Posted in 2026
Working with multiple ARM files and Xarray
- 02 June 2026
When working with multiple ARM files such as the datastream sgpmfrsraod1michE13.c1, errors can occur depending on the parameters used to read in the files. ACT uses xarray open_mfdataset to read in multiple files and feeds these parameters into the xarray function. Parameters such as combine (how xarray combines the files), data_vars (whether to attempt to combine all variables despite dimensions), and much more. Depending on how coordinates and dimensions are in the files, such as multiple dimensions outside of time, the default reader in ACT and xarray can fail.
Lets start by looking at one singular file in for our sgpmfrsraod1michE13.c1 datastream: