Library · Noun reference

temperature

Gridded air temperature, with an explicit daily statistic.

See the field

A frozen PRISM extract shows what this implemented noun represents. The live noun loader is documented below; this illustration does not make a live request.

REAL DATA · Reviewed local PRISM observations; no live request.

Reproduce: imports, checked data and setup

Run in a clone after python -m pip install -e '.[vignettes]'.

from pathlib import Path
import hashlib
import json
import numpy as np
import pandas as pd
import xarray as xr
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from IPython.display import display
from cubedynamics import pipe, verbs as v

# Run in the cloned repository or beside a downloaded notebook in the repo.
repo = next(p for p in (Path.cwd(), *Path.cwd().parents)
            if (p / "tests/fixtures/real_data").is_dir())

def observed_cube(stem, variable):
    path = repo / "tests/fixtures/real_data" / (stem + ".nc")
    record = json.loads(path.with_suffix(".provenance.json").read_text())
    assert hashlib.sha256(path.read_bytes()).hexdigest() == record["fixture_sha256"]
    with xr.open_dataset(path, engine="scipy") as dataset:
        assert not dataset.attrs["is_synthetic"]
        result = dataset[variable].load()  # Only this small, reviewed local extract.
        result.attrs = {**dataset.attrs, **result.attrs}
    assert result.dims == ("time", "y", "x")
    assert np.all(np.diff(result.x) > 0) and np.all(np.diff(result.y) < 0)
    assert bool(np.isfinite(result).all())
    return result

cube = observed_cube("prism_boulder_january_2024", "tmax").rename("temperature")
assert cube.attrs["units"] == "degC"

plt.rcParams.update({'font.family': 'DejaVu Sans', 'font.size': 12, 'axes.titlesize': 13, 'axes.labelsize': 12, 'figure.facecolor': 'white', 'axes.facecolor': 'white', 'savefig.facecolor': 'white', 'figure.dpi': 140})

Start with a temperature field

Where was the cold outbreak visible on 16 January?

field = cube.sel(time="2024-01-16")

fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(5.4, 3.8), layout="constrained")
field.plot(ax=ax, cmap="magma", cbar_kwargs={"label": "Daily maximum (°C)"})
ax.set(title="PRISM · Boulder · 16 January 2024",
       xlabel="Longitude (°E)", ylabel="Latitude (°N)")
plt.show()

Real PRISM daily maximum temperature, Boulder region, 16 January 2024. Selecting a date exposes one spatial face of the cube; north is up.

What changed? Each cell is a gridded estimate, not a station reading. This map shows absolute temperature; it does not yet say how unusual the day was.

Generating code · Figure/input provenance

Quick facts

Fact	Value
Semantic type	Gridded environmental observations
Units by source	gridmet: maximum: K; minimum: K; prism: maximum: degC; minimum: degC; mean: degC
Spatial coverage	Contiguous United States
Temporal resolution	daily
Available source flavors	gridmet, prism

Usage

data.temperature(*, source='gridmet', statistic='maximum', bbox=None, geometry=None, aoi_geojson=None, lat=None, lon=None, start=None, end=None, **kwargs)

Import with from cubedynamics import data. Keyword-only parameters and defaults above come from Python.

Available sources

Source	Coverage	Resolution	Time	Selection constraint
gridmet	Contiguous United States	4,638.3 m	1979-present; daily	No native daily mean temperature variable; choose maximum or minimum.
prism	Contiguous United States	approximately 4 km	1981-present; daily	Recent grids are revised as station data and quality control mature.

Differences among source flavors

The same noun does not make these products numerically interchangeable. CubeDynamics does not silently harmonize units, grids, statistics, or revisions.

Property	gridmet	prism
Units	maximum: K; minimum: K	maximum: degC; minimum: degC; mean: degC
Variables / statistics	maximum: tmmx; minimum: tmmn	maximum: tmax; minimum: tmin; mean: tmean
Spatial resolution	4,638.3 m	approximately 4 km
Temporal resolution	daily	daily
Coverage	Contiguous United States	Contiguous United States
Time span	1979-present	1981-present
Revision behavior	provider-managed daily observations in annual assets	daily observations with provider historical revisions
Source mode	rolling	rolling
Interpretation constraints	No native daily mean temperature variable; choose maximum or minimum.	Recent grids are revised as station data and quality control mature.

Check units and statistic choice before comparing values; explicitly align spatial and temporal support. Record the serving revision and retrieval metadata from each result. Learn: provenance and source choice.

See the real-fixture support comparison: inspect native grids and units, and why non-overlapping samples cannot establish source agreement.

Returned data

An xarray.DataArray named temperature, normally with time, y, x dimensions. time stores acquisition/observation times; y and x store grid coordinates in the declared CRS. Inspect the actual dimensions and CRS before combining sources.

Units are source-specific (above), not silently harmonized. Attributes include scientific_noun, source_flavor, source_variables, source_provider, source_product, spatial_query, temporal_query, crs, retrieved_at, data_state, and serving/schema provenance. See provenance helpers.

Minimal reproducible example

Network example: requires the provider and its optional dependencies. This is a real-data request, not an offline certification. For frozen inputs, use the reviewed notebooks.

from cubedynamics import data
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

cube = data.temperature(
    source="prism", bbox=[-105.55, 39.85, -105.05, 40.15],
    start="2024-06-01", end="2024-06-03",
)
cube.isel(time=0).plot()
plt.show()

Quality and provenance

Source	Lifecycle	Revision	Revision status	Live health	QA profile
gridmet	implemented	temperature.gridmet@2026-08-26.1	VALIDATED	STALE	climate_continuous_daily
prism	implemented	temperature.prism@2026-08-26.1	VALIDATED	STALE	climate_continuous_daily

Revision validity is not a claim that the live endpoint is available today. Certification evidence distinguishes reviewed fixtures from live checks. Each source's selection constraint above remains part of the interpretation.