HERMES_Δ (High-Elective Resolution Modelling Emission System – Delta) is an open-source, Python-based emission processing system designed to transform officially reported emission inventories into model-ready datasets for air quality and greenhouse gas (GHG) simulations.
It provides high-resolution spatial, temporal, vertical, and chemical speciation processing, enabling integration with state-of-the-art atmospheric models for research and regulatory applications.
- 🔍 Inventory processing: Works with official emission inventories reported under the CLTRAP and UNFCCC.
- 🗺️ High-resolution horizontal spatial disaggregation using vector and raster proxies.
- ⏱️ Flexible temporal allocation, up to the hourly resolution.
- 🧪 Vertical distribution taking into account specific stack height information for point sources.
- 🧪 Chemical speciation of primary emissions following multiple chemical mechanisms.
- ⚙️ Parallel execution (MPI-based) for efficient HPC workflows.
- 🌍 Output formats compatible with state-of-the-art atmospheric chemistry transport models, including:
- CF-COMPLIENT
- CHIMERE
- CMAQ
- WRF-Chem
- MONARCH
- MOCAGE
- 🧰 Configurable and reproducible workflows via INI/YAML configuration.
HERMES_Δ requires the following software and Python packages, which can be installed via Conda:
- python=3.10
- libnetcdf=*=mpi_mpich*
- netCDF4=*=mpi_mpich*
- h5py=*=mpi_mpich*
- pytest
- pytest-cov
- pycodestyle>=2.10.0
- geopandas>=0.10.2
- rtree>=0.9.0
- numpy>=1.20.0
- pyproj
- setuptools>=66.1.1
- pytest>=7.2.1
- shapely
- mpi4py ~= 3.1.4
- eccodes
- python-eccodes
- filelock
- configargparse
- psutil
- pyyaml
- gdal
- rasterio>=1.4
- holidays
- pipSome packages require MPI-enabled builds (e.g., mpi_mpich variants).
Clone the repository and install dependencies using the provided Makefile:
git clone https://github.com/BSC-ES/HERMES_Delta.git
cd HERMES_Delta
make full_installationThis installs a Conda environment with all required packages.
For advanced installation on HPC systems, see the installation instructions.
The system is run from the command line with a configuration file:
- Parameters can be defined in the INI file or overridden via the command line.
- When a parameter is defined in both, the command-line value takes precedence.
Configuration details: HERMES_Delta_HowToConfigure
Full documentation is available in the project Wiki and companion guides:
- 📘 User Guide / Configuration
- 📄 Input file formats
- 🛠️ Installation guide
- 📊 Short examples
- 📝 Change log
HERMES_Δ is licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL) version 3. See the LICENSE file for details.
If you use HERMES_Δ in your research, please cite the software release:
Tena, C. (2026). HERMES_Δ v1 – High-Elective Resolution Modelling Emission System – Delta. Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC). https://doi.org/10.82201/5DVMYR
A scientific paper describing the methodology and benchmarking of HERMES_Δ is currently in preparation.
This work was developed as part of the high-Resolution air Emissions Systems to suPport modellIng and monitoRing Efforts (RESPIRE) national project.
RESPIRE is part of the Plan de Recuperación, Transformación y Resiliencia (PRTyR), funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU.
The development team acknowledges support from:
- Funded by the European Commission – NextGenerationEU
- Government of Spain – Ministerio para la Transición Ecológica
- Agencia Estatal de Meteorología (AEMET)
- Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC)
- Software DOI: https://doi.org/10.82201/5DVMYR
- Source code: https://github.com/BSC-ES/HERMES_Delta
- Documentation: https://github.com/BSC-ES/HERMES_Delta/wiki
- Benchmark data: https://dataverse.bsc.es/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=perma:BSC/3ST00L
For questions, support or contributions:
- Carles Tena – carles.tena@bsc.es
- Marc Guevara – marc.guevara@bsc.es
- Johanna Gehlen – johanna.gehlen@bsc.es
- Luca Rizza – luca.rizza@bsc.es
Contributions welcome via GitHub pull requests!