dataset · Global
ERA5 hourly data on single levels from 1940 to present
ERA5 is the fifth generation ECMWF reanalysis for the global climate and weather for the past 8 decades. Data is available from 1940 onwards. ERA5 replaces the ERA-Interim reanalysis. Reanalysis combines model data with observations from across the world into a globally complete and consistent dataset using the laws of physics. This principle, called data assimilation, is based on the method used by numerical weather prediction centres, where every so many hours (12 hours at ECMWF) a previous fo
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Licence: CC-BY-4.0
Evidence quality: 46.9
Listed in cds public catalogue API on 2026-10-16; relevance/value screened (haiku).
Metadata checked: 2026-10-14T13:20:00.000Z
What's in it
- Data offered docs-verified
- hourly atmospheric quantities · hourly ocean-wave quantities · hourly land-surface quantities
- Coverage docs-verified
- Global · 1940 to present
- Resolution docs-verified
- 0.25° x 0.25° (atmosphere), 0.5° x 0.5° (ocean waves); hourly
- Update frequency docs-verified
- Daily, with about 5-day latency
- Formats docs-verified
- GRIB
- Access llm-inferred
- CC-BY-4.0 licence (per ENTRY); auth null in ENTRY; CDS login/registration shown on page; cost not stated in DOCS
Useful for
- Use cases llm-inferred
- Historic hourly weather context (temperature, wind, precipitation) for flood or drainage strategy narratives where no local station exists · Hourly wind and wave context for coastal or sea-defence screening using ocean-wave variables · Long-term climate baseline for civils or geotechnical risk assessments
- Audience llm-inferred
- flood consultants · hydrologists · drainage engineers · coastal engineers · climate risk analysts · GIS analysts
Limitations
- Constraints llm-inferred
- Regridded 0.25°/0.5° subset, not the full native-resolution ERA5 data · Global grid, not designed for UK local catchment-scale detail · Early ERA5T release may differ from the final release by 2 to 3 months · About 5-day latency, so not suitable for real-time use · DOCS main-variables list is blank, so the variable list must be checked elsewhere · DOCS QA table includes a 'QA Not Passed' entry (layout ambiguous, appears against Scientific Basis) · GRIB format needs suitable tooling to read
Evidence
- https://cds.climate.copernicus.eu/api/catalogue/v1/collections/reanalysis-era5-single-levels
- https://cds.climate.copernicus.eu/datasets/reanalysis-era5-single-levels
Check upstream coverage, uncertainty and licence before use. Station observations are not forecasts or design levels.