Setting Up and Running the WRF Standard Initialization

John Smart and Brent Shaw

NOAA / Forecast Systems Laboratory

June 27, 2002

Overview

• Required Files• System Requirements• Installing the Software• Configuring Domains• Configuring Interpolation• Running• Initializing the WRF Model• Summary

Required Files• WRFSI.TAR.gz• Static Geographical Data (large ones in quartersphere files) Geog_Data:

– Topo_30s: • 1) topo_30s_SW.tar.gz, 2) _SE.tar.gz, 3) _NW.tar.gz, 4) _NE.tar.gz.

– Landuse_30s: • landuse_30s_NW.tar.gz, 2) _SE.tar.gz, 3) _NW.tar.gz, 4) _NE.tar.gz.

– Green fraction: greenfrac/greenfrac.tar.gz– Soiltemp: soiltemp_1deg/TGLOBAL.tar.gz– Soiltype (top layer): soiltype_bot_30s (NW, NE, SW, SE)– Soiltype (bottom layer): soiltype_bot_30s (NW, NE, SW, SE)– Albedo: albedo_ncep: albedo.tar.gz

• Available for download– http://www.wrf-model.org (Officially released versions)– ftp://ftp.fsl.noaa.gov/pub/frd-laps (Latest version, not necessarily officially released)

… currently wrfsi_20020328.tar.gz

System Requirements

• Unix or Linux OS– Routinely built on IBM AIX, Intel-Linux, Alpha-Linux at

FSL– NCAR has built on Alpha-True64 and SGI-IRIX– Ported to solaris (currently testing)

• FORTRAN 90 Compiler• C Compiler (gcc is preferred)• netCDF Libaries• Perl• make Utility

System Requirements

• Disk Requirements– Recommended Minimum Total Space: 10 GB– Approx. 10 MB for source code and executables– Approx. 6 GB for global static fields– 1-10 GB for each $MOAD_DATAROOT

• Depends on domain size, run length, etc.• NCAR 30km national domain requires approx. 1 GB to contain

necessary files for a 48-hour forecast period with 3-hourly boundary conditions

– 2-4 GB for "typical" $EXT_DATAROOT• 48 hours of AVN 1 deg and ETA 40 km grids with hourly output

Installing the Software

• Installation Overview– Set up directories and environment variables– Check compiler options for your system– Run the installation script– Check for successful installation

Installing the Software

• Set up directories and environment variables– Source root

• Typically set to top directory of extracted WRFSI.TAR file• Set the $SRCROOT environment variable

– Installation root• Where executables will be installed• Can be same as $SRCROOT if desired• Set $INSTALLROOT environment variable

– Domain data root• Top level directory where domain specific data will be kept• Set $MOAD_DATAROOT environment variable

– netCDF Path (NETCDF environment variable)– Determine fully qualified Perl executable (e.g., /usr/bin/perl)

Installing the Software

• Check Compiler Settings– Check $SRCROOT/src/include directory for the

existence of a file named "makefile_{MACH}.inc.in where {MACH} is the type of machine on which you are building

– If one exists, check the various compiler options and flag settings

– If one does not exist, copy one of the existing ones to a new name using your machine name and edit the compiler settings

Installing the Software

• Run the installation script– $SRCROOT/install_wrfsi.pl– Example:

• /usr/bin/perl install_wrfsi.pl --installroot=$INSTALLROOT --srcroot=$SRCROOT --dataroot=$MOAD_DATAROOT --path_to_netcdf=$NETCDF --machine=MACH --path_to_perl=/usr/bin/perl

• MACH = the machine type corresponding to the makefile_{MACH}.inc.in file

Installing the Software

• Create an $EXTDATAROOT– Location for grib_prep output (allow at least 2

GB)– Path will be set in wrfsi.nl as well– Contains various subdirectories that will get

created the first time wrfsi.pl is run:• extprd• log• work

Installing the Software

• Checking for successful installation– Check $INSTALLROOT/bin for executables:

• grib_prep.exe• gridgen_model.exe• hinterp.exe• vinterp.exe

– Check $INSTALLROOT/etc for scripts:• wrfsi.pl• grib_prep.pl• interp.pl

– If any executables are missing, you can go to $SRCROOT/src and find subdirectories for each executable. From there you can try to make each one manually and observe the errors

– PLEASE REPORT ANY PROBLEMS AND THEIR CORRECTIVE ACTIONS!

Configuring Domains

• Overview

– Using repository version of wrfsi.nl as domain namelist subset.

– Editing $SRCROOT/domains/’domain_name’/wrfsi.nl to your liking

• Set the horizontal domain specifications– Running localization perl script

$INSTALLROOT/etc/window_domain_rt.pl– Checking for a successful localization

Configuring Domains• Use $SRCROOT/data/static/wrfsi.nl to make a domain namelist subsets for

grid specification.

– Edit $SRCROOT/data/static/wrfsi.nl• Replace namelist section “sfcfiles” with the paths to your geog data• Eg., replaceTopo_30s = /data/lapb/geog/world_topo_30s withTopo_30s = /your/path/to/geog/data/geog/world_topo_30s

– Create $SRCROOT/domains/”domain_name”• “mkdir $SRCROOT/domains/’domain_name’”• each domain you configure gets a new domain_name under subdirectory “domains”.

– Copy repository file “wrfsi.nl” to the domains/”domain_name” subdirectory• “cp $SRCROOT/data/static/wrfsi.nl $SRCROOT/domains/”domain_name/. “

Configuring Domains• Edit $SRCROOT/domains/”domain_name”/wrfsi.nl

– project_id section (simulation_name and user_desc)– hgridspec section (sets up horizontal domain)

• xdim = dimension in E-W direction• ydim = dimension in N-S direction• map_proj_name = 'lambert', 'mercator', or 'polar'• moad_known_lat = center latitude (+ N)• moad_known_lon = center longitude (+ E)• moad_stand_lats = true latitude1 (lambert and polar), true latitude for

lambert (set to +/- 90 for polar)• moad_stand_lon = orientation longitude• moad_delta_x = grid spacing in meters in x-direction• moad_delta_y = grid spacing in meters in y-direction• Recommend leaving all other settings at their default values

– Remove all namelist sections/variables that will not be different from the $SRCROOT version of wrfsi.nl

Configuring Domains• Running localization perl script “window_domain_rt.pl”

– Ensure your environment variables are properly set– Run $INSTALLROOT/window_domain_rt.pl

• Required:– -t = path to domain subset subdirectory; for example,

$SRCROOT/domains/”domain_name”– -w = the system you are localizing (always use –w wrfsi)

• Optional:• “-s”, “-i”, and “-d” switches override the environment variables if necessary• “-c” reconfigures the entire $MOAD_DATAROOT; ie., removes silog, siprd,

static, and cdl. Without –c, only static and cdl are rewritten.• Example command line:Perl window_domain_rt.pl –t $SRCROOT/domains/”domain_name” –w wrfsi

Configuring Domains

• Checking for a successful localization– The “window” script will issue one of the following: success: “window_domain_rt complete” failure: “Lines with error found in localize_domain.log” “ localization incomplete ” “window_domain_rt incomplete”– Window output (text information) is in

$MOAD_DATAROOT/silog/localize_domain.log

Configuring Domains

• Checking for success Common Error conditions:

– Geog paths not properly set– Not enough geog tiles to cover you domain (especially true if

you only got one or two of the quarterspheres tar files)– Other settings in wrfsi.nl not properly set. Note that

“window” saves the static subdirectory (static_err) in the event of an error (you can check it)

• Check for existence of static file:– $MOAD_DATAROOT/static/static.wrfsi– netCDF file that can be viewed with ncdump utility

Configuring Interpolation

• Overview– Iinterp options– Paths to GRIB data and $EXTDATAROOT

Configuring Interpolation

• Grib_prep Options– Set in $MOAD_DATAROOT/static/wrfsi.nl– si_controls

• Set frequency of AVN and ETA grid receipt and typical delay after cycle time

– si_paths• Set $EXTDATAROOT• Set PATH_TO_AVN, PATH_TO_ETA grib file locations• NOTE: Other sources can be used if you simply call

the other source AVN or ETA. We will be making this more flexible in the future.

Configuring Interpolation

• Grib_prep Options– filetimespec

• Set start and stop times• NOTE: This will be edited automatically if using the wrfsi.pl

script to run the system.– Variable selection from GRIB files via Vtables

• $MOAD_DATAROOT/static/Vtable.{SOURCE}• {SOURCE} must match PATH_TO_{SOURCE}• Contols selection of variables and levels based on GRIB

codes• Allows specification of name to use for each variable in

output• Vtable.AVN and Vtable.ETA provided in distribution

Configuring Interpolation

• Interp Options– Set in $MOAD_DATAROOT/static/wrfsi.nl– interp_control

• PTOP_IN_PA: Top pressure level to consider from input data• HINTERP_METHOD

– 0 = nearest neighbor (not recommended)– 1 = 4-point linear– 2 = 16-point quadratic

• INPUT_ROOT: Prefix of files in $EXTDATAROOT/extprd to use for dynamic data (set automatically when running wrfsi.pl)

• CONSTANTS_FULL_NAME: Full file names of data located in $EXTDATAROOT/extprd that contain values to be held constant for entire run

• VERBOSE_LOG: Set to true for more extensive logging• Recommend leaving all other options as they come

Configuring Interpolation

• Interp Options (Cont)

• OUTPUT_COORD: which vertical coordinate to use. Set to “ZETA” for height-based R-K WRF or “ETAP” for mass version.

• LEVELS: List of “full” vertical levels from bottom to top of atmosphere starting at 0 for “ZETA” and starting at 1.0 for “ETAP”

• OUTPUT_VARS: controls the final output:– 1: Output for “REAL.exe” on Arakawa-C stagger– 2: Same as 1 but with some extra variables– 3: Output for “REAL.exe” on Arakawa-A stagger– 4: Same as 3 but with some extra variables

• Leave all other settings as they are

Running

• Set $MOAD_DATAROOT and $INSTALLROOT• Ensure wrfsi.nl has correct extdataroot• Ensure you have AVN or ETA data for the correct times

available in the correct paths– GRIB filenaming conventions recognized:

• FSL: yyjjjhhmmffff• NCEP: ???.ThhZ.??????ff.????• NCEP: ???_yymmdd_hh_ff• If your files do not conform to these naming conventions, the grib_prep

script will assume every file is a possible match

• Ensure all previous domain configuration steps have been successfully completed

Running

• Run the main driver script with 4 arguments:– YYYYMMDDHH: Year, month, day, and hour UTC of model

start time– FF: Length of forecast to be produce in hours– Source: AVN or ETA– Window Name: A name for this run– Example:

• cd $INSTALLROOT/etc• wrfsi.pl 2001081612 24 ETA myrun

– You can optionally provide the dataroot and installroot using command line options -d and -i.

• wrfsi.pl -d /my/dataroot -i /my/installroot 2001081612 24 ETA myrun

Running

• What happens when wrfsi.pl runs?• The script edits $MOAD_DATAROOT/static/wrfsi.nl for run time and

source of initialization• The script calls grib_prep.pl to run grib_prep.exe• The script calls interp.pl to run hinterp.exe and vinterp.exe• Output ends up in $MOAD_DATAROOT/siprd• A log file ends up in $EXTDATAROOT/log for the grib_prep run• A log file ends up in $MOAD_DATAROOT/silog for the hinterp/vinterp

runs.

Running

• Did it run properly?• Check for output in $MOAD_DATAROOT/siprd

• From previous run example, we should have:– wrf_input.global.metadata– wrf_input.d01.2001-08-16_12:00:00– wrf_input.d01.2001-08-16-15:00:00– wrf_input.d01.2001-08-16-18:00:00– ...– wrf_input.d01.2001-08-17-12:00:00

• Frequency of output files is set in filetimespec portion of wrfsi.nl

• If correct files are not present, check the log files to determine what went wrong.

Running Checking the output

• Use the IDL routines in the $SRCROOT/util directory to read the hinterp/vinterp output files.

• Use the $INSTALLROOT/bin/siscan program to dump a summary of file contents (avaialble in latest version, not yet released)

• siscan {file} Other Notes of Interest

• Each executable can be run directly without the use of any scripts by simply setting the $MOAD_DATAROOT environment variable and ensuring the namelist is correct

• The interp.pl and gribprep.pl scripts can also be run directly without the use of wrfsi.pl

Initializing the WRF Model Edit the WRF namelist.input file to make it consistent with the WRFSI domain

configuration• ztop, dx, dy, io_form, etc.

Run the WRF real.exe routine using the WRFSI output files (wrf_input.*) as input

You can then run the model! See Dave Gill's presentation for more details.

Summary Setting up and running the WRFSI is most easily done by:

• Building the software• Configuring your domain• Running the wrfsi.pl script

The system is flexible enough to run each component individually The WRFSI continues to be a work in progress

• New version will be released soon to support WRF LSM• Domain configuration will be much easier with the use of templates and

localization scripts in latest version• More enhancements are planned and will be done as resources permit

We welcome feedback, bug reports, etc.!