--- title: "Climate time-series tools: charts and time-lapses for any place" description: "Make climate charts and satellite time-lapses for any place: datasets and licences, drawing an area, worked examples, limits and reuse terms." url: https://www.technicalgis.com/articles/climate-time-series-tools/ author: TechnicalGIS Team publisher: TechnicalGIS (https://www.technicalgis.com/about/) published: 2026-10-28 updated: 2026-10-28 language: en-GB --- # Climate time-series tools: charts and time-lapses for any place > Make climate charts and satellite time-lapses for any place: datasets and licences, drawing an area, worked examples, limits and reuse terms. ## Key takeaways 1. The tools produce charts, warming stripes and satellite time-lapses for a chosen point or rectangle from five open datasets: ERA5, CHIRPS, Sentinel-2, Landsat and MODIS. 2. Areas are drawn directly on the map with the Draw rectangle tool; the rectangle turns amber close to the processing limit and red, with a dashed outline, when it is over it. 3. Each request is bounded by pixels per frame, number of frames, total work and a 90-second processing time, so the service stays responsive on shared infrastructure. 4. Outputs may be reused for any purpose, including commercially, provided the line "Generated at TechnicalGIS.com" and the dataset credit are kept. The [climate time-series tools](https://www.technicalgis.com/climate-tools/) turn open climate and satellite archives into charts, warming stripes and time-lapse animations for a place you choose on the map. There is nothing to install and no account to create: select a dataset, mark a point or draw a rectangle, choose the period, and the service returns a PNG chart or an MP4 and GIF animation together with a CSV of the values behind it. This article explains what the tools do, which datasets they use and under which licences, how to draw an area, and why requests are limited. The worked examples are real outputs from the [example gallery](https://www.technicalgis.com/climate-tools/gallery/), each of which can be opened in the tool and run again for another place. ![The climate tool: a form with dataset, output, bounds, dates, frame interval and pixel size on the left, and a map with the drawing toolbar and a rectangle over north Evia on the right](https://www.technicalgis.com/_astro/01-tool-overview.BFhgqKkv_Z1yKRCI.webp) _The tool with a Sentinel-2 NDVI request for north Evia. The summary under the form shows the area, frame count, pixels per frame and total work against each limit._ ## What the tools produce Each dataset offers one or more outputs: - **ERA5 reanalysis**: monthly mean temperature, monthly precipitation and annual warming stripes for a point, from 1940 to the latest complete month. - **CHIRPS rainfall**: monthly rainfall against the 1991–2020 normal for a point or an area, and an animated map of rainfall as a percentage of normal, from 1981. - **Sentinel-2 L2A**: true-colour or NDVI time-lapses of a rectangle at up to 10 m, from April 2017. - **Landsat Collection 2 Level-2**: true-colour or NDVI time-lapses at up to 30 m, from 1984, which makes it the dataset for long-term change. - **MODIS MOD13Q1**: a 16-day NDVI series at 250 m for a point or the mean of an area, from 2000. For imagery, the service picks the clearest acquisition in each monthly, quarterly or annual period, masks cloud and shadow in grey, and applies a fixed stretch so that frames can be compared. Periods with no usable scene are listed in the output notes rather than causing the request to fail. The [methodology](https://www.technicalgis.com/climate-tools/methodology/#processing) describes each step. ## Datasets and licences All five interactive datasets are openly licensed, which is why outputs derived from them can be offered for reuse: | Dataset | Provider and access | Licence | | --- | --- | --- | | ERA5 | Copernicus Climate Change Service, via Earthmover Icechunk | CC BY 4.0 | | CHIRPS v3 | UCSB Climate Hazards Center, via dynamical.org | CC BY 4.0 | | Sentinel-2 L2A | Copernicus, via Element 84 Earth Search | Copernicus legal notice (free, full and open) | | Landsat C2 L2 | USGS, via Microsoft Planetary Computer | Public domain | | MODIS MOD13Q1 | NASA LP DAAC, via Microsoft Planetary Computer | No restrictions | The gallery also contains a pre-computed projection from NASA’s NEX-GDDP-CMIP6 downscaled climate scenarios (CC0). It is not offered interactively because each year of each scenario is stored as a separate global file, so a single long series for one point means reading well over a hundred files, which the shared service cannot do within its time limit. The [data catalogue](https://www.technicalgis.com/data-sources/) lists these and many other sources, with notes on access and cost. ## Drawing an area on the map The map carries a toolbar in its top-left corner. Only the tools that suit the selected dataset and output are shown: ERA5 accepts a point only, Sentinel-2 and Landsat a rectangle only, and CHIRPS and MODIS either. **Draw rectangle.** Select the tool, then press and drag across the map. The map stops panning while the tool is active, so the drag draws rather than moves. A readout below the toolbar shows the size in kilometres while you draw, and the outline changes colour as the area approaches the processing limit: - blue when the request is comfortably within the limits; - amber when it uses 85% or more of a limit; - red, with a dashed outline, when it is over a limit. If dragging is awkward, for example with a trackpad, click one corner and then the opposite corner. Touch screens are supported: on a phone or tablet, select Draw rectangle and drag with one finger. **Editing.** Once drawn, the rectangle has a handle at each corner. Drag a corner to resize the area, or drag inside the rectangle to move it. The bounds fields, the readout and the limit summary update as you go. **Point.** Select Point and click the map to place a marker; drag the marker to move it. **Clear and Fit to area.** Clear removes the current shape. Fit to area zooms the map to it, which is useful after typing coordinates. Press Escape to cancel a rectangle part-way through. The West, South, East and North fields (or Latitude and Longitude for a point) remain available for anyone who prefers to type coordinates or uses a keyboard or screen reader; the shape on the map follows what is typed. ![A rectangle of 78 by 45 km drawn with a red dashed outline, and a readout stating that it is over the processing limit](https://www.technicalgis.com/_astro/03-rectangle-over-limit.Csnwu7pq_2v49e8.webp) _An area that is over the limit is drawn in red with a dashed outline. The summary under the form names the limit exceeded and suggests a coarser pixel size, fewer frames or a smaller area._ ![The map showing a single point marker over London, with the Point tool selected in the toolbar](https://www.technicalgis.com/_astro/04-point-era5.CuIFfJte_bVmjs.webp) _Point mode for ERA5. Values are for the 0.25° grid cell containing the marker, about 28 km across._ ## Worked examples ### Warming stripes for London Warming stripes colour each year by its mean temperature relative to the 1991–2020 average, following the design popularised by Ed Hawkins. For the ERA5 cell containing west London, the 1991–2020 mean is 10.7 °C and the linear trend since 1940 is 0.21 °C per decade. The coldest years were 1963 (2.5 °C below the normal) and 1962; the warmest was 2022, 1.1 °C above it, and eleven of the twelve years from 2014 to 2025 were warmer than the normal. ![Warming stripes for London from 1940 to 2025, blue in the 1940s to 1980s and predominantly red after 2000](https://www.technicalgis.com/_astro/05-london-warming-stripes.BbQPH3Q3_O2aMl.webp) _ERA5 warming stripes for London, 1940 to 2025. See the gallery item for the CSV of annual means and anomalies._ The [London warming stripes](https://www.technicalgis.com/climate-tools/gallery/london-warming-stripes/) item can be run again for any other point on land or sea. For the same analysis in code, the tutorial [ERA5 in Python with xarray](https://www.technicalgis.com/tutorials/era5-python-xarray/) reads the reanalysis directly from cloud Zarr stores. ### Vegetation loss after the 2021 north Evia wildfire In August 2021 a wildfire burned a large part of northern Evia, Greece. The [north Evia NDVI example](https://www.technicalgis.com/climate-tools/gallery/north-evia-ndvi-wildfire/) is a quarterly Sentinel-2 NDVI time-lapse from 2020 to 2024. Mean NDVI over the rectangle was between 0.38 and 0.44 through 2020 and in June 2021, fell to 0.28 in the scene of 25 September 2021, and returned to around 0.42 by the second half of 2023 as shrubs and grasses re-established. ![A chart of quarterly mean NDVI over north Evia from 2020 to 2024, with a sharp fall in the third quarter of 2021](https://www.technicalgis.com/_astro/07-evia-ndvi-series.DTMfEalM_Z12jsWf.webp) _Mean NDVI over the rectangle by quarter. Seasonal swings are visible every year; the fall in 2021 Q3 is the fire._ ![Two Sentinel-2 NDVI maps of north Evia side by side, March 2020 and October 2024; the 2024 map shows paler, lower NDVI across the burnt area in the north-centre](https://www.technicalgis.com/_astro/06-evia-ndvi-before-after.Bb0Ke5LC_1Bb6R1.webp) _NDVI before the fire (March 2020) and three years after it (October 2024). Recovery is under way, but the burnt area still has lower NDVI than the unburnt forest to the south-west._ The gallery item was produced at 40 m, finer than an interactive request allows for 20 frames, so the tool opens it at 80 m. For a dedicated burn-severity analysis, see [burn severity mapping with Sentinel-2 and dNBR](https://www.technicalgis.com/tutorials/burn-severity-dnbr-python/); for NDVI series in code, see [NDVI time series with odc-stac](https://www.technicalgis.com/tutorials/ndvi-time-series-odc-stac/). ### Rainfall against the normal in Nairobi The [Nairobi rainfall anomaly](https://www.technicalgis.com/climate-tools/gallery/nairobi-rainfall-anomaly/) compares CHIRPS monthly totals for 2016 to 2025 with the 1991–2020 normal. The October to December short rains of 2021 delivered about 35% less than normal, part of the run of failed seasons behind the 2020–2023 drought in the Horn of Africa. The largest anomaly is April 2024, with 599 mm against a normal of 171 mm, 350% of the usual total, during the long rains that caused widespread flooding in Kenya. ![Two-panel chart for Nairobi: monthly CHIRPS rainfall with the 1991–2020 normal, and monthly anomalies with a 12-month running mean, 2016 to 2025](https://www.technicalgis.com/_astro/08-nairobi-rainfall-anomaly.P3_9SkAU_qmBeD.webp) _Monthly rainfall and anomalies for Nairobi. The companion gallery item maps the same anomalies across southern Kenya and northern Tanzania._ The [rainfall anomaly map for southern Kenya and northern Tanzania](https://www.technicalgis.com/climate-tools/gallery/east-africa-rainfall-anomaly-map/) shows the same months as an animation over an area. ### Growth of Las Vegas from Landsat The [Las Vegas Landsat example](https://www.technicalgis.com/climate-tools/gallery/las-vegas-landsat-growth/) is an annual true-colour time-lapse from 2000 to 2024 at 120 m. Successive frames show new suburbs and road grids extending south-west, north-west and south-east into the desert. No usable scene was found for 2012, after Landsat 5 was retired and before Landsat 8 was launched, so that year appears as a grey gap. For the reservoir east of the city, the [Lake Mead Sentinel-2 example](https://www.technicalgis.com/climate-tools/gallery/lake-mead-sentinel-2/) and the tutorial on [measuring Lake Mead’s shoreline](https://www.technicalgis.com/tutorials/sentinel-2-stac-lake-mead/) look at the falling water level in more detail. ### Projected temperature for London (gallery only) The [CMIP6 projection for London](https://www.technicalgis.com/climate-tools/gallery/london-temperature-projections-cmip6/) uses one model, MPI-ESM1-2-HR, from NASA’s NEX-GDDP-CMIP6. Its simulated annual mean for 1981–2010 is 10.0 °C; for 2081–2100 it averages 11.4 °C under the intermediate SSP2-4.5 scenario and 13.3 °C under the high-emission SSP5-8.5 scenario. A single model run illustrates the scale of change under each scenario; it is not a forecast for any particular year, and other models give different values. ![A line chart of projected annual mean temperature for London from 1950 to 2100, with historical simulation and two scenarios diverging after 2015](https://www.technicalgis.com/_astro/09-london-cmip6-projection.B2gY6r4s_ZgjlQN.webp) _Projected annual mean temperature for London from one CMIP6 model under two scenarios._ ## Limits, and why they exist The service runs on shared infrastructure, and each request reads data from public cloud archives in real time. To keep it responsive for everyone, each request is bounded: - **1 million pixels per frame**, and **36 frames** at most; - a total work budget for imagery time-lapses of **8 million pixel-frames**; - a maximum area of 60 km across for Sentinel-2 and Landsat and 25 km for MODIS; - **90 seconds** of processing per job; - one job at a time per visitor, and **15 requests a day**. The limit summary under the form shows each figure as you draw, and Generate stays disabled until the request fits. When an area is over the limit, the summary suggests the smallest change that brings it within bounds, usually a coarser pixel size. Results are kept for seven days, and an identical recent request is served from the stored result immediately. ## Attribution and reuse Outputs, including the gallery items, may be used, shared and adapted for any purpose, including commercially, provided that: - the line “Generated at TechnicalGIS.com” is kept with the output, or given alongside it if the output is cropped or re-plotted; - the dataset credit shown on the output is kept, as each dataset’s licence requires; - the output is not presented as endorsed by TechnicalGIS or by any data provider. Every PNG, MP4 and GIF carries both lines, and the CSV header repeats the full citation. The outputs are derived from reanalysis, satellite and gridded estimates with known uncertainties, so they are not suitable on their own for safety-critical, engineering or legal decisions. The full terms are in the [methodology](https://www.technicalgis.com/climate-tools/methodology/#outputs). ## Larger areas and bespoke processing The interactive limits suit a town, a catchment or a single site. Larger areas, finer resolution, longer series, other variables or scheduled updates are better handled as a dedicated job. To discuss a requirement, [request bespoke processing](https://www.technicalgis.com/contact-the-team/?reason=bespoke). To begin, [open the tool](https://www.technicalgis.com/climate-tools/), select Draw rectangle and drag across the place you are interested in. ## Key terms - **Area of interest (AOI)**: The point or rectangle on the map for which a chart or time-lapse is produced. - **Reanalysis**: A consistent, gap-free reconstruction of past weather made by combining a fixed forecast model with historical observations; ERA5 is the most widely used example. - **NDVI**: Normalised Difference Vegetation Index: (near-infrared − red) / (near-infrared + red). Dense green vegetation scores high; bare ground, burnt areas and water score low. - **Anomaly**: The difference between a value and its long-term normal, here the 1991–2020 average for the same place and month or year. - **Pixel-frames**: Pixels per frame multiplied by the number of frames: the measure of total work used to limit imagery time-lapses. ## Data for this article - [ERA5 reanalysis](https://www.technicalgis.com/data-sources/#src-era5) · Hourly global reanalysis from 1940, 0.25° - [CHIRPS rainfall](https://www.technicalgis.com/data-sources/#src-chirps) · Daily rainfall estimates from 1981, 0.05° - [Earth Search STAC API](https://www.technicalgis.com/data-sources/#src-earth-search-stac-api) · Sentinel-2 L2A Cloud Optimised GeoTIFFs - [Microsoft Planetary Computer](https://www.technicalgis.com/data-sources/#src-microsoft-planetary-computer) · Landsat Collection 2 and MODIS MOD13Q1 - [Landsat missions](https://www.technicalgis.com/data-sources/#src-landsat-missions) · USGS Landsat archive from 1972 Licences and formats for each source are listed in the [GIS data sources catalogue](https://www.technicalgis.com/data-sources/). --- Source: https://www.technicalgis.com/articles/climate-time-series-tools/