Try another workaround

Author: seisman

pygmt/src/grdimage.py

@@ -166,7 +166,7 @@ def grdimage(self, grid, **kwargs):
     with Session() as lib:
         with (
             lib.virtualfile_in(
-                check_kind="raster", data=grid, _grid_mode="GMT_IN|GMT_IS_REFERENCE"
+                check_kind="raster", data=grid, _grid_mode="GMT_IN|GMT_IS_DUPLICATE"
             ) as vingrd,
             lib.virtualfile_in(
                 check_kind="raster", data=kwargs.get("I"), required_data=False