Setting Up and Running the WRF Standard Initialization

1
Setting Up and Running the WRF Standard
Initialization
John Smart and Brent Shaw NOAA / Forecast Systems
Laboratory June 27, 2002
2
Overview

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

3
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

4
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

5
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

6
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

7
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)

8
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

9
Installing the Software

• Run the installation script
• SRCROOT/install_wrfsi.pl
• Example
• /usr/bin/perl install_wrfsi.pl --installrootINST
  ALLROOT --srcrootSRCROOT
  --datarootMOAD_DATAROOT
  --path_to_netcdfNETCDF --machineMACH
  --path_to_perl/usr/bin/perl
• MACH the machine type corresponding to the
  makefile_MACH.inc.in file

10
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

11
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!

12
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

13
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., replace
• Topo_30s /data/lapb/geog/world_topo_30s with
• Topo_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/.

14
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

15
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/doma
  in_name w wrfsi

16
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

17
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

18
Configuring Interpolation

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

19
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.

20
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

21
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

22
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

23
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

24
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

25
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.

26
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_120000
• wrf_input.d01.2001-08-16-150000
• wrf_input.d01.2001-08-16-180000
• ...
• wrf_input.d01.2001-08-17-120000
• 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.

27
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

28
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.

29
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.!