ISIMIP Data on the ESGF server

On this page you will find information on how to download published ISIMIP output data from the ISIMIP node of the Earth System Grid Federation. The procedure is analogous to downloading official CMIP5 data from other ESGF nodes.

Please read the terms of use carefully, and only proceed if you agree. Please also pay attention to our overview of known Data Caveats. More detailed help can be found in the official Earth System CoG web user tutorials.

1. An ESGF OpenID is required. If you already have one please proceed with step 2), otherwise create a new account with the Link “Create Account” on the main page of the website. New OpenIDs are managed by out partner node at DKRZ. It's is also possible to create an OpenID on a different ESGF node (e.g. pcmdi.lnll.gov) because the accounts work federation wide. When choosing your username and entering your personal details don't make use of special characters as the ESGF nodes won't let you log in otherwise. After successful creation of your account you will receive an email to remember your OpenID. Your account will be active immediately.
2. Enroll in the ISI-MIP_Research group within the ESGF. You either need to register with the links shown here or test-download a single file by adding an ISIMIP data set to your Data Cart, clicking on Show Files and the HTTP link on the right side of a file entry. You will then be prompted to join the group and asked in a pop-up window to accept or decline the ISIMIP terms of use agreement. Once accepted the entire ISIMIP Fast Track catalog is available to you for download.

These scripts will automatically download all the selected files (up to 1000 at a time) to a Linux or MacOS machine. This is the standard procedure for downloading data sets from ESGF data nodes.

1. Put the data sets of interest into your Data Cart (Add to Cart). You can subselect a variable by making use of the search text box in the data cart view.
   
2. On the Data Cart tab you can then download the wget script by clicking on WGET or WGET All Selected (no need to be logged in at this point).
   
3. Save that file to the folder you want the data to be downloaded to. Please keep in mind that one single download script is capable of retrieving only 1000 files. Please consider working with multiple wget scripts if you are interested in a broader subset of the ISIMIP Fast Track data.
   
4. Executing the script in a console on your machine will download the federation's keystore, prompt you for your OpenID and password and finally start downloading the files into the current directory. All files are checksum checked to prove their integrity. Make sure you have Oracle Java, version 1.7 or newer installed on your machine, otherwise the script will stop with an error message.

If you are working on a Windows installation or only need to download a very few files, you can also receive the data directly from the website. Then, the procedure is the same as described above in the group enrollment section (test download).

If you run into issues with the data regarding their formating or internal structure please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Data from DIVA model was provided in mixed formats, i.e. CSV and netCDF4, and thus not published on the ESGF Server. Instead the data can be downloaded via the RSYNC service.