pydata / pydata/xarray

Converting `cftime.datetime` objects to `np.datetime64` values through `astype`

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topic-cftime
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Python
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Description

The discussion of the use of the indexes property in #5102 got me thinking about this StackOverflow answer. For a while I have thought that my answer there isn't very satisfying, not only because it relies on this somewhat obscure indexes property, but also because it only works on dimension coordinates -- i.e. something that would be backed by an index.

Describe the solution you'd like

It would be better if we could do this conversion with astype, e.g. da.astype("datetime64[ns]"). This would allow conversion to datetime64 values for all cftime.datetime DataArrays -- dask-backed or NumPy-backed, 1D or ND -- through a fairly standard and well-known method. To my surprise, while you do not get the nice calendar-switching warning that CFTimeIndex.to_datetimeindex provides, this actually already kind of seems to work (?!):

In [1]: import xarray as xr

In [2]: times = xr.cftime_range("2000", periods=6, calendar="noleap")

In [3]: da = xr.DataArray(times.values.reshape((2, 3)), dims=["a", "b"])

In [4]: da.astype("datetime64[ns]")
Out[4]:
<xarray.DataArray (a: 2, b: 3)>
array([['2000-01-01T00:00:00.000000000', '2000-01-02T00:00:00.000000000',
        '2000-01-03T00:00:00.000000000'],
       ['2000-01-04T00:00:00.000000000', '2000-01-05T00:00:00.000000000',
        '2000-01-06T00:00:00.000000000']], dtype='datetime64[ns]')
Dimensions without coordinates: a, b

NumPy obviously does not officially support this -- nor would I expect it to -- so I would be wary of simply documenting this behavior as is. Would it be reasonable for us to modify xarray.core.duck_array_ops.astype to explicitly implement this conversion ourselves for cftime.datetime arrays? This way we could ensure this was always supported, and we could include appropriate errors for out-of-bounds times (the NumPy method currently overflows in that case) and warnings for switching from non-standard calendars.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start in xarray.core.duck_array_ops.astype and reproduce the cftime.datetime DataArray examples from the issue for NumPy-backed and dask-backed, 1D and ND arrays. Define completion around reliable datetime64 conversion, appropriate handling of out-of-bounds times, and warnings when switching from non-standard calendars.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
numpy, python
Domain
data
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
42/100

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