DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.13846089
title: The System for Classification of Low-Pressure Systems (SyCLoPS) Dataset (Based on ERA5)

description: This is the ERA5 System for Classification of Low-Pressure Systems (SyCLoPS) dataset version 2. Details of SyCLoPS algorithms are described in the manuscript (in review) titled The System for Classification of Low-Pressure Systems (SyCLoPS): An All-in-One Objective Framework for Large-scale Datasets. In this version, we renamed some column/parameter names in the catalogs and slightly adjusted the data column structure. We updated the Python classifier ("SyCLoPS_classifier.py") to combine several data handling and computation processes into one script and make it easier to use. We also created a new user manual ("SyCLoPS_manual.html") which includes detailed tips and instructions on implementing SyCLoPS codes and using the resultant SyCLoPS classified catalog. We keep the most up-to-date version of the SyCLoPS user manual online at THIS PLACE. 

https://climate.ucdavis.edu/syclops.phpSyCLoPS is an all-in-one detection and classification framework that combines multiple specialized low-pressure system (LPS) detectors. It is developed atop the TempestExtremes (TE; Ullrich & Zarzycki, 2017; Ullrich et al., 2021) software package with a standalone Python classifier. It is tuned and subsequently applied to the ERA5 reanalysis.  SyCLoPS detects global LPS nodes and tracks and computes 16 atmospheric parameters associated with each LPS node (stored in "SyCLoPS_input.parquet") for LPS classification. It then assigns 16 types of LPS node labels and 4 types of high-impact LPS track labels all at once following the classification workflow documented in the SyCLoPS manuscript. The output of SyCLoPS is a classified LPS catalog ("SyCLoPS_classified.parquet") containing detected global LPS tracks from 1979-2022. Each LPS node and track is labeled based on the SyCLoPS's classification.

The following resultant datasets are provided:



The input LPS catalog: "SyCLoPS_input.parquet"

The output classified LPS catalog: "SyCLoPS_classified.parquet"

The labeled size blobs of each year: "size_blobs_1979_2022.tar.gz"

The labeled precipitation blobs of each year: "preci_blobs_1979_2022.tar.gz"


The size and precipitation blob tag files each have 44 compressed nc files for each year. These detected blobs are not a part of the SyCLoPS framework. They are produced to demonstrate a potential application of SyCLoPS. For more details, please see the end of supporting information text S6 of the SyCLoPS manuscript and section 3.2 of the SyCLoPS user manual.The following script files are provided:



The SyCLoPS classifier: “SyCLoPS_classifier.py”

Blob-node pairing and LOWSIZE calculator: “Blob_idtag.py"

The shell script containing TE command lines: "TE_commands.sh"

Additional TE commands for tagging (masking) blobs: "TE_optional.sh"


Additionally, an example TE input file that contains a list of required ERA5 variable filenames is available HERE.

Please contact Yushan Han (yshhan@ucdavis.edu) if you have questions about the SyCLoPS framework. Please contact Paul Ullrich (paullrich@ucdavis.edu) if you have any questions about the TE software.