navya\_Amaratunga](https://forum.ecmwf.int/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/df788c/32.png) [@Navya\_Amaratunga](https://forum.ecmwf.int/u/Navya_Amaratunga)\ **Post date:** [8 October 2026 07:26 UTC](https://forum.ecmwf.int/t/need-help-downloading-globally-era5-land-hourly-daily-data-faster-cds-too-slow/14920/7 "2026-10-08T07:26:59Z")
Hi Alexis, I did manage to contact them and they let me know there is no solution, so now I have put in about 20 requests each day and keep track of which turns green to download (usually after a day?). I had no idea they expire after download so do keep an eye out for that if you haven’t. On my side, the requests have been downloading fast but nevertheless some take a while (some are still not green after like five days). Good luck! Best, Navii ---
**Author:** ![robert\_van\_bekkum](https://forum.ecmwf.int/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/a88e57/32.png) [@robert\_van\_bekkum](https://forum.ecmwf.int/u/robert_van_bekkum)\ **Post date:** [9 October 2026 16:55 UTC](https://forum.ecmwf.int/t/need-help-downloading-globally-era5-land-hourly-daily-data-faster-cds-too-slow/14920/8 "2026-10-09T16:55:16Z")
I get back at least 1 request / min, but it can also be 20. The request is all parameters for 1 lat/lon. 28 000 rows.