Adding an option to change the compression type of the parquet file

src/parcels/_core/particlefile.py

@@ -57,18 +57,23 @@ class ParticleFile:
         Interval which dictates the update frequency of file output
         while ParticleFile is given as an argument of ParticleSet.execute()
         It is either a numpy.timedelta64, a datimetime.timedelta object or a positive float (in seconds).
+    compression : {"zstd", "gzip", "snappy", "brotli", None}, optional
+        Compression algorithm to use for the Parquet file. Default is "zstd".
 
     Returns
     -------
     ParticleFile
         ParticleFile object that can be used to write particle data to file
     """
 
-    def __init__(self, path: PathLike, outputdt):
+    def __init__(
+        self, path: PathLike, outputdt, compression: Literal["zstd", "gzip", "snappy", "brotli", None] = "zstd"
+    ):
         if not isinstance(outputdt, (np.timedelta64, timedelta, float)):
             raise ValueError(
                 f"Expected outputdt to be a np.timedelta64, datetime.timedelta or float (in seconds), got {type(outputdt)}"
             )
+        self._compression = compression
 
         outputdt = timedelta_to_float(outputdt)
         path = Path(path)
@@ -132,7 +137,11 @@ def write(self, pset: ParticleSet, time, indices=None):
 
         if self._writer is None:
             assert not self.path.exists(), "If the file exists, the writer should already be set"
-            self._writer = pq.ParquetWriter(self.path, _get_schema(pclass, self.metadata, pset.fieldset.time_interval))
+            self._writer = pq.ParquetWriter(
+                self.path,
+                _get_schema(pclass, self.metadata, pset.fieldset.time_interval),
+                compression=self._compression,
+            )
 
         if isinstance(time, (np.timedelta64, np.datetime64)):
             time = timedelta_to_float(time - time_interval.left)

tests/test_particlefile.py

@@ -56,6 +56,23 @@ def test_metadata(fieldset, tmp_parquet):
     assert tab.schema.metadata[b"parcels_kernels"].decode().lower() == "DoNothing".lower()
 
 
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("compression", ["zstd", "gzip", "snappy", "brotli", None])
+def test_compression(fieldset, tmp_parquet, compression):
+    pset = ParticleSet(fieldset, pclass=Particle, lon=0, lat=0)
+
+    ofile = ParticleFile(tmp_parquet, outputdt=np.timedelta64(1, "s"), compression=compression)
+    pset.execute(DoNothing, runtime=np.timedelta64(1, "s"), dt=np.timedelta64(1, "s"), output_file=ofile)
+
+    tab = pq.ParquetFile(tmp_parquet)
+    for i in range(tab.num_row_groups):
+        row_group = tab.metadata.row_group(i)
+        for j in range(row_group.num_columns):
+            col = row_group.column(j)
+            assert col.compression.lower() == compression or (
+                compression is None and col.compression.lower() == "uncompressed"
+            )
+
+
 def test_write_fieldset_without_time(tmp_parquet):
     ds = peninsula_dataset()  # DataSet without time
     assert "time" not in ds.dims