Error while using the DEM.grd as a numpy variable

[vivigb]

Description of the problem

import pygmt
region=[77, 79, 29.5, 30.5]
fig= pygmt.Figure()
ctopo=pygmt.makecpt(cmap="himalaya.cpt")
grid = pygmt.datasets.load_earth_relief(resolution='01s', region=region)
KWARGS = dict(grid=grid,region=region, projection='M4i',frame=True, E=300)
fig.grdimage(**KWARGS,cmap=ctopo,shading=True)
fig.show()

Giving me the following error

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<ipython-input-11-78e4c4e19ed9>", line 1, in <module>
    fig.grdimage(**KWARGS,cmap=ctopo,shading=True)
  File "C:\ProgramData\Anaconda3\envs\roses\lib\site-packages\pygmt\helpers\decorators.py", line 270, in new_module
    return module_func(*args, **kwargs)
  File "C:\ProgramData\Anaconda3\envs\roses\lib\site-packages\pygmt\helpers\decorators.py", line 411, in new_module
    return module_func(*args, **kwargs)
  File "C:\ProgramData\Anaconda3\envs\roses\lib\site-packages\pygmt\base_plotting.py", line 485, in grdimage
    lib.call_module("grdimage", arg_str)
  File "C:\ProgramData\Anaconda3\envs\roses\lib\site-packages\pygmt\clib\session.py", line 503, in call_module
    self.session_pointer, module.encode(), mode, args.encode()
OSError: exception: access violation reading 0x000001E880146FBC

I am using conda environment in Windows

PyGMT information:
  version: v0.2.1
System information:
  python: 3.7.8 | packaged by conda-forge | (default, Nov 17 2020, 23:02:53) [MSC v.1916 64 bit (AMD64)]
  executable: C:\ProgramData\Anaconda3\envs\roses\python.exe
  machine: Windows-10-10.0.19041-SP0
Dependency information:
  numpy: 1.19.4
  pandas: 1.1.4
  xarray: 0.16.1
  netCDF4: 1.5.4
  packaging: 20.4
  ghostscript: 9.53.3
  gmt: 6.1.1
GMT library information:
  binary dir: C:/ProgramData/Anaconda3/envs/roses
  cores: 4
  grid layout: rows
  library path: C:/ProgramData/Anaconda3/envs/roses/Library/bin/gmt.dll
  padding: 2
  plugin dir: C:/ProgramData/Anaconda3/envs/roses/Library/bin/gmt_plugins
  share dir: c:/programs/gmt5/share
  version: 6.1.1

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[seisman]

Yes, we notice similar crashes in our CI testings. It's still unclear to us why and where it happens, as none of us is developing PyGMT under Windows.

You have two options:

1. Re-run the script again. Sometimes it crashes, but sometimes it works well
2. Directly use the GMT remote file, i.e., KWARGS = dict(grid="@earth_relief_01s",region=region, projection='M4i',frame=True, E=300), instead of using the pygmt.datasets.load_earth_relief, which loads the grid into memory.

[seisman]

I'd like to close the issue, because:

1. We already know that PyGMT sometimes crashes on Windows
2. We don't have any Windows developers to track the crashes
3. There are most likely issues of GMT, not PyGMT.