Restart Run - wrf.exe

You should have already completed the Single Domain Matthew Case before attempting a restart run. In the Single Domain case we started the model at 2016-10-06_00 and ran for 48 hours, creating a restart file every 24 hours.

In order to do a restart run, one must first create a restart file. This is done by setting the namelist variable restart_interval (unit in minutes) to be equal to or less than the simulation length in the original model run, as specified by run_* variables, or start_* and end_* times. When the model reaches the time to write a restart file, a restart file named wrfrst_d<domain>_<date> will be written. The date string represents the time when the restart file is valid.

Since you have already completed the Single Domain Case, you should have already set the above namelist parameters, and therefore you should already have a restart file. When running restarts, there is no need to run any of the WPS programs or real.exe again.

Steps to Run

1. Ensure you are in the WRF/test/em_real/ directory.

2. Edit namelist.input
    Add the changes below to the namelist.input file.
    Note: For detailed explanations of these variables, as well as suggestions for best practices, see the Best Practices WRF Namelist page, or Chapter 5 of the WRF User's Guide

start_year = 2016,
start_month = 10,
start_day = 07,
start_hour = 00,
end_year = 2016,
end_month = 10,
end_day = 08,
end_hour = 00,
restart = .true.,
restart_interval = 1440,

Note: We set restart to TRUE, so the code will look for a restart file (wrfrst_d0*) that matches our new start date.

Note: If you do not plan on doing any more restarts after this, you do not need to set restart_interval, although it usually is not bad practice to have restart files for longer runs, in case the run stops for any reason. For this case we just left it set to 1440, so a restart file will be generated at 2016-10-08_00.
 

3. Run wrf.exe (verify that the program runs correctly)
    Check that the following files have been created

wrfout_d01_2016-10-07_00:00:00
wrfrst_d01_2016-10-08_00:00:00

The wrfout file will contain all the time periods for this run.
The wrfrst file will contain timed information for 08_00.
 

6. Quick check of the contents of the wrfout file:

a. Use the ncdump utility:
    ncdump -h wrfout_d01_2016-10-07_00:00:00
    ncdump -v Times wrfout_d01_2016-10-07_00:00:00 (to see which forecast times are in the file)
b. Use the ncview utility.

7. Use any of the supported graphical tools to display the model output.

Run another case study