pvlib.iotools.get_bsrn#

pvlib.iotools.get_bsrn(station, start, end, username, password, logical_records=('0100',), save_path=None)[source]#

Retrieve ground measured irradiance data from the BSRN FTP server.

The BSRN (Baseline Surface Radiation Network) is a world wide network of high-quality solar radiation monitoring stations as described in 1. Data is retrieved from the BSRN FTP server 2.

Data is returned for the entire months between and including start and end.

Parameters
  • station (str) – 3-letter BSRN station abbreviation

  • start (datetime-like) – First day of the requested period

  • end (datetime-like) – Last day of the requested period

  • username (str) – username for accessing the BSRN FTP server

  • password (str) – password for accessing the BSRN FTP server

  • logical_records (list or tuple, default: ('0100',)) – List of the logical records (LR) to parse. Options include: ‘0100’, ‘0300’, and ‘0500’.

  • save_path (str or path-like, optional) – If specified, a directory path of where to save each monthly file.

Returns

  • data (DataFrame) – timeseries data from the BSRN archive, see pvlib.iotools.read_bsrn() for fields. An empty DataFrame is returned if no data was found for the time period.

  • metadata (dict) – metadata for the last available monthly file.

Raises

KeyError – If the specified station does not exist on the FTP server.

Warns

UserWarning – If one or more requested files are missing a UserWarning is returned with a list of the filenames missing. If no files match the specified station and timeframe a seperate UserWarning is given.

Notes

The username and password for the BSRN FTP server can be obtained for free as described in the BSRN’s Data Release Guidelines 3.

Currently only parsing of logical records 0100, 0300 and 0500 is supported. Note not all stations measure LR0300 and LR0500. However, LR0100 is mandatory as it contains the basic irradiance and auxillary measurements. See 4 for a description of the different logical records. Future updates may include parsing of additional data and metadata.

Important

While data from the BSRN is generally of high-quality, measurement data should always be quality controlled before usage!

Examples

>>> # Retrieve two months irradiance data from the Cabauw BSRN station
>>> data, metadata = pvlib.iotools.get_bsrn(  
>>>     start=pd.Timestamp(2020,1,1), end=pd.Timestamp(2020,12,1),   
>>>     station='cab', username='yourusername', password='yourpassword')  

References

1

World Radiation Monitoring Center - Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN)

2

BSRN Data Retrieval via FTP

4

BSRN Data Release Guidelines

3

Update of the Technical Plan for BSRN Data Management, 2013, Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) GCOS-174.