# Issues in loading 'ht' in latest conds envs

**URL:** <https://forum.access-hive.org.au/t/issues-in-loading-ht-in-latest-conds-envs/6278>\
**Category:** Ocean\
**Tags:** help\
**Created:** [16 April 2026 03:24 UTC](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/t/issues-in-loading-ht-in-latest-conds-envs/6278 "2026-04-16T03:24:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 8\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![polinash](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.access-hive.org.au/polinash/32/3258_2.png) [@polinash](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/u/polinash)\
**Post date:** [16 April 2026 03:24 UTC](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/t/issues-in-loading-ht-in-latest-conds-envs/6278/1 "2026-04-16T03:24:54Z")

</div>

Finally reporting this as I’ve noticed this issue in 26.02 and it now appears in 26.03:

Loading `ht` variable in later conda envs (e.g. 26.03, 26.02..) gives error although the same script works fins in 26.01..

var=‘ht’  
ht = catalog[iaf\_cycle4].search(  
variable=var,  
).to\_dask(  
threaded=False,  
xarray\_open\_kwargs = {  
“decode\_timedelta” : True}  
)

```auto
ValueError Traceback (most recent call last)
File /g/data/xp65/public/apps/med_conda/envs/analysis3-26.03/lib/python3.12/site-packages/intake_esm/source.py:323, in ESMDataSource._open_dataset(self)
    322 else:
--> 323 raise exc
    325 self._ds.attrs[OPTIONS['dataset_key']] = self.key

File /g/data/xp65/public/apps/med_conda/envs/analysis3-26.03/lib/python3.12/site-packages/intake_esm/source.py:308, in ESMDataSource._open_dataset(self)
    307 try:
--> 308 self._ds = xr.combine_by_coords(
    309 datasets, **self.xarray_combine_by_coords_kwargs
    310 )
    311 except ValueError as exc:

File /g/data/xp65/public/apps/med_conda/envs/analysis3-26.03/lib/python3.12/site-packages/xarray/structure/combine.py:1125, in combine_by_coords(data_objects, compat, data_vars, coords, fill_value, join, combine_attrs)
   1123 # Perform the multidimensional combine on each group of data variables
   1124 # before merging back together
-> 1125 concatenated_grouped_by_data_vars = tuple(
   1126 _combine_single_variable_hypercube(
   1127 tuple(datasets_with_same_vars),
   1128 fill_value=fill_value,
   1129 data_vars=data_vars,
   1130 coords=coords,
   1131 compat=compat,
   1132 join=join,
   1133 combine_attrs=combine_attrs,
   1134 )
   1135 for vars, datasets_with_same_vars in grouped_by_vars
   1136 )
   1138 return merge(
   1139 concatenated_grouped_by_data_vars,
   1140 compat=compat,
   (...) 1143 combine_attrs=combine_attrs,
   1144 )

File /g/data/xp65/public/apps/med_conda/envs/analysis3-26.03/lib/python3.12/site-packages/xarray/structure/combine.py:1126, in <genexpr>(.0)
   1123 # Perform the multidimensional combine on each group of data variables
   1124 # before merging back together
   1125 concatenated_grouped_by_data_vars = tuple(
-> 1126 _combine_single_variable_hypercube(
   1127 tuple(datasets_with_same_vars),
   1128 fill_value=fill_value,
   1129 data_vars=data_vars,
   1130 coords=coords,
   1131 compat=compat,
   1132 join=join,
   1133 combine_attrs=combine_attrs,
   1134 )
   1135 for vars, datasets_with_same_vars in grouped_by_vars
   1136 )
   1138 return merge(
   1139 concatenated_grouped_by_data_vars,
   1140 compat=compat,
   (...) 1143 combine_attrs=combine_attrs,
   1144 )

File /g/data/xp65/public/apps/med_conda/envs/analysis3-26.03/lib/python3.12/site-packages/xarray/structure/combine.py:764, in _combine_single_variable_hypercube(datasets, fill_value, data_vars, coords, compat, join, combine_attrs)
    759 raise ValueError(
    760 "At least one Dataset is required to resolve variable names "
    761 "for combined hypercube."
    762 )
--> 764 combined_ids, concat_dims = _infer_concat_order_from_coords(list(datasets))
    766 if fill_value is None:
    767 # check that datasets form complete hypercube

File /g/data/xp65/public/apps/med_conda/envs/analysis3-26.03/lib/python3.12/site-packages/xarray/structure/combine.py:174, in _infer_concat_order_from_coords(datasets)
    173 else:
--> 174 raise ValueError(
    175 "Could not find any dimension coordinates to use to "
    176 "order the Dataset objects for concatenation"
    177 )
    179 combined_ids = dict(zip(tile_ids, datasets, strict=True))

ValueError: Could not find any dimension coordinates to use to order the Dataset objects for concatenation

The above exception was the direct cause of the following exception:

ESMDataSourceError Traceback (most recent call last)
Cell In[32], line 4
      1 var='ht'
      2 ht = catalog[iaf_cycle4].search(
      3 variable=var,
----> 4 ).to_dask(
      5 threaded=False,
      6 xarray_open_kwargs = {            
      7 "decode_timedelta" : True}
      8 )
      9 ht = ht['ht']
     10 ht = ht.sel(yt_ocean = lat_slice).sel(xt_ocean=lon_slice)

File /g/data/xp65/public/apps/med_conda/envs/analysis3-26.03/lib/python3.12/site-packages/intake_esm/core.py:888, in esm_datastore.to_dask(self, **kwargs)
    884 if len(self) != 1: # quick check to fail more quickly if there are many results
    885 raise ValueError(
    886 f'Expected exactly one dataset. Received {len(self)} datasets. Please refine your search or use `.to_dataset_dict()`.'
    887 )
--> 888 res = self.to_dataset_dict( **{** kwargs, 'progressbar': False})
    889 if len(res) != 1: # extra check in case kwargs did modify something
    890 raise ValueError(
    891 f'Expected exactly one dataset. Received {len(self)} datasets. Please refine your search or use `.to_dataset_dict()`.'
    892 )

File /g/data/xp65/public/apps/med_conda/envs/analysis3-26.03/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pydantic/_internal/_validate_call.py:39, in update_wrapper_attributes.<locals>.wrapper_function(*args, **kwargs)
     37 @functools.wraps(wrapped)
     38 def wrapper_function(*args, **kwargs):
---> 39 return wrapper(*args, **kwargs)

File /g/data/xp65/public/apps/med_conda/envs/analysis3-26.03/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pydantic/_internal/_validate_call.py:136, in ValidateCallWrapper. __call__ (self, *args, **kwargs)
    133 if not self. __pydantic_complete__ :
    134 self._create_validators()
--> 136 res = self. __pydantic_validator__.validate_python(pydantic_core.ArgsKwargs(args, kwargs))
    137 if self. __return_pydantic_validator__ :
    138 return self. __return_pydantic_validator__ (res)

File /g/data/xp65/public/apps/med_conda/envs/analysis3-26.03/lib/python3.12/site-packages/intake_esm/core.py:760, in esm_datastore.to_dataset_dict(self, xarray_open_kwargs, xarray_combine_by_coords_kwargs, preprocess, storage_options, progressbar, aggregate, skip_on_error, threaded, **kwargs)
    758 except Exception as exc:
    759 if not skip_on_error:
--> 760 raise exc
    761 self.datasets = self._create_derived_variables(datasets, skip_on_error)
    762 return self.datasets

File /g/data/xp65/public/apps/med_conda/envs/analysis3-26.03/lib/python3.12/site-packages/intake_esm/core.py:756, in esm_datastore.to_dataset_dict(self, xarray_open_kwargs, xarray_combine_by_coords_kwargs, preprocess, storage_options, progressbar, aggregate, skip_on_error, threaded, **kwargs)
    754 for task in gen:
    755 try:
--> 756 key, ds = task.result()
    757 datasets[key] = ds
    758 except Exception as exc:

File /g/data/xp65/public/apps/med_conda/envs/analysis3-26.03/lib/python3.12/concurrent/futures/_base.py:449, in Future.result(self, timeout)
    447 raise CancelledError()
    448 elif self._state == FINISHED:
--> 449 return self.__get_result()
    451 self._condition.wait(timeout)
    453 if self._state in [CANCELLED, CANCELLED_AND_NOTIFIED]:

File /g/data/xp65/public/apps/med_conda/envs/analysis3-26.03/lib/python3.12/concurrent/futures/_base.py:401, in Future.__get_result(self)
    399 if self._exception:
    400 try:
--> 401 raise self._exception
    402 finally:
    403 # Break a reference cycle with the exception in self._exception
    404 self = None

File /g/data/xp65/public/apps/med_conda/envs/analysis3-26.03/lib/python3.12/concurrent/futures/thread.py:59, in _WorkItem.run(self)
     56 return
     58 try:
---> 59 result = self.fn(*self.args, **self.kwargs)
     60 except BaseException as exc:
     61 self.future.set_exception(exc)

File /g/data/xp65/public/apps/med_conda/envs/analysis3-26.03/lib/python3.12/site-packages/intake_esm/core.py:907, in _load_source(key, source)
    906 def _load_source(key, source):
--> 907 return key, source.to_dask()

File /g/data/xp65/public/apps/med_conda/envs/analysis3-26.03/lib/python3.12/site-packages/intake_esm/source.py:336, in ESMDataSource.to_dask(self)
    334 def to_dask(self):
    335 """Return xarray object (which will have chunks)"""
--> 336 self._load_metadata()
    337 return self._ds

File /g/data/xp65/public/apps/med_conda/envs/analysis3-26.03/lib/python3.12/site-packages/intake/source/base.py:84, in DataSourceBase._load_metadata(self)
     82 """load metadata only if needed"""
     83 if self._schema is None:
---> 84 self._schema = self._get_schema()
     85 self.dtype = self._schema.dtype
     86 self.shape = self._schema.shape

File /g/data/xp65/public/apps/med_conda/envs/analysis3-26.03/lib/python3.12/site-packages/intake_esm/source.py:253, in ESMDataSource._get_schema(self)
    251 def _get_schema(self) -> Schema:
    252 if self._ds is None:
--> 253 self._open_dataset()
    254 metadata: dict[str, typing.Any] = {'dims': {}, 'data_vars': {}, 'coords': ()}
    255 self._schema = Schema(
    256 datashape=None,
    257 dtype=None,
   (...) 260 extra_metadata=metadata,
    261 )

File /g/data/xp65/public/apps/med_conda/envs/analysis3-26.03/lib/python3.12/site-packages/intake_esm/source.py:328, in ESMDataSource._open_dataset(self)
    325 self._ds.attrs[OPTIONS['dataset_key']] = self.key
    327 except Exception as exc:
--> 328 raise ESMDataSourceError(
    329 f"""Failed to load dataset with key='{self.key}'
    330 You can use `cat['{self.key}'].df` to inspect the assets/files for this key.
    331 """
    332 ) from exc

ESMDataSourceError: Failed to load dataset with key='ocean.fx.xt_ocean:3600.yt_ocean:2700.point'
                 You can use `cat['ocean.fx.xt_ocean:3600.yt_ocean:2700.point'].df` to inspect the assets/files for this key.

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![paigem](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.access-hive.org.au/paigem/32/928_2.png) [@paigem](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/u/paigem)\
**Post date:** [16 April 2026 06:43 UTC](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/t/issues-in-loading-ht-in-latest-conds-envs/6278/2 "2026-04-16T06:43:50Z")

</div>

Hi @polinash - thanks for your question! We’ve been able to reproduce your error and are working on a fix/workaround. We’ll get back to you on this! 😊

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![CharlesTurner](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.access-hive.org.au/charlesturner/32/2518_2.png) [@CharlesTurner](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/u/CharlesTurner)\
**Post date:** [16 April 2026 06:47 UTC](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/t/issues-in-loading-ht-in-latest-conds-envs/6278/3 "2026-04-16T06:47:38Z")

</div>

A few of us have had a look at this, and the conclusion is that this is unfortunately the result of xarray making its behaviour stricter:

```python
> dataset = datastore.to_dask(
    xarray_open_kwargs = {
        "decode_timedelta" : True
})

/g/data/xp65/public/apps/med_conda/envs/analysis3-25.12/lib/python3.11/site-packages/intake_esm/source.py:308: ConcatenationWarning: Attempting to concatenate datasets without valid dimension coordinates: retaining only first dataset. Request valid dimension coordinate to silence this warning.

```

> /g/data/xp65/public/apps/med\_conda/envs/analysis3-25.12/lib/python3.11/site-packages/intake\_esm/source.py:308: ConcatenationWarning: Attempting to concatenate datasets without valid dimension coordinates: retaining only first dataset. Request valid dimension coordinate to silence this warning.

We can’t figure out a way to easily fix this with opening arguments to xarray, so you’ll need to apply this workaround:

```diff
datastore = datastore.search(variable='ht')
dataset = datastore.to_dask(
    xarray_open_kwargs = {
        "decode_timedelta" : True
})

+ datastore = datastore.search(path=datastore.df.loc[0,'path'])

dataset = datastore.to_dask(
    xarray_open_kwargs = {
        "decode_timedelta" : True
})

```

This basically just manually selects the first file & sidesteps the issue.

We’ll push up a fix as soon as we get the chance!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![polinash](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.access-hive.org.au/polinash/32/3258_2.png) [@polinash](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/u/polinash)\
**Post date:** [17 April 2026 04:24 UTC](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/t/issues-in-loading-ht-in-latest-conds-envs/6278/4 "2026-04-17T04:24:39Z")

</div>

Thanks for looking into it, Charles!

I am trying to load following your suggestions but the line with kwargs now gives an error (conda 26.03):

```auto
      9 datastore = catalog.search(variable='ht')
---> 10 dataset = datastore.to_dask(
     11 xarray_open_kwargs = 
     12 "decode_timedelta" : True
     13 })
     15 datastore = datastore.search(path=datastore.df.loc[0,'path'])
     16 dataset = datastore.to_dask(
     17 xarray_open_kwargs = {
     18 "decode_timedelta" : True
     19 })

TypeError: DataSourceBase.to_dask() got an unexpected keyword argument 'xarray_open_kwargs'

```

Also, if I skip .to\_dask() and do datastore = datastore.search(path=datastore.df.loc[0,‘path’]) first, it also gives error:

```auto
`KeyError Traceback (most recent call last)
File /g/data/xp65/public/apps/med_conda/envs/analysis3-26.03/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pandas/core/indexes/base.py:3812, in Index.get_loc(self, key)
3811 try:
 → 3812 return self._engine.get_loc(casted_key)
3813 except KeyError as err:

File pandas/_libs/index.pyx:167, in pandas._libs.index.IndexEngine.get_loc()

File pandas/_libs/index.pyx:196, in pandas._libs.index.IndexEngine.get_loc()

File pandas/_libs/hashtable_class_helper.pxi:7088, in pandas._libs.hashtable.PyObjectHashTable.get_item()

File pandas/_libs/hashtable_class_helper.pxi:7096, in pandas._libs.hashtable.PyObjectHashTable.get_item()

KeyError: ‘path’

The above exception was the direct cause of the following exception:

KeyError Traceback (most recent call last)
Cell In[21], line 15
9 datastore = catalog.search(variable=‘ht’)
10 # dataset = datastore.to_dask(
11 # xarray_open_kwargs = {
12 # “decode_timedelta” : True
13 # })
—> 15 datastore = datastore.search(path=datastore.df.loc[0,‘path’])
16 dataset = datastore.to_dask(
17 xarray_open_kwargs = {
18 “decode_timedelta” : True
19 })

File /g/data/xp65/public/apps/med_conda/envs/analysis3-26.03/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pandas/core/indexing.py:1184, in _LocationIndexer.getitem(self, key)
1182 key = tuple(com.apply_if_callable(x, self.obj) for x in key)
1183 if self._is_scalar_access(key):
 → 1184 return self.obj._get_value(*key, takeable=self._takeable)
1185 return self._getitem_tuple(key)
1186 else:
1187 # we by definition only have the 0th axis

File /g/data/xp65/public/apps/med_conda/envs/analysis3-26.03/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pandas/core/frame.py:4225, in DataFrame._get_value(self, index, col, takeable)
4222 series = self._ixs(col, axis=1)
4223 return series._values[index]
 → 4225 series = self._get_item_cache(col)
4226 engine = self.index._engine
4228 if not isinstance(self.index, MultiIndex):
4229 # CategoricalIndex: Trying to use the engine fastpath may give incorrect
4230 # results if our categories are integers that dont match our codes
4231 # IntervalIndex: IntervalTree has no get_loc

File /g/data/xp65/public/apps/med_conda/envs/analysis3-26.03/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pandas/core/frame.py:4649, in DataFrame._get_item_cache(self, item)
4644 res = cache.get(item)
4645 if res is None:
4646 # All places that call _get_item_cache have unique columns,
4647 # pending resolution of GH#33047
 → 4649 loc = self.columns.get_loc(item)
4650 res = self._ixs(loc, axis=1)
4652 cache[item] = res

File /g/data/xp65/public/apps/med_conda/envs/analysis3-26.03/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pandas/core/indexes/base.py:3819, in Index.get_loc(self, key)
3814 if isinstance(casted_key, slice) or (
3815 isinstance(casted_key, abc.Iterable)
3816 and any(isinstance(x, slice) for x in casted_key)
3817 ):
3818 raise InvalidIndexError(key)
 → 3819 raise KeyError(key) from err
3820 except TypeError:
3821 # If we have a listlike key, _check_indexing_error will raise
3822 # InvalidIndexError. Otherwise we fall through and re-raise
3823 # the TypeError.
3824 self._check_indexing_error(key)

KeyError: ‘path’`

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Benoit](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.access-hive.org.au/benoit/32/3115_2.png) [@Benoit](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/u/Benoit)\
**Post date:** [17 April 2026 04:38 UTC](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/t/issues-in-loading-ht-in-latest-conds-envs/6278/5 "2026-04-17T04:38:01Z")

</div>

Is `ht` the static water column height? Just wanted to point out that I think I had the exact same issue for `area_t`. LLM commented

> Time-invariant field: open directly from catalog path, bypassing combine\_by\_coords which fails on static fields without dimension coordinates (xarray \>= 2025.03).

And so I solved in a similar way: get the path from the searched datastore with something like

```python
filepath = datastore.df.path.iloc[0] # <-make sure you searched find the only right path you want

```

and then load directly with `open_dataset`:

```python
xr.open_dataset(filepath)

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![CharlesTurner](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.access-hive.org.au/charlesturner/32/2518_2.png) [@CharlesTurner](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/u/CharlesTurner)\
**Post date:** [17 April 2026 05:07 UTC](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/t/issues-in-loading-ht-in-latest-conds-envs/6278/6 "2026-04-17T05:07:52Z")

</div>

This one is just a syntax error:

```diff
---> 10 dataset = datastore.to_dask(
- 11 xarray_open_kwargs = 
+ 11 xarray_open_kwargs = {
     12 "decode_timedelta" : True
     13 })

```

I’m just taking a look at the other issue now but I’m on my phone so it’s a little tricker than usual.

It everything is rendering correctly, I think this is just a copy paste error: the forum tries to render apostrophes as ‘, but Python can’t interpret that - it needs '. What Benoit suggested with df.path should also fix the issue.

EDIT:

Yup, just confirming: this issue seems to be that you’ve put `‘path’` instead of `'path'`.

As a result, pandas doesn’t even see that ‘path’ should be a string, and instead tried to interpret it as a variable. I’ve seen this issue rear it’s head a few times, and it’s really quite frustrating, because it’s not obvious to a human being at all. It’s only something I personally really notice because of this meme:

 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/uploads/access1/original/2X/b/b6b80d34720482c58aab0352a68fabcc10356eae.jpeg)

I wonder if we can change the default apostrophe character used in the forum - maybe @Aidan would know?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Aidan](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.access-hive.org.au/aidan/32/42_2.png) [@Aidan](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/u/Aidan)\
**Post date:** [20 April 2026 00:02 UTC](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/t/issues-in-loading-ht-in-latest-conds-envs/6278/7 "2026-04-20T00:02:37Z")

</div>

> [@CharlesTurner](#):
>
> I wonder if we can change the default apostrophe character used in the forum - maybe @Aidan would know?

Can you provide an [MRE](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimal_reproducible_example) for this @CharlesTurner?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![CharlesTurner](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.access-hive.org.au/charlesturner/32/2518_2.png) [@CharlesTurner](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/u/CharlesTurner)\
**Post date:** [20 April 2026 00:07 UTC](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/t/issues-in-loading-ht-in-latest-conds-envs/6278/8 "2026-04-20T00:07:33Z")

</div>

1. Write out some code without formatting into a code block, eg. d = {‘a’ : 1, ‘b’ : 2}.
2. Copy and paste from the forum rendered post into a Jupyter notebook. Note: Not from the open post editor window - that works just fine.
3. Wrong apostrophe character obtained: ![Screenshot 2026-04-20 at 8.04.32 am](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/uploads/access1/original/2X/d/d3060f71fcd448ca2e1dcdfa6e615d66aa91c9fe.png)

```python
{'a' : 1, 'b' : 2}

```

Copying it out from a formatted code block is fine - unless that code block copies the unformatted code in - in this instance, I’ve copied the dictionary from step one into this code block, you can see the syntax highlighting is gone:

```auto
 d = {‘a’ : 1, ‘b’ : 2}

```

Sorry, that’s not super minimal, but hopefully it is reproducible 😅