WRFand WRF-CHEM

Weather Research and Forecasting Model

WRF and WRF-CHEM have been installed on Abel. To check which version is available:

module avail wrf

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /cluster/etc/modulefiles ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
wrf/3.6.1

To set-up your environment:

module load wrf/3.6.1

When loading wrf, the following environment variables are defined:

• WRF_HOME: directory where WRF has been installed; this can be used to check WRF sources
• WPS_HOME: directory where WPS has been installed. It is unlikely you have to check or change WPS source code but you will find in this directory all the metadata required to run WPS (the GEOGRID.TBL, METGRID.TBL, and Vtable files).
• WPS_GEOG_PATH: contains theterrestrial static input data. Even if you use your own compiled version of WRF/WPS, it is NOT necessary to download these files again.
• WRFIO_NCD_LARGE_FILE_SUPPORT: it is set to 1 to allow you to store large netCDF files (more than 2GB).
• WRF_EXAMPLES: directory where all WRF and WRF-CHEM examples are stored. If you wish to run one of this example see our dedicated section on running tutorials.

 

WRF has been compiled with intel compilers and MPI:

module list 

Currently Loaded Modulefiles:
  1) use.own                 3) openmpi.intel/1.6.1     5) netcdf.intel/4.2.1.1    7) jasper/1.900.1          9) openmpi.intel/1.8      11) wrf/3.6.1
  2) intel/2011.10           4) hdf5/1.8.9_intel        6) intel-libs/2013.sp1.3   8) intel/2013.sp1.3       10) ncl/6.2.0

We suggest you specify the version you wish to use to avoid any problems if we install a new default version (as it is important to stick to the very same version for your  simulations).

Running WRF:

The following steps are necessary to run WRF on our systems:

1. WRF Preprocessing System (WPS)
2. WRF System

WRF Preprocessing System (WPS)

Most parameters for WPS must be given in namelist.wps

• define_grid.py uses namelist.wps to plot your defined grid
• run_geogrid.py  runs geogrid.exe to create static data for your domain
• run_ungrib.py runs ungrib.exe to unpack your input GRIB data
• run_metgrid.py runs metgrid.exe to interpolate input data onto your model domain

WRF

Most parameters for WRF must be given in namelist.input

• run_init_wrf.py runs real.exe to initialize WRF and creates two files such as wrfinput_d<domain> and wrfbdy_d<domain> where <domain> is the domain number (01, 02, etc.)

• run_wrf.py runs the numerical integration program wrf.exe

TIPS: to get the usage of these python scripts, use -h or --help. For instance:

run_geogrid.py --help

will return:

Usage: run_geogrid.py --path namelist.wps_directory --expid experiment_identifier [--wps_geog WPS_GEOG] [--tbl GEOGRID.TBL]

Options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -p namelist.wps, --path=namelist.wps
                        location of namelist.wps
  -w WPS_GEOG, --wps_geog=WPS_GEOG
                        location of terrestrial input data
  -i expid, --expid=expid
                        Experiment identifier
  -t geogrid_tbl, --tbl=geogrid_tbl
                        GEOGRID.TBL file for running geogrid.exe

WRF examples:

All WRF examples can be found in $WRF_EXAMPLES

A subdirectory can be found for each example and it contains all you need to run the corresponding examples (namelist.wps, namelist.input, Vtable, workflow.bash, and all the DATA required to run the simulation). You may found one or more files named workflow*.bash. These files are describing the sequence of programs to run for each example and can be divided in two groups:

January2000Case

This case is the East Coast Winter Storm of January 24-25, 2000 (http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/goes/misc/000125.html)

To run it, you need to execute each of the statement in workflow.bash:

> cat workflow.bash
#!/bin/bash

# check your domain is OK
define_grid.py --path /cluster/software/VERSIONS/wrf/examples/January2000Case

# Run geogrid.exe to create static data for this domain:
run_geogrid.py -p /cluster/software/VERSIONS/wrf/examples/January2000Case --expid January2000Case

# Unpack input GRIB data (ungrib.exe)
run_ungrib.py --expid January2000Case             \
              --start_date 2000-01-24_12:00:00    \
              --end_date 2000-01-25_12:00:00      \
              --interval_seconds 21600            \
              --prefix FILE                       \
              --vtable  /cluster/software/VERSIONS/wrf/examples/January2000Case/Vtable \
              --datadir /cluster/software/VERSIONS/wrf/examples/January2000Case/DATA/


#Interpolate the input data onto our model domain (metgrid.exe)
run_metgrid.py --expid January2000Case

# Initialize WRF model (real.exe/ideal.exe)
run_init_wrf.py --expid January2000Case \
                --namelist /cluster/software/VERSIONS/wrf/examples/January2000Case/namelist.input

# Run the model (wrf.exe)
run_wrf.py --expid January2000Case \
           --namelist /cluster/software/VERSIONS/wrf/examples/January2000Case/namelist.input

You don't have to change paths or namelists. it has been set-up to execute WPS/WRF in your workdir ($WORKDIR) and a subdirectory named January2000Case (named from your experiment identifier given with --expid option).

To visualize your outputs (named wrfout*), you may use ncview:

          module load ncview

          ncview wrfout_d01_2000-01-24_12:00:00

and select the variables you wish to plot.  For instance, to visualize SST:

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TIPS: ncview is not recommended for quality graphical displays, but is a very handy tool for a quick first-look at the data.

HurricaneKatrina 

As for previous examples, you just need to run workflow.bash and check the directory $WORKDIR/HurricaneKatrina