Add vapour pressure deficit

CHANGELOG.rst

@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ New indicators
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 * Added ``xclim.indices.holiday_snow_days`` to compute the number of days with snow on the ground during holidays ("Christmas Days"). (:issue:`2029`, :pull:`2030`).
 * Added ``xclim.indices.holiday_snow_and_snowfall_days`` to compute the number of days with snow on the ground and measurable snowfall during holidays ("Perfect Christmas Days"). (:issue:`2029`, :pull:`2030`).
+* Added ``xclim.indices.vapor_pressure_deficit`` to compute the vapor pressure deficit from temperature and relative humidity. (:issue:`1917`, :pull:`2072`).
 
 New features and enhancements
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

src/xclim/data/fr.json

@@ -931,6 +931,12 @@
     "title": "Humidité spécifique calculée à partir de la température du point de rosée et de la pression",
     "abstract": "Humidité spécifique calculée à partir de la température du point de rosée et de la pression à l'aide de la pression de vapeur saturante."
   },
+  "VAPOR_PRESSURE_DEFICIT": {
+    "long_name": "Déficit de pression de vapeur (méthode \"{method}\")",
+    "description": "Déficit de pression de vapeur calculé à partir de la température et de l'humidité relative à l'aide de la pression de vapeur saturante, laquelle fut calculée en suivant la méthode {method}.",
+    "title": "Déficit de pression de vapeur calculé à partir de la température et de l'humidité relative",
+    "abstract": "Déficit de pression de vapeur calculé à partir de la température et de l'humidité relative à l'aide de la pression de vapeur saturante."
+  },
   "FIRST_DAY_TG_BELOW": {
     "long_name": "Premier jour de l'année avec une température moyenne quotidienne sous {thresh} durant au moins {window} jours",
     "description": "Premier jour de l'année avec une température moyenne quotidienne sous {thresh} durant au moins {window} jours.",

src/xclim/indicators/atmos/_conversion.py

@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
     "specific_humidity_from_dewpoint",
     "tg",
     "universal_thermal_climate_index",
+    "vapor_pressure_deficit",
     "water_budget",
     "water_budget_from_tas",
     "wind_chill_index",
@@ -270,6 +271,26 @@ def cfcheck(self, **das) -> None:
     compute=indices.specific_humidity_from_dewpoint,
 )
 
+
+vapor_pressure_deficit = Converter(
+    title="Water vapour pressure deficit",
+    identifier="vapor_pressure_deficit",
+    units="Pa",
+    long_name='Vapour pressure deficit ("{method}" method)',
+    standard_name="water_vapor_saturation_deficit_in_air",
+    description=lambda **kws: (
+        "The difference between the saturation vapour pressure and the actual vapour pressure,"
+        "calculated from temperature and relative humidity according to the {method} method."
+    )
+    + (
+        " The computation was done in reference to ice for temperatures below {ice_thresh}."
+        if kws["ice_thresh"] is not None
+        else ""
+    ),
+    abstract="Difference between the saturation vapour pressure and the actual vapour pressure.",
+    compute=indices.vapor_pressure_deficit,
+)
+
 snowfall_approximation = Converter(
     title="Snowfall approximation",
     identifier="prsn",

src/xclim/indices/_conversion.py

@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@
     "tas",
     "uas_vas_2_sfcwind",
     "universal_thermal_climate_index",
+    "vapor_pressure_deficit",
     "wind_chill_index",
     "wind_power_potential",
     "wind_profile",
@@ -356,7 +357,7 @@ def sfcwind_2_uas_vas(
 def saturation_vapor_pressure(
     tas: xr.DataArray,
     ice_thresh: Quantified | None = None,
-    method: str = "sonntag90",  # noqa
+    method: str = "sonntag90",
 ) -> xr.DataArray:
     """
     Saturation vapour pressure from temperature.
@@ -492,6 +493,48 @@ def saturation_vapor_pressure(
     return e_sat
 
 
+@declare_units(tas="[temperature]", hurs="[]", ice_thresh="[temperature]")
+def vapor_pressure_deficit(
+    tas: xr.DataArray,
+    hurs: xr.DataArray,
+    ice_thresh: Quantified | None = None,
+    method: str = "sonntag90",
+) -> xr.DataArray:
+    """
+    Vapour pressure deficit.
+
+    The measure of the moisture deficit of the air.
+
+    Parameters
+    ----------
+    tas : xarray.DataArray
+        Mean daily temperature.
+    hurs : xarray.DataArray
+        Relative humidity.
+    ice_thresh : Quantified, optional
+        Threshold temperature under which to switch to equations in reference to ice instead of water.
+        If None (default) everything is computed with reference to water.
+    method : {"goffgratch46", "sonntag90", "tetens30", "wmo08", "its90"}
+        Method used to calculate saturation vapour pressure, see notes of :py:func:`saturation_vapor_pressure`.
+        Default is "sonntag90".
+
+    Returns
+    -------
+    xarray.DataArray, [Pa]
+        Vapour pressure deficit.
+
+    See Also
+    --------
+    saturation_vapor_pressure : Vapour pressure at saturation.
+    """
+    svp = saturation_vapor_pressure(tas, ice_thresh=ice_thresh, method=method)
+
+    vpd = cast(xr.DataArray, (1 - (hurs / 100)) * svp)
+
+    vpd = vpd.assign_attrs(units=svp.attrs["units"])
+    return vpd
+
+
 @declare_units(
     tas="[temperature]",
     tdps="[temperature]",

tests/test_indices.py

@@ -2837,10 +2837,11 @@ def test_specific_humidity_from_dewpoint(tas_series, ps_series):
 @pytest.mark.parametrize(
     "ice_thresh,exp0", [(None, [125, 286, 568]), ("0 degC", [103, 260, 563])]
 )
-@pytest.mark.parametrize("units", ["degC", "degK"])
-def test_saturation_vapor_pressure(tas_series, method, ice_thresh, exp0, units):
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("temp_units", ["degC", "degK"])
+def test_saturation_vapor_pressure(tas_series, method, ice_thresh, exp0, temp_units):
     tas = tas_series(np.array([-20, -10, -1, 10, 20, 25, 30, 40, 60]) + K2C)
-    tas = convert_units_to(tas, units)
+    tas = convert_units_to(tas, temp_units)
+
     # Expected values obtained with the Sonntag90 method
     e_sat_exp = exp0 + [1228, 2339, 3169, 4247, 7385, 19947]
 
@@ -2852,6 +2853,24 @@ def test_saturation_vapor_pressure(tas_series, method, ice_thresh, exp0, units):
     np.testing.assert_allclose(e_sat, e_sat_exp, atol=0.5, rtol=0.005)
 
 
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "method", ["tetens30", "sonntag90", "goffgratch46", "wmo08", "its90"]
+)
+def test_vapor_pressure_deficit(tas_series, hurs_series, method):
+    tas = tas_series(np.array([-1, 10, 20, 25, 30, 40, 60]) + K2C)
+    hurs = hurs_series(np.array([0, 0.5, 0.8, 0.9, 0.95, 0.99, 1]))
+
+    # Expected values obtained with the GoffGratch46 method
+    svp_exp = [567, 1220, 2317, 3136, 4200, 7300, 19717]
+
+    vpd = xci.vapor_pressure_deficit(
+        tas=tas,
+        hurs=hurs,
+        method=method,
+    )
+    np.testing.assert_allclose(vpd, svp_exp, atol=0.5, rtol=0.005)
+
+
 @pytest.mark.parametrize("method", ["tetens30", "sonntag90", "goffgratch46", "wmo08"])
 @pytest.mark.parametrize(
     "invalid_values,exp0", [("clip", 100), ("mask", np.nan), (None, 188)]
@@ -2860,6 +2879,7 @@ def test_relative_humidity(
     tas_series, hurs_series, huss_series, ps_series, method, invalid_values, exp0
 ):
     tas = tas_series(np.array([-10, -10, 10, 20, 35, 50, 75, 95]) + K2C)
+
     # Expected values obtained with the Sonntag90 method
     hurs_exp = hurs_series([exp0, 63.0, 66.0, 34.0, 14.0, 6.0, 1.0, 0.0])
     ps = ps_series([101325] * 8)