Update CMORizer CLARA-AVHRR (A3)

[axel-lauer]

Description

This PR replaces the old NCL CMORizer for CLARA-AVHRR data with a new Python version. The processed CLARA-AVHRR data (version A3) is obtained from the Copernicus Climate Data Store (CDS) and replaces the old version (A2).

Please note: I will not fix the remaining Codacy issues.

• Closes Update/add cmorizer for CLARA-A3 #4446

Checklist

It is the responsibility of the author to make sure the pull request is ready to review. The icons indicate whether the item will be subject to the 🛠 Technical or 🧪 Scientific review.

• 🛠 This pull request has a descriptive title
• 🛠 Code is written according to the code quality guidelines
• 🛠 Documentation is available
• 🛠 Tests run successfully
• 🛠 The list of authors is up to date
• 🛠 Any changed dependencies have been added or removed correctly
• 🛠 All checks below this pull request were successful

New or updated data reformatting script

• 🛠 Documentation is available
• 🛠 The dataset has been added to the CMOR check recipe
• 🛠 The dataset has been added to the shared data pools of DKRZ and Jasmin by the @ESMValGroup/OBS-maintainers team
• 🧪 Numbers and units of the data look physically meaningful

[hb326]

Works like a charm. Thanks, @axel-lauer!
I tried the downloader and formatter both.

One little thing: I commented in one of the files that it might be good to add a comment about why the data download end-date is set to 2020. This will most likely be helpful in a few month when we try to update the data until 2025...

[hb326]

Thanks for adding the notes, @axel-lauer!
Looks good from my side now (I did not look at any Codacy issues...).

[schlunma]

2 comments regarding Codacy problems, others can be ignored.

[schlunma]

Suggested change

	with gzip.open(file_path, "rb") as f_in:
	with Path(outdir / file_path.stem).open("rb") as f_out:
	with (
	gzip.open(file_path, "rb") as f_in,
	Path(outdir / file_path.stem).open("rb") as f_out,
	):

[schlunma]

This will more or less silently skip missing variables. Is this desirable? Can the dataset be used if files are missing? If not, I would remove this try/except block here.

[valeriupredoi]

I agree with Manu - perhaps do a check on the required variables, and if at least one is missing, then raise an exception than mask via try/except

[valeriupredoi]

@schlunma are you doing a technical review? If not, I can do Axel a solid 🍻

[schlunma]

@schlunma are you doing a technical review? If not, I can do Axel a solid 🍻

No, please go for it 🍻

[valeriupredoi]

@schlunma are you doing a technical review? If not, I can do Axel a solid 🍻

No, please go for it 🍻

cheers, buds, on it now then 🍻

[valeriupredoi]

looking good and many thanks for yet another retired NCL script @axel-lauer 🍻 Two very small observations from me, pun intended

[valeriupredoi]

I agree with Manu - perhaps do a check on the required variables, and if at least one is missing, then raise an exception than mask via try/except

[rbeucher]

Hi all — we’re getting ready for the next ESMValTool release, version 2.15, and are planning to freeze the code on 26 June 2026.

Could you please let us know whether you think you’ll be able to finalise the work in this PR by then? If not, no problem — it would just help us plan what can realistically make it into the release.

@flicj191 tagging Felicity for visibility.