Introduction to imdR

Overview

imdR provides a complete R interface to India Meteorological Department (IMD) gridded daily meteorological data. It covers:

  • Rainfall — 0.25 degree resolution, 1901 to present
  • Maximum temperature — 1.0 degree resolution, 1951 to present
  • Minimum temperature — 1.0 degree resolution, 1951 to present

The package bundles Survey of India (SOI) approved state and district boundaries, enabling boundary-aware extraction and publication-quality maps directly from R.

Installation

# Install from CRAN (once available)
install.packages("imdR")

# Or install the development version from GitHub
# install.packages("remotes")
remotes::install_github("Subhradip25/imdR")
library(imdR)

Step 1 — Explore available boundaries

# List all 36 states and union territories
list_states()

# List all districts in a state
list_districts("Goa")
list_districts("Kerala")

# Get the sf boundary object for any state or district
goa_sf      <- get_boundary("state",    "Goa")
north_goa   <- get_boundary("district", "North Goa")
kerala_sf   <- get_boundary("state",    "Kerala")

Step 2 — Download data

file_dir <- tempdir()

# Single year — returns a SpatRaster directly
rain2020 <- get_data("rain", 2020, 2020, file_dir)
tmax2020 <- get_data("tmax", 2020, 2020, file_dir)
tmin2020 <- get_data("tmin", 2020, 2020, file_dir)

# Multi-year — returns a named list of SpatRasters (one per year)
# because leap and non-leap years have different layer counts
rain_3yr <- get_data("rain", 2018, 2020, file_dir)

# Read previously downloaded files without re-downloading
rain2020 <- open_data("rain", 2020, 2020, file_dir)

Step 3 — Visualize

# Full India map
plot_imd(rain2020, "2020-06-28", "rain")

# Zoom to a state
plot_imd(rain2020, "2020-06-28", "rain",
         level = "state", name = "Kerala",
         save_path = file.path(tempdir(), "rain_Kerala_20200628.png"))

# Zoom to a district
plot_imd(rain2020, "2020-06-28", "rain",
         level = "district", name = "North Goa",
         save_path = file.path(tempdir(), "rain_NorthGoa_20200628.png"))

# Temperature map
plot_imd(tmax2020, "2020-05-20", "tmax",
         save_path = file.path(tempdir(), "tmax_India_20200520.png"))

Step 4 — Point extraction

# Extract daily time series at Panaji, Goa
goa_rain <- get_point(lat = 15.5, lon = 73.8,
                      variable = "rain",
                      start_yr = 2020, end_yr = 2020,
                      file_dir = file_dir)

head(goa_rain)

# Extract all three variables at once (rain + tmax + tmin + DTR)
goa_all <- get_point_all(lat = 15.5, lon = 73.8,
                         start_yr = 2020, end_yr = 2020,
                         file_dir  = file_dir)

head(goa_all)

# Plot the daily time series
plot_timeseries(goa_rain, variable = "rain",
                title = "Goa Daily Rainfall 2020")

Step 5 — Bounding box and boundary extraction

# Crop to a bounding box
western_ghats <- get_bbox(
  lat_min = 8, lat_max = 21,
  lon_min = 73, lon_max = 78,
  variable = "rain", start_yr = 2020, end_yr = 2020,
  file_dir = file_dir, format = "netcdf"
)

# Mask to a state boundary
kerala_rain <- extract_by_boundary(
  rain2020, level = "state", name = "Kerala",
  variable = "rain", save = TRUE,
  format = "netcdf", file_dir = file_dir
)

# Mask to a district boundary
north_goa_rain <- extract_by_boundary(
  rain2020, level = "district", name = "North Goa",
  variable = "rain", save = TRUE,
  format = "geotiff", file_dir = file_dir
)

Step 6 — Rainfall climate indices

# Compute 11 indices for full India (2020)
rain_idx <- compute_rainfall_indices(rain2020,
                                     file_dir = file_dir)

# Available indices:
# dr     — rainy days (>= 2.5 mm)
# d64    — heavy precipitation days (>= 64.5 mm)
# d115   — very heavy precipitation days (>= 115.6 mm)
# rx1day — maximum 1-day rainfall
# rx5day — maximum 5-day rainfall
# rtwd   — total rainfall on wet days
# sdii   — simple daily intensity index
# total  — annual total rainfall
# cwd    — consecutive wet days
# cdd    — consecutive dry days
# pci    — precipitation concentration index

# Compute for Goa state only
goa_rain_idx <- compute_rainfall_indices(
  rain2020, level = "state", name = "Goa",
  file_dir = file_dir
)

print(goa_rain_idx)

# Multi-year indices for trend analysis
idx_3yr <- compute_rainfall_indices(rain_3yr,
                                    file_dir = file_dir)

Step 7 — Temperature climate indices

# Compute 13 temperature indices for full India
temp_idx <- compute_temp_indices(tmax2020, tmin2020,
                                  file_dir = file_dir)

# Available indices:
# mean_tmax — mean daily maximum temperature
# mean_tmin — mean daily minimum temperature
# mean_dtr  — mean diurnal temperature range
# txx       — hottest day (max of tmax)
# txn       — coldest day (min of tmax)
# tnx       — warmest night (max of tmin)
# tnn       — coldest night (min of tmin)
# su35      — summer days (tmax >= 35 C)
# su40      — very hot days (tmax >= 40 C)
# tr10      — cold nights (tmin <= 10 C)
# tr25      — tropical nights (tmin >= 25 C)
# wsdi      — warm spell duration index
# csdi      — cold spell duration index

# Compute for Goa
goa_temp_idx <- compute_temp_indices(
  tmax2020, tmin2020,
  level = "state", name = "Goa",
  file_dir = file_dir
)

print(goa_temp_idx)

Step 8 — Trend analysis

# Mann-Kendall test + Sen's slope on any index
# Requires at least 3 years of data

# Download a longer time series for meaningful trend
rain_10yr <- get_data("rain", 2011, 2020, file_dir)
idx_10yr  <- compute_rainfall_indices(rain_10yr,
                                       file_dir = file_dir)

# Trend in annual total rainfall
trend_total <- trend_analysis(idx_10yr,
                              index_col = "total",
                              file_dir  = file_dir)

# Trend in rainy days
trend_dr <- trend_analysis(idx_10yr,
                           index_col = "dr",
                           file_dir  = file_dir)

# Region-specific trend — Goa
goa_idx_10yr <- compute_rainfall_indices(
  rain_10yr, level = "state", name = "Goa",
  file_dir = file_dir
)

trend_goa <- trend_analysis(goa_idx_10yr,
                            index_col = "total",
                            name      = "Goa",
                            file_dir  = file_dir)

Output files

All functions that produce files use consistent naming conventions:

Function Output file
get_point() rain_15.5N_73.8E_2020_2020.csv
get_point_all() imd_all_15.5N_73.8E_2020_2020.csv
get_bbox() rain_8N_21N_73E_78E_2020_2020.nc
extract_by_boundary() rain_Kerala_2020-01-01_2020-12-31.nc
compute_rainfall_indices() rainfall_indices_Goa.csv
compute_temp_indices() temp_indices_Goa.csv
trend_analysis() trend_total_Goa.csv + trend_total_Goa.png

Citation

citation("imdR")

Data source

IMD gridded data: India Meteorological Department, Pune. https://imdpune.gov.in (accessed periodically; server may be temporarily unavailable)

Boundaries: Survey of India (SOI)