SIREN data validation

How does "sen_makeweather_getmerra2" (by SIREN) is work and its data is valid?

Dear Hassan,

That program is part of the SIREN Toolkit, and downloads weather data from the NASA MERRA-2 database. Please refer to the SIREN website for more information about the data: sourceforge.net/projects/sensiren/ .

Best regards,
Paul.

Hassan

I'll contact you via the SAM Contact. In the meantime...

SIREN has been used in the creation of a number of reports to investigate renewable generation potential within the South West Interconnected System (SWIS) in the south-west of Western Australia. As part of this process, a verification of generation calculated by the use of weather files derived from MERRA-2 data along with the SAM models was achieved by comparing it with actual generation (SCADA) data for the SWIS renewable energy stations for 2014. Average correlation for 2014 was 0.77, varying from 0.70 to 0.83 for wind and 0.95 for the one utility scale PV farm on the SWIS network. Correlations for the years 2007 to 2015 average around 0.74 (0.70 to 0.76).

Kind regards

Angus

Dear all in O zsolarwind

 First of all, let me thank you for creating this amazing tool NASA MERRA-2 Data & Makeweatherfiles for creating SAM weather files. I have used them two years ago, they are very smart and convenient tools.
 
However,  I really need your help, because unfortunately, now I can’t install them again as I have some issues to solve in following your structures particularly in the step called (Obtaining MERRA-2 Data).
After registration and approving the NASA GESDICS DATA ARCHIVE in my account, I couldn’t create a .netrc file for authentication to download the MERRA-2 files.
Moreover, the link to enter the MERRA-2 data subset URL,  disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/daac-bin/FTPSubset2.pl , does not work and it opens a totally different page not the needed one  (MDISC Data Subset page). 
Because of this, I couldn’t follow the next steps:
in Obtaining data
As an alternative to following these steps you might want to use getmerra2 - see  Get MERRA-2 Files .

1. Enter the MERRA-2 data subset URL,  disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/daac-bin/FTPSubset2.pl  in your browser
2. Within the MDISC Data Subset page choose appropriate options as follows:
   1. Data Product
      Select Data Product from the pulldown list:
      1. MERRA-2 tavg1_2d_slv_Nx for wind
      2. MERRA-2 tavg1_2d_rad_Nx for solar
   2. Spatial Search
      Select area of interest. As a minimum the spatial bounding box must be at least 1.25 x 1.0. For the SWIS choose:
      W: 113 N:-26 S: -37 E: 123
      Press Update Map to check geographic spread
   3. Temporal Order Option
      Select range of dates. It is most convenient to select full years. As times are UTC we need the last last day of the prior period (year) to obtain data for the initial hours of the first day in the local time-zone (8 hours for WA)
   4. Parameters
      To reduce the size of the data files select just those variables we need:
      1. tavg1_2d_slv_Nx
         ps u10m u2m u50m v10m v2m v50m t10m t2m
      2. tavg1_2d_rad_Nx
         swgdn and/or swgnt
   5. Output File Format
      Select NetCDF from the pulldown list
   6. Press Start Search
3. Follow the instructions on the resulting FTP Subset Results page (Subsetted Data Download Instructions)
   1. Save the list of URLs
   2. Copy the file to the sub-folder you want the files downloaded to
4. Open a terminal window and navigate to the sub-folder you want the files downloaded to
   1. Run the wget command as displayed in the FTP Subset Results page. This uses the downloaded list. You can copy and paste the command into the terminal window. The command will be something likewget --load-cookies ~/.urs_cookies --save-cookies ~/.urs_cookies --auth-no-challenge=on --keep-session-cookies -i ...You should use the --content-disposition option in your wget command to avoid Filename too long errors (that is...wget --load-cookies ~/.urs_cookies --save-cookies ~/.urs_cookies --auth-no-challenge=on --keep-session-cookies --content-disposition -i

This process uses wget to download the MERRA-2 data files. Typically there is a single file for each day of interest so using wget simplifies the process of downloading them. Wget is a free network utility to retrieve files from the World Wide Web using HTTP and FTP, the two most widely used Internet protocols. There are versions available for most platforms.
wget for Windows
Earlier versions of wget for windows will not work with the requirements for URS authentication. Version 1.18 has been successfully tested. The following steps highlight an approach:

1. Obtain a suitable version of wget, such as  wget-1.18-win32.zip  for the full package or  wget.exe  for just wget itself. Only the .exe file is required
2. Create a .netrc file as described in the Wget with URS Authentication link above
3. Create a HOME environment variable which points to the folder containing the .netrc file (typically this is set to Users/username)
4. Open a terminal window, navigate to where you have the list of urls and invoke wget

Moreover, I have tried a lot of time to install Wget software but it doesn't work.
 
Please, if you can explain where I can find the page in the Earthdata. website to follow the above steps, it will be highly appreciated. 
And if is it possible to contact you because your email doesn't work siren@sen.asn.au!
Best regards,
Abdulrahman Baboraik
baboraik_4@mail.ru

Hi Abdulrahman,

The appropriate place for your question is the SIREN website at sourceforge.net/projects/sensiren/ .

I see you have already posted there.

Best regards,
Paul.

Hi Paul,

Yes, I did.
Unfortunately, there is no response and their email is not valid. So I posted here also, thought that may someone had the same issue and can help.
 
Best regards,
Abdulrahman