README.md

cryoswath

cryoswath is a python package containing processing pipelines, a tool library, and some pre-assembled data to retrieve and study CryoSat-2 data.

Adaptability lies at its core. The user can access many options simply by passing arguments to functions; everything else can be customized changing the concerned function or adding a new one.

🌱 state

cryoswath is being developed. main contains those parts that I believe to work if used as intended and that are tested to some extent. Other branches are for development.

✨ features

• find all CryoSat-2 tracks passing over your region of interest
• download L1b data from ESA
• retrieve swath elevation estimates
• aggregate point data to gridded data
• fill data gaps using tested methods
• calculate change rates

🚀 getting started

There is a number of ways you can start off. I will give detailed instructions for UNIX systems. Make sure to use python 3.11 or higher. Further, I recommend to use a virtual environment and will involve python-venv in the instructions (however, conda works similar).

with git 🐙

advantage: easy pulling bugfixes

Set up a project directory, pull this repo, create virtual environment, initialize, and download ArcticDEM and the RGI glacier and complex shape files into the data/auxiliary/DEM and -RGI directories.

proj_dir=altimetry-project
git clone https://github.com/j-haacker/cryoswath.git $proj_dir
cd $proj_dir
python3.11 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e .
cryoswath-init

with pip 📦

advantage: easy installation

Set up a project directory, create virtual environment, install cryoswath, initialize, and download ArcticDEM and the RGI glacier and complex shape files into the data/auxiliary/DEM and -RGI directories.

proj_dir=altimetry-project
cd $proj_dir
python3.11 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install cryoswath
cryoswath-init

Docker and conda

New setup instructions coming soon.

multiple projects

Similar to the above, set up a virtual environment but rather locate it in a neutral directory. For each project, run cryoswath-init.

📖 documentation

j-haacker.github.io/cryoswath

dependencies

• requirements.txt
• reference elevation model
• glacier outlines

cryoswath will point you to the required resources.

🐛 known issues

• projected RGI basins sometimes "invalid" -> add .make_valid() if it is missing somewhere

• it has mostly been tested for the Arctic

  Further: see open issues.

citation and attribution

You can cite this package using bibtex:

@misc{cryoswath,
  author = {J. Haacker},
  title = {cryoswath: CryoSat-2 swath processing package},
  year = {2024},
  publisher = {GitHub},
  journal = {GitHub repository},
  howpublished = {\url{https://github.com/j-haacker/cryoswath}}
}

Please mind that you likely used other resources on the way.

• ESA provides the L1b data under these Terms and Conditions
• RGI data is distributed under CC-BY-4.0 license
• if you (likely) used DEMs of the PGC, see their Acknowledgement Policy
• the many python packages and libraries this package depends on; some of which are indispensable.

📜 license

MIT. See LICENSE.txt.