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Get started with climaemet 1.0.0

Diego Hernangómez

Source: vignettes/climaemet.qmd

Since the last release, this package has been integrated into rOpenSpain, a community of R enthusiasts whose ultimate goal is to create high-quality R packages for data mining public Spanish open data sources.

As of version 1.0.0, the package includes improvements and breaking changes for smoother interaction with the AEMET API.

API key

Get your API key

To download data from AEMET, you need a free API key, which you can get at https://opendata.aemet.es/centrodedescargas/altaUsuario.

Once you have your API key, you can use any of the following methods:

a. Set API key with aemet_api_key()

This is the recommended option. Run:

aemet_api_key("YOUR_API_KEY", install = TRUE)

Using install = TRUE stores the API key on your local computer and reloads it every time you load the package.

b. Use an environment variable

This is a temporary alternative. You can set your API key as an environment variable:

Sys.setenv(AEMET_API_KEY = "YOUR_API_KEY")

Note that this is only valid for the current session. You need to run this command each time you restart your R session.

c. Modify your .Renviron file

This stores your API key permanently on your machine. You can start editing your .Renviron file by running this command:

usethis::edit_r_environ()

Now you can add the following line to your .Renviron file:

AEMET_API_KEY=YOUR_API_KEY

New features

tibble format

From v1.0.0 onward, climaemet returns its results in tibble format. The functions also try to parse fields into their correct types. For example, date and hour fields are parsed as date-time objects and numeric fields as double values.

See how a tibble is displayed:

# See a tibble in action

aemet_last_obs("9434")
#> # A tibble: 12 × 25
#>    idema   lon fint                 prec   alt  vmax    vv    dv   lat  dmax ubi     pres    hr
#>    <chr> <dbl> <dttm>              <dbl> <dbl> <dbl> <dbl> <dbl> <dbl> <dbl> <chr>  <dbl> <dbl>
#>  1 9434  -1.00 2026-05-18 10:00:00     0   249   3.9   0.9   174  41.7   313 ZARAG…  988.    55
#>  2 9434  -1.00 2026-05-18 11:00:00     0   249   2.8   1.2    32  41.7   285 ZARAG…  988     47
#>  3 9434  -1.00 2026-05-18 12:00:00     0   249   3.7   1.9    97  41.7    83 ZARAG…  987.    45
#>  4 9434  -1.00 2026-05-18 13:00:00     0   249   3.8   1.3    31  41.7    65 ZARAG…  987.    41
#>  5 9434  -1.00 2026-05-18 14:00:00     0   249   4.8   2.1    80  41.7    63 ZARAG…  986.    41
#>  6 9434  -1.00 2026-05-18 15:00:00     0   249   4.3   1.7   337  41.7    70 ZARAG…  986.    33
#>  7 9434  -1.00 2026-05-18 16:00:00     0   249   5.4   2.1   328  41.7   298 ZARAG…  986.    34
#>  8 9434  -1.00 2026-05-18 17:00:00     0   249   6.5   4.6   324  41.7   330 ZARAG…  986     42
#>  9 9434  -1.00 2026-05-18 18:00:00     0   249   6.8   3.3   326  41.7   310 ZARAG…  986.    45
#> 10 9434  -1.00 2026-05-18 19:00:00     0   249   5.4   1.4   350  41.7   345 ZARAG…  987.    46
#> 11 9434  -1.00 2026-05-18 20:00:00     0   249   3.6   2.7   316  41.7   310 ZARAG…  987.    49
#> 12 9434  -1.00 2026-05-18 21:00:00     0   249   4.2   3     273  41.7   313 ZARAG…  988.    56
#> # ℹ 12 more variables: stdvv <dbl>, ts <dbl>, pres_nmar <dbl>, tamin <dbl>, ta <dbl>,
#> #   tamax <dbl>, tpr <dbl>, stddv <dbl>, inso <dbl>, tss5cm <dbl>, pacutp <dbl>, tss20cm <dbl>

Note that when possible, data representing dates and numbers are converted to the right format.

Spatial objects with sf

Another major change in v1.0.0 is the ability to return information in spatial sf format using return_sf = TRUE. The coordinate reference system (CRS) used is EPSG 4326, which corresponds to the World Geodetic System (WGS) and returns coordinates in latitude/longitude (unprojected coordinates):

# You need to install sf if it is not already installed.
# Run install.packages("sf") to install it.

library(ggplot2)
library(dplyr)

all_stations <- aemet_daily_clim(
  start = "2021-01-08",
  end = "2021-01-08",
  return_sf = TRUE
)

ggplot(all_stations) +
  geom_sf(aes(colour = tmed), shape = 19, size = 2, alpha = 0.95) +
  labs(
    title = "Average temperature in Spain",
    subtitle = "8 Jan 2021",
    color = "Max temp.\n(celsius)",
    caption = "Source: AEMET"
  ) +
  scale_colour_gradientn(
    colours = hcl.colors(10, "RdBu", rev = TRUE),
    breaks = c(-10, -5, 0, 5, 10, 15, 20),
    guide = "legend"
  ) +
  theme_bw() +
  theme(
    panel.border = element_blank(),
    plot.title = element_text(face = "bold"),
    plot.subtitle = element_text(face = "italic")
  )
Example: Temperature in Spain

Example: Temperature in Spain

Further enhancements

Other enhancements included in v1.0.0: