TMY latitude/longitude discrepency

Hi, 

I am trying to download TMYs, providing specific latitude/longitude locations. 

Following the API directions here , when I use the example given "wkt": "POINT(-99.49218 43.83452)", I am able to download the data. When I put a different lat/long (specifically 41.6708, -70.91364), I receive a “No data available at the provided location” error. However, plugging this same lat/long into the NSRDB Viewer, I am able to pull the data. What can be done to fix this?

Thank you!

Hi Sirena,

The NSRDB PSM V3.2.2 dataset is deprecated and has been replaced by NSRDB GOES V4.0.0, so you should use GOES V4 to get the most up-to-date data.

The different datasets cover different parts of the world. You can use the NSRDB Data Viewer to see what datasets are available in different parts of the world. However the NSRDB Viewer uses different names than the API documentation on the NREL Developer Network at developer.nrel.gov/docs/solar/nsrdb/ , so it can be tricky to identify the datasets on the map.

Both the PSM V3.2.2 and GOES V4.0.0 datasets cover the rectangle that includes much of North America, Central America, and part of South America:

 

The location 43.83452,-99.49218 is in the U.S., so is covered by GOES V4.0.0, which is labelled on the map as "USA & Americas (30, 60min / 4 km / 1998-2023)":

 

The location 41.6708, -70.91364 is also in the U.S., so you should be able to access data from either the GOES V4 or PSM V3 API endpoints.

For the wkt (well known text representation) parameter, be sure to put the longitude first followed by the latitude: "-70.91364+41.6708".

If you continue to have trouble, please share the URL you are using to make the request. (Remove your API key from the URL before posting it.)

Best regards,
Paul.


 

Hi Paul, 

Thank you, I was able to get it working after switching the latitude and longitude. I had two follow-up questions:
1) Is there an easy way to just get the data in a dataframe within my code, instead of manually downloading from my email? This is what I have set up:
    BASE_URL = " developer.nrel.gov/api/nsrdb/v2/solar/nsrdb-GOES-tmy-v4-0-0-download.json ?"
    input_data = {
        'attributes': 'ghi,dni,dhi,air_temperature,wind_speed,clearsky_dni,clearsky_ghi,relative_humidity',
        'interval': '60',
        'wkt': wkt,
        'names': 'tmy-2022',
        'api_key': API_KEY,
        'email': EMAIL}
2) I see from the documentation that the irradiance data is based on geostationary satellites at a granularity level of 4km x 4km. Do the weather variables (temperature, wind speed, relative humidity) have the same level of granularity?

Thanks again!

Hi Sirena,

To download the file instead of receiving it by email, use ".csv" for the format in the base URL instead of ".json". See the GOES V4 endpoint description for more details: developer.nrel.gov/docs/solar/nsrdb/nsrdb-GOES-tmy-v4-0-0-download/ .

Yes, the meteorological data and solar resource data use the same grid cell size. See the Weather Data Publications page for links to publications about the NSRDB: sam.nrel.gov/weather-data/weather-data-publications.html . You might also consider contacting the NSRDB team for more detailed questions about the data: nsrdb.nrel.gov/contact-us .

Thanks,
Paul.