Chapter 5: WRF Model

Table of Contents

Introduction

The WRF model is a fully compressible, and nonhydrostatic model (with a runtime hydrostatic option). Its vertical coordinate is a terrain-following hydrostatic pressure coordinate. The grid staggering is the Arakawa C-grid. The model uses the Runge-Kutta 2nd and 3rd order time integration schemes, and 2nd to 6th order advection schemes in both horizontal and vertical. It uses a time-split small step for acoustic and gravity-wave modes. The dynamics conserves scalar variables.

The WRF model code contains several initialization programs (ideal.exe and real.exe; see Chapter 4), a numerical integration program (wrf.exe), and a program to do one-way nesting (ndown.exe). The WRF model Version 3 supports a variety of capabilities. These include

Other References

Installing WRF

Before compiling WRF code on a computer, check to see if the netCDF library is installed. This is because one of the supported WRF I/O options is netCDF, and it is the one commonly used, and supported by the post-processing programs. If the netCDF is installed in a path other than /usr/local/, then find the path, and use the environment variable NETCDF to define where the path is. To do so, type

setenv NETCDF path-to-netcdf-library

Often the netCDF library and its include/ directory are collocated. If this is not the case, create a directory, link both netCDF lib and include directories in this directory, and use environment variable to set the path to this directory. 

If the netCDF library is not available on the computer, it needs to be installed first. NetCDF source code or pre-built binary may be downloaded from and installation instruction can be found on the Unidata Web page at http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/.

Hint: for Linux users:

If PGI or Intel compiler are used on a Linux computer, make sure netCDF is installed using the same compiler. Use NETCDF environment variable to point to the PGI/Intel compiled netCDF library.

WRF source code tar file can be downloaded from http://www2.mmm.ucar.edu/wrf/download/get_source.html. Once the tar file is gunzipped (gunzip WRFV3.TAR.gz), and untared (untar WRFV3.TAR), and it will create a WRFV3/ directory. This contains:

Makefile

Top-level makefile

README

General information about WRF/ARW core

README_test_cases

Explanation of the test cases

README.NMM

General information for WRF/NMM core

README.rsl_output

For NMM

Registry/

Directory for WRF Registry files

arch/

Directory where compile options are gathered

clean

script to clean created files, executables

compile

script for compiling WRF code

configure

script to create the configure.wrf file for compile

chem/

WRF chemistry, supported by NOAA/GSD

dyn_em/

Directory for ARW dynamics and numerics

dyn_exp/

Directory for a 'toy' dynamic core

dyn_nmm/

Directory for NMM dynamics and numerics, supported by DTC

external/

Directory that contains external packages, such as those for IO, time keeping and MPI

frame/

Directory that contains modules for WRF framework

inc/

Directory that contains include files

main/

Directory for main routines, such as wrf.F, and all executables after compilation

phys/

Directory for all physics modules

run/

Directory where one may run WRF

share/

Directory that contains mostly modules for WRF mediation layer and WRF I/O

test/

Directory that contains test case directories, may be used to run WRF

tools/

Directory that contains tools for developers

The steps to compile and run the model are:

1.     configure: generate a configuration file for compilation

2.     compile: compile the code

3.     run the model

Go to WRFV3 (top) directory and type

./configure

and a list of choices for your computer should appear. These choices range from compiling for a single processor job (serial), to using OpenMP shared-memory (smpar) or distributed-memory parallelization (dmpar) options for multiple processors, or combination of shared-memory and distributed memory options (dm+sm). When a selection is made, a second choice for compiling nesting will appear. For example, on a Linux computer, the above steps look like: 

> setenv NETCDF /usr/local/netcdf-pgi
> ./configure

checking for perl5... no
checking for perl... found /usr/bin/perl (perl)
Will use NETCDF in dir: /usr/local/netcdf-pgi
PHDF5 not set in environment. Will configure WRF for use without.
$JASPERLIB or $JASPERINC not found in environment, configuring to build without grib2 I/O...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Please select from among the following supported platforms.

1.  Linux i486 i586 i686, gfortran compiler with gcc  (serial)
2.  Linux i486 i586 i686, gfortran compiler with gcc  (smpar)
3.  Linux i486 i586 i686, gfortran compiler with gcc  (dmpar)
4.  Linux i486 i586 i686, gfortran compiler with gcc  (dm+sm)
5.  Linux i486 i586 i686, g95 compiler with gcc  (serial)
6.  Linux i486 i586 i686, g95 compiler with gcc  (dmpar)
7.  Linux i486 i586 i686, PGI compiler with gcc  (serial)
8.  Linux i486 i586 i686, PGI compiler with gcc  (smpar)
9.  Linux i486 i586 i686, PGI compiler with gcc  (dmpar)
10.  Linux i486 i586 i686, PGI compiler with gcc  (dm+sm)
11.  Linux x86_64 i486 i586 i686, ifort compiler with icc (non-SGI installations)  (serial)
12.  Linux x86_64 i486 i586 i686, ifort compiler with icc (non-SGI installations)  (smpar)
13.  Linux x86_64 i486 i586 i686, ifort compiler with icc (non-SGI installations)  (dmpar)
14.  Linux x86_64 i486 i586 i686, ifort compiler with icc (non-SGI installations)  (dm+sm)
15.  Linux i486 i586 i686 x86_64, PathScale compiler with pathcc (serial)
16.  Linux i486 i586 i686 x86_64, PathScale compiler with pathcc  (dmpar)

Enter selection [1-16] : 9

Compile for nesting? (0=no nesting, 1=basic, 2=preset moves, 3=vortex following) [default 0]: 1

Enter appropriate options that are best for your computer and application.

When the return key is hit, a configure.wrf file will be created. Edit compile options/paths, if necessary.

Hint: It is helpful to start with something simple, such as the serial build. If it is successful, move on to build smpar or dmpar code. Remember to type ‘clean –a’ between each build.

Hint: On some computers (e.g. some Intel machines), it may be necessary to set the following environment variable before one compiles:

setenv WRF_EM_CORE 1

To compile the code, type

./compile

and the following choices will appear: 

  Usage:
 
compile wrf           compile wrf in run dir (Note, no real.exe, ndown.exe or ideal.exe generated)
 
or choose a test case (see README_test_cases for details):
 
compile em_b_wave

compile em_esmf_exp (example only)
compile em_grav2d_x

compile em_heldsuarez
compile em_hill2d_x

compile em_les
compile em_quarter_ss
compile em_real

compile em_seabreeze2d_x
compile em_squall2d_x
compile em_squall2d_y

compile exp_real (example of a toy solver)

compile nmm_real (NMM solver)
 
   compile –h              help message
 

where em stands for the Advanced Research WRF dynamic solver (which currently is the 'Eulerian mass-coordinate' solver). Type one of the above to compile. When you switch from one test case to another, you must type one of the above to recompile. The recompile is necessary to create a new initialization executable  (i.e. real.exe, and ideal.exe - there is a different ideal.exe for each of the idealized test cases), while wrf.exe is the same for all test cases.

If you want to remove all object files (except those in external/directory) and executables, type 'clean'.

Type 'clean -a' to remove built files in ALL directories, including configure.wrf. This is recommended if you make any mistake during the process, or if you have edited the Registry.EM file.

 a. Idealized case

For any 2D test cases (labeled in the case names), serial or OpenMP (smpar) compile options must be used. Suppose you would like to compile and run the 2-dimensional squall case, type

./compile em_squall2d_x >& compile.log

After a successful compilation, you should have two executables created in the main/ directory: ideal.exe and wrf.exe. These two executables will be linked to the corresponding test/case_name and run/ directories. cd to either directory to run the model.

It is a good practice to save the entire compile output to a file. When the executables were not present, this output is useful to help diagnose the compiler errors.

b. Real-data case

For a real-data case, type

./compile em_real >& compile.log &

When the compile is successful, it will create three executables in the main/directory: ndown.exe, real.exe and wrf.exe.

real.exe: for WRF initialization of real data cases
ndown.exe : for one-way nesting
wrf.exe : WRF model integration

Like in the idealized cases, these executables will be linked to test/em_real and run/ directories. cd to one of these two directories to run the model.(back to top)

Running WRF

One may run the model executables in either the run/ directory, or the test/case_name directory. In either case, one should see executables, ideal.exe or real.exe (and ndown.exe), and wrf.exe, linked files (mostly for real-data cases), and one or more namelist.input files in the directory.

Hint: If you would like to run the model executables in a different directory, copy or link the files in test/em_* directory to that directory, and run from there.

Idealized, real data, restart run, two-way nested, and one-way nested runs are explained on the following pages. Read on.

a. Idealized case

Suppose the test case em_squall2d_x is compiled, to run, type

cd test/em_squall2d_x

Edit namelist.input file (see README.namelist in WRFV3/run/ directory or its Web version) to change length of integration, frequency of output, size of domain, timestep, physics options, and other parameters.

If you see a script in the test case directory, called run_me_first.csh, run this one first by typing:

./run_me_first.csh

This links some physics data files that might be needed to run the case.

To run the initialization program, type

./ideal.exe

This program will typically read an input sounding file located in that directory, and generate an initial condition file wrfinput_d01. All idealized cases do not require lateral boundary file because of the boundary condition choices they use, such as the periodic option. If the job is run successfully, the last thing it prints should be: ‘wrf: SUCCESS COMPLETE IDEAL INIT’.

To run the model and save the standard output to a file, type

./wrf.exe >& wrf.out &

or for a 3D test case compiled with MPI (dmpar) option,

mpirun –np 4 ./wrf.exe

Pairs of rsl.out.* and rsl.error.* files will appear with any MPI runs. These are standard out and error files. Note that the execution command for MPI runs may be different on different machines. Check the user manual.

If the model run is successful, the last thing printed in ‘wrf.out’ or rsl.*.0000 file should be: ‘wrf: SUCCESS COMPLETE WRF’. Ouput files wrfout_d01_0001-01-01* and wrfrst* should be present in the run directory, depending on how namelist variables are specified for output. The time stamp on these files originates from the start times in the namelist file.

b. Real-data case

To make a real-data case run, cd to the working directory by typing

cd test/em_real (or cd run)

Start with a namelist.input template file in the directory, edit it to match your case.

Running a real-data case requires successfully running the WRF Preprocessing System programs (or WPS). Make sure met_em.* files from WPS are seen in the run directory (either link or copy the files):

ls –l ../../WPS/met_em*
ln –s ../../WPS/met_em* .

Make sure you edit the following variables in namelist.input file:

num_metgrid_levels: number of_ incoming data levels (can be found by using ncdump command on met_em.d01.<date> file)
eta_levels: model eta levels from 1 to 0, if you choose to do so. If not, real will compute a nice set of eta levels.

Other options for use to assist vertical interpolation are:

use_surface: whether to use surface input data
extrap_type: vertical extrapolation of non-temperature fields
t_extrap_type: vertical extrapolation for potential temperature
use_levels_below_ground: use levels below input surface level
force_sfc_in_vinterp: force vertical interpolation to use surface data
lowest_lev_from_sfc: place surface data in the lowest model level
p_top_requested: pressure top used in the model, default is 5000 Pa
interp_type: vertical interpolation method: linear in p(default) or log(p)
lagrange_order: vertical interpolation order, linear (default) or quadratic
zap_close_levels: allow surface data to be used if it is close to a constant pressure level.

Other minimum set of namelist variables to edit are:

start_*, end_*: start and end times for data processing and model integration
interval_seconds: input data interval for boundary conditions
time_step: model time step, and can be set as large as 6*DX (in km)
e_ws, e_sn, e_vert: domain dimensions in west-east, south-north and vertical
dx, dy: model grid distance in meters

To run real-data initialization program compiled using serial or OpenMP (smpar) options, type

./real.exe >& real.out

Successful completion of the job should have ‘real_em: SUCCESS EM_REAL INIT’ printed at the end of real.out file. It should also produce wrfinput_d01 and wrfbdy_d01 files. In real data case, both files are required. 

Run WRF model by typing

./wrf.exe

A successful run should produce one or several output files named like wrfout_d01_yyyy-mm-dd_hh:mm:ss. For example, if you start the model at 1200 UTC, January 24 2000, then your first output file should have the name:

wrfout_d01_2000-01-24_12:00:00

The time stamp on the file name is always the first time the output file is written. It is always good to check the times written to the output file by typing:

ncdump -v Times wrfout_d01_2000-01-24_12:00:00

You may have other wrfout files depending on the namelist options (how often you split the output files and so on using namelist option frames_per_outfile).You may also create restart files if you have restart frequency (restart_interval in the namelist.input file) set within your total integration length. The restart file should have names like

wrfrst_d01_yyyy-mm-dd_hh:mm:ss

The time stamp on a restart file is the time that restart file is valid at.

For DM (distributed memory) parallel systems, some form of mpirun command will be needed to run the executables. For example, on a Linux cluster, the command to run MPI code and using 4 processors may look like:

mpirun -np 4 ./real.exe
mpirun -np 4 ./wrf.exe

On some IBMs, the command may be:

poe ./real.exe
poe ./wrf.exe

for a batch job, and

poe ./real.exe -rmpool 1 -procs 4
poe ./wrf.exe -rmpool 1 -procs 4

for an interactive run. (Interactive MPI job is not an option on NCAR IBMs bluevista and blueice) 

c. Restart Run

A restart run allows a user to extend a run to a longer simulation period. It is effectively a continuous run made of several shorter runs. Hence the results at the end of one or more restart runs should be identical to a single run without any restart.

In order to do a restart run, one must first create restart file. This is done by setting namelist variable restart_interval (unit is in minutes) to be equal to or less than the simulation length in the first 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_<domain_id>_<date> will be written. The date string represents the time when the restart file is valid.

When one starts the restart run, edit the namelist.input file, so that your start_* time will be set to the restart time (which is the time the restart file is written). The other namelist variable one must set is restart, this variable should be set to .true. for a restart run.

In summary, these namelists should be modified:

start_*, end_*:    start and end times for restart model integration
restart:          logical to indicate whether the run is a restart or not

d. Two-way Nested Runs

A two-way nested run is a run where multiple domains at different grid resolutions are run simultaneously and communicate with each other: The coarser domain provides boundary values for the nest, and the nest feedbacks its calculation back to the coarser domain. The model can handle multiple domains at the same nest level (no overlapping nest), and multiple nest levels (telescoping). 

When preparing for a nested run, make sure that the code is compiled with basic nest options (option 1).

Most of options to start a nest run are handled through the namelist. All variables in the namelist.input file that have multiple columns of entries need to be edited with caution. Do start with a namelist template. The following are the key namelist variables to modify:

start_*, end_*: start and end simulation times for the nest

input_from_file: whether a nest requires an input file (e.g. wrfinput_d02). This is typically used for a real data case, since the nest input file contains nest topography and land information.

fine_input_stream: which fields from the nest input file are used in nest initialization. The fields to be used are defined in the Registry.EM. Typically they include static fields (such as terrain, landuse), and masked surface fields (such as skin temperature, soil moisture and temperature). Useful for nest starting at a later time than the coarse domain.

max_dom: the total number of domains to run. For example, if you want to have one coarse domain and one nest, set this variable to 2.

grid_id: domain identifier that is used in the wrfout naming convention. The most coarse grid must have grid_id of 1.

parent_id: used to indicate the parent domain of a nest. grid_id value is used.

i_parent_start/j_parent_start: lower-left corner starting indices of the nest domain in its parent domain. These parameters should be the same as in namelist.wps.

parent_grid_ratio: integer parent-to-nest domain grid size ratio. Typically odd number ratio is used in real-data applications.

parent_time_step_ratio: integer time-step ratio for the nest domain. It may be different from the parent_grid_ratio, though they are typically set the same.

feedback: this is the key setup to define a two-way nested (or one-way nested) run. When feedback is on, the values of the coarse domain are overwritten by the values of the variables (average of cell values for mass points, and average of the cell-face values for horizontal momentum points) in the nest at the coincident points. For masked fields, only the single point value at the collocating points is fedback. If the parent_grid_ratio is even, an arbitrary choice of  southwest corner point value is used for feedback. This is the reason it is better to use odd parent_grid_ratio with this option. When feedback is off , it is equivalent to a one-way nested run, since nest results are not reflected in the parent domain.

smooth_option: this a smoothing option for the parent domain in area of the nest if feedback is on. Three options are available: 0 = no smoothing; 1 = 1-2-1 smoothing; 2 = smoothing-desmoothing.

 

3-D Idealized Cases

For 3-D idealized cases, no nest input files are required. The key here is the specification of the namelist.input file. What the model does is to interpolate all variables required in the nest from the coarse domain fields. Set

input_from_file = F, F

Real Data Cases

For real-data cases, three input options are supported. The first one is similar to running the idealized cases. That is to have all fields for the nest interpolated from the coarse domain (input_from_file = T, F). The disadvantage of this option is obvious, one will not benefit from the higher resolution static fields (such as terrain, landuse, and so on).

The second option is to set input_from_file = T for each domain, which means that the nest will have a nest wrfinput file to read in. The limitation of this option is that this only allows the nest to start at the same time as the coarse domain.

The third option is in addition to setting input_from_file = T for each domain, also set fine_input_stream = 2 for each domain. Why a value of 2? This is based on the Registry setting, which designates certain fields to be read in from auxiliary input stream number 2. This option allows the nest initialization to use 3-D meteorological fields interpolated from the coarse domain, static fields and masked, time-varying surface fields from the nest wrfinput. It hence allows a nest to start at a later time than hour 0. Setting fine_input_stream = 0 is equivalent to the second option.

To run real.exe for a nested run, one must first run WPS and create data for all the nests. Suppose WPS is run for a two-domain nest case, and these files should be present in a WPS directory:

met_em.d01.2000-01-24_12:00:00
met_em.d01.2000-01-24_18:00:00
met_em.d01.2000-01-25_00:00:00
met_em.d01.2000-01-25_06:00:00
met_em.d01.2000-01-25_12:00:00
met_em.d02.2000-01-24_12:00:00

Typically only the first time period of the nest input file is needed to create nest wrfinput file. Link or move all these files to the run directory.

Edit the namelist.input file and set the correct values for all relevant variables, described on the previous pages (in particular, set max_dom = 2, for the total number of domains to run), as well as physics options. Type the following to run:

./real.exe >& real.out

or

mpirun –np 4 ./real.exe

If successful, this will create all input files for coarse as well as nest domains. For a two-domain example, these are

wrfinput_d01
wrfinput_d02
wrfbdy_d01

To run WRF, type

./wrf.exe

or

mpirun –np 4 ./wrf.exe

If successful, the model should create wrfout files for both domain 1 and 2:

wrfout_d01_2000-01-24_12:00:00
wrfout_d02_2000-01-24_12:00:00

e. One-way Nested Run Using ndown

WRF supports two separate one-way nested option. In this section, one-way nesting is defined as a finer-grid-resolution run made as a subsequent run after the coarser-grid-resolution run, where the ndown program is run in between the two forecasts. The initial and lateral boundary conditions for this finer-grid run are obtained from the coarse grid run, together with input from higher resolution terrestrial fields (e.g. terrain, landuse, etc.), and masked surface fields (such as soil temperature and moisture). The program that performs this task is ndown.exe. Note that the use of this program requires the code to be compiled for nesting.

When one-way nesting is used, the coarse-to-fine grid ratio is only restricted to be an integer. An integer less than or equal to 5 is recommended.

To make a one-way nested run involves these steps:

1) Generate a coarse-grid model output
2) Make temporary fine-grid initial condition wrfinput_d01 file (note that only a single time period is required, valid at the desired start time of the fine-grid domain)
3) Run program ndown, with coarse-grid model output and a fine-grid initial condition to generate fine grid initial and boundary conditions, similar to the output from the real.exe program)
4) Run the fine-grid simulation

To compile, choose an option that supports nesting.

Step 1: Make a coarse grid run

This is no different than any of the single domain WRF run as described above.

Step 2: Make a temporary fine grid initial condition file

The purpose of this step is to ingest higher resolution terrestrial fields and corresponding land-water masked soil fields.

Before doing this step, WPS should be run for one coarse and one nest domains (this helps to line up the nest with the coarse domain), and for the one time period the one-way nested run is to start. This generates a WPS output file for the nested domain (domain 2): met_em.d02.<date>.

- Rename met_em.d02.* to met.d01.* for the single requested fine-grid start time.  Move the original domain 1 WPS output files before you do this.
- Edit the namelist.input file for fine-grid domain (pay attention to column 1 only) and edit in the correct start time, grid dimensions.
- Run real.exe for this domain.  This will produce a wrfinput_d01 file.
- Rename this wrfinput_d01 file to wrfndi_d02.

Step 3: Make the final fine-grid initial and boundary condition files

- Edit namelist.input again, and this time one needs to edit two columns: one for dimensions of the coarse grid, and one for the fine grid. Note that the boundary condition frequency (namelist variable interval_seconds) is the time in seconds between the coarse-grid model output times.
- Run ndown.exe, with inputs from the coarse grid wrfout file(s), and wrfndi_d02 file generated from Step 2 above. This will produce wrfinput_d02 and wrfbdy_d02 files.

Note that program ndown may be run serially or in MPI, depending on the selected compile option.  The ndown program must be built to support nesting, however.  To run the program, type,

./ndown.exe
or
mpirun –np 4 ./ndown.exe 

Step 4: Make the fine-grid WRF run

- Rename wrfinput_d02 and wrfbdy_d02 to wrfinput_d01 and wrfbdy_d01, respectively.
- Edit namelist.input one more time, and it is now for the fine-grid domain only.
- Run WRF for this grid.

The figure on the next page summarizes the data flow for a one-way nested run using program ndown.

f. Moving-Nested Run

Two types of moving tests are allowed in WRF. In the first option, a user specifies the nest movement in the namelist. The second option is to move the nest automatically based on an automatic vortex-following algorithm. This option is designed to follow the movement of a well-defined tropical cyclone.

To make the specified moving nest run, select the right nesting compile option (option ‘preset moves’). To run the model, only the coarse grid input files are required. In this option, the nest initialization is defined from the coarse grid data - no nest input is used. In addition to the namelist options applied to a nested run, the following needs to be added to namelist section &domains:

num_moves: the total number of moves one can make in a model run. A move of any domain counts against this total. The maximum is currently set to 50, but it can be changed by change MAX_MOVES in frame/module_driver_constants.F.

move_id: a list of nest IDs, one per move, indicating which domain is to move for a given move.

move_interval: the number of minutes since the beginning of the run that a move is supposed to occur. The nest will move on the next time step after the specified instant of model time has passed.

move_cd_x,move_cd_y: distance in number of grid points and direction of the nest move(positive numbers indicating moving toward east and north, while negative numbers indicating moving toward west and south).

Parameter max_moves is set to be 50, but can be modified in source code file frame/module_driver_constants.F if needed.

 

To make the automatic moving nest runs, select the ‘vortex-following’ option when configuring. (Note that this compile would only support auto-moving nest, and will not support the specified moving nest at the same time.) Again, no nest input is needed. If one wants to use values other than the default ones, add and edit the following namelist variables in &domains section:

vortex_interval: how often the vortex position is calculated in minutes (default is 15 minutes).

max_vortex_speed: used with vortex_interval to compute the radius of search for the new vortex center position (default is 40 m/sec).

corral_dist: the distance in number of coarse grid cells that the moving nest is allowed to come near the coarse grid boundary (default is 8).

track_level: the pressure level (in Pa) where the vortex is tracked.

In both types of moving nest runs, the initial location of the nest is specified through i_parent_start and j_parent_start in the namelist.input file.

The automatic moving nest works best for well-developed vortex.

g. Three-Dimensional Analysis Nudging Run

Prepare input data to WRF as usual using WPS. If nudging is desired in the nest domains, make sure all time periods for all domains are processed in WPS.

Set the following options before running real.exe, in addition to others described earlier (see namelist template namelist.input.grid_fdda in test/em_real/ directory for guidance):

grid_fdda = 1

Run real.exe as before, and this will create, in addition to wrfinput_d0* and wrfbdy_d01 files, a file named ‘wrffdda_d0*’. Other grid nudging namelists are ignored at this stage. But it is a good practice to fill them all before one runs real. In particular, set

gfdda_inname  =  “wrffdda_d<domain>”
gfdda_interval = time interval of input data in minutes
gfdda_end_h = end time of grid nudging in hours

See http://www2.mmm.ucar.edu/wrf/users/wrfv2/How_to_run_grid_fdda.html and README.grid_fdda in WRFV3/test/em_real/ for more information.

h. Observation Nudging Run

In addition to the usual input data preparation using WPS, station observation files are required. See http://www2.mmm.ucar.edu/wrf/users/wrfv2/How_to_run_obs_fdda.html for instructions. The observation file names expected by WRF are OBS_DOMAIN101 for domain 1, and OBS_DOMAIN201 for domain 2, etc.

Observation nudging is activated in the model by the following namelists:

obs_nudge_opt = 1
fdda_start = 0 (obs nudging start time in minutes)
fdda_end  = 360 (obs nudging end time in minutes)

Look for example to set other obs nudging namelist variables in namelist template namelist.input.obs_fdda in test/em_real/ directory. See http://www2.mmm.ucar.edu/wrf/users/wrfv2/How_to_run_obs_fdda.html and README.obs_fdda in WRFV3/test/em_real/ for more information.

i. Global Run

WRFV3 begins to support global capability. To make a global run, run WPS starting with namelist template namelist.wps.gloabl. Set map_proj = ‘lat-lon’. Run the rest of WPS programs as usual but only for one time period. This is because the domain covers the entire global, lateral boundary conditions are no longer needed.

Run program real.exe as usual but only for one time period. Lateral boundary file wrfbdy_d01 is not needed.

Copy over namelist.input.global to namelist.input, and edit it. Run the model as usual.

Note that since this is a new option in the model, use it with caution. Not all options have been tested. For example, all filter options have not been tested.

j. Using Digital Filter Initialization

Digital filter initialization (DFI) is a way to remove initial model noise as measured by the surface pressure tendency. It runs a digital filter during a model integration, backward and forward, and then start the forecast. In WRF implementation, this can all be done in one job run. In V3, DFI can only be used in a single domain run.

No special requirement for data preparation.

Start with namelist template namelist.input.dfi. This namelist file contains an extra namelist record for DFI: &dfi_control. Edit it to match your case configuration. For a typical application, the following options are used:

Dfi_opt = 3
dfi_nfilter = 7 (filter option: Dolph)
dfi_cutoff_seconds = 3600 (should not be longer than the filter window)

For time specification, it typically needs to integrate backward for 0.5 0 1 hour, and integrate forward for half of the time.

If option dfi_write_filtered_input is set to true, a filtered wrfinput file, wrfinput_initialized_d01, will be produced.

Check Output

Once a model run is completed, it is a good practice to check a couple of things quickly.

If you have run the model on multiple processors using MPI, you should have a number of rsl.out.* and rsl.error.* files. Type ‘tail rsl.out.0000’ to see if you get ‘SUCCESS COMPLETE WRF’. This is a good indication that the model has run successfully.

The namelist options are written to a separate file: namelist.output.

Check the output times written to wrfout* file by using netCDF command:

  ncdump –v Times wrfout_d01_yyyy-mm-dd_hh:00:00

Take a look at either rsl.out.0000 file or other standard out file. This file logs the times taken to compute for one model time step, and to write one history and restart output:


Timing for main: time 2006-01-21_23:55:00 on domain  2:    4.91110 elapsed seconds.

Timing for main: time 2006-01-21_23:56:00 on domain  2:    4.73350 elapsed seconds.

Timing for main: time 2006-01-21_23:57:00 on domain  2:    4.72360 elapsed seconds.

Timing for main: time 2006-01-21_23:57:00 on domain  1:   19.55880 elapsed seconds.

and

Timing for Writing wrfout_d02_2006-01-22_00:00:00 for domain 2: 1.17970 elapsed seconds.

Timing for main: time 2006-01-22_00:00:00 on domain 1: 27.66230 elapsed seconds.

Timing for Writing wrfout_d01_2006-01-22_00:00:00 for domain 1: 0.60250 elapsed seconds.

If the model did not run to completion, take a look at these standard output/error files too. If the model has become numerically unstable, it may have violated the CFL criterion (for numerical stability). Check whether this is true by typing the following:

grep cfl rsl.error.* or grep cfl wrf.out

you might see something like these:

5 points exceeded cfl=2 in domain            1 at time   4.200000 

  MAX AT i,j,k:          123          48          3 cfl,w,d(eta)= 4.165821

21 points exceeded cfl=2 in domain           1 at time   4.200000

   MAX AT i,j,k:          123          49          4 cfl,w,d(eta)= 10.66290 

When this happens, often reducing time step can help.

Trouble Shooting

If  the model aborts very quickly, it is likely that either the computer memory is not large enough to run the specific configuration, or the input data have some serious problem. For the first problem, try to type ‘unlimit’ to see if more memory can be obtained.

To check if the input data is the problem, use ncview or other netCDF file browser.

Another frequent error seen is ‘module_configure: initial_config: error reading namelist’. This is an error message from the model complaining about errors and typos in the namelist.input file. Edit namelist.input file with caution. If unsure, always start with an available template. A namelist record where the namelist read error occurs is provided in the V3 error message, and it should help with identifying the error.

Physics and Dynamics Options

Physics Options

WRF offers multiple physics options that can be combined in any way. The options typically range from simple and efficient to sophisticated and more computationally costly, and from newly developed schemes to well tried schemes such as those in current operational models.

The choices vary with each major WRF release, but here we will outline those available in WRF Version 3.

1. Microphysics (mp_physics)

a. Kessler scheme: A warm-rain (i.e. no ice) scheme used commonly in idealized cloud modeling studies (mp_physics = 1).

b. Lin et al. scheme: A sophisticated scheme that has ice, snow and graupel processes, suitable for real-data high-resolution simulations (2).

c. WRF Single-Moment 3-class scheme: A simple efficient scheme with ice and snow processes suitable for mesoscale grid sizes (3).

d. WRF Single-Moment 5-class scheme: A slightly more sophisticated version of (c) that allows for mixed-phase processes and super-cooled water (4).

e. Eta microphysics: The operational microphysics in NCEP models. A simple efficient scheme with diagnostic mixed-phase processes (5).

f. WRF Single-Moment 6-class scheme: A scheme with ice, snow and graupel processes suitable for high-resolution simulations (6).

g. Goddard microphysics scheme. A scheme with ice, snow and graupel processes suitable for high-resolution simulations (7). New in Version 3.0.

h. Thompson et al. scheme: A new scheme with ice, snow and graupel processes suitable for high-resolution simulations (8; replacing the version in 2.1)

i. Morrison double-moment scheme (10). Double-moment ice, snow, rain and graupel for cloud-resolving simulations. New in Version 3.0.

2.1 Longwave Radiation (ra_lw_physics)

a. RRTM scheme: Rapid Radiative Transfer Model. An accurate scheme using look-up tables for efficiency. Accounts for multiple bands, trace gases, and microphysics species (ra_lw_physics = 1).

b. GFDL scheme: Eta operational radiation scheme. An older multi-band scheme with carbon dioxide, ozone and microphysics effects (99).

c. CAM scheme: from the CAM 3 climate model used in CCSM. Allows for aerosols and trace gases (3).

2.2 Shortwave Radiation (ra_sw_physics)

a. Dudhia scheme: Simple downward integration allowing efficiently for clouds and clear-sky absorption and scattering. When used in high-resolution simulations, sloping and shadowing effects may be considered (ra_sw_physics = 1).

b. Goddard shortwave: Two-stream multi-band scheme with ozone from climatology and cloud effects (2).

c. GFDL shortwave: Eta operational scheme. Two-stream multi-band scheme with ozone from climatology and cloud effects (99).

d. CAM scheme: from the CAM 3 climate model used in CCSM. Allows for aerosols and trace gases (3).

3.1 Surface Layer (sf_sfclay_physics)

a.MM5 similarity: Based on Monin-Obukhov with Carslon-Boland viscous sub-layer and standard similarity functions from look-up tables (sf_sfclay_physics = 1).

b. Eta similarity: Used in Eta model. Based on Monin-Obukhov with Zilitinkevich thermal roughness length and standard similarity functions from look-up tables(2).

c. Pleim-Xiu surface layer. (7). New in Version 3.0.

3.2 Land Surface (sf_surface_physics)

a.5-layer thermal diffusion: Soil temperature only scheme, using five layers (sf_surface_physics = 1).

b. Noah Land Surface Model: Unified NCEP/NCAR/AFWA scheme with soil temperature and moisture in four layers, fractional snow cover and frozen soil physics (2).

-Urban canopy model (ucmcall): 3-category UCM option

c. RUC Land Surface Model: RUC operational scheme with soil temperature and moisture in six layers, multi-layer snow and frozen soil physics (3).

d. Pleim-Xiu Land Surface Model. Two-layer scheme with vegetation and sub-grid tiling (7). New in Version 3.0.

4. Planetary Boundary layer (bl_pbl_physics)

a. Yonsei University scheme: Non-local-K scheme with explicit entrainment layer and parabolic K profile in unstable mixed layer (bl_pbl_physics = 1).

b. Mellor-Yamada-Janjic scheme: Eta operational scheme. One-dimensional prognostic turbulent kinetic energy scheme with local vertical mixing (2).

c. MRF scheme: Older version of (a) with implicit treatment of entrainment layer as part of non-local-K mixed layer (99).

d. ACM PBL. Asymmetric Convective Model with non-local upward mixing and local downward mixing (7). New in Version 3.0.

5. Cumulus Parameterization (cu_physics)

a. Kain-Fritsch scheme: Deep and shallow convection sub-grid scheme using a mass flux approach with downdrafts and CAPE removal time scale (cu_physics = 1).

b. Betts-Miller-Janjic scheme. Operational Eta scheme. Column moist adjustment scheme relaxing towards a well-mixed profile (2).

c. Grell-Devenyi ensemble scheme: Multi-closure, multi-parameter, ensemble method with typically 144 sub-grid members (3).

d. Grell 3d ensemble cumulus scheme. Scheme for higher resolution domains allowing for subsidence in neighboring columns (5). New in Version 3.0.

e. Old Kain-Fritsch scheme: Deep convection scheme using a mass flux approach with downdrafts and CAPE removal time scale (99).

Diffusion and Damping Options

Diffusion in WRF is categorized under two parameters, the diffusion option and the K option. The diffusion option selects how the derivatives used in diffusion are calculated, and the K option selects how the K coefficients are calculated. Note that when a PBL option is selected, vertical diffusion is done by the PBL scheme, and not by the diffusion scheme.

1.1 Diffusion Option (diff_opt)

a. Simple diffusion: Gradients are simply taken along coordinate surfaces (diff_opt = 1).

b. Full diffusion: Gradients use full metric terms to more accurately compute horizontal gradients in sloped coordinates (diff_opt = 2).

1.2 K Option (km_opt)

Note that when using a PBL scheme, only options (a) and (d) below make sense, because (b) and (c) are designed for 3d diffusion.

a. Constant: K is specified by namelist values for horizontal and vertical diffusion (km_opt = 1).

b. 3d TKE: A prognostic equation for turbulent kinetic energy is used, and K is based on TKE (km_opt = 2).

c. 3d Deformation: K is diagnosed from 3d deformation and stability following a Smagorinsky approach (km_opt = 3).

d. 2d Deformation: K for horizontal diffusion is diagnosed from just horizontal deformation. The vertical diffusion is assumed to be done by the PBL scheme (km_opt = 4). 

1.3 6th Order Horizontal Diffusion (diff_6th_opt)

6th-orderhorizontal hyper diffusion (del^6) on all variables to act as a selective short-wave numerical noise filter. Can be used in conjunction with diff_opt.

 

2. Damping Options

These are independently activated choices.

a. Upper Damping: Either a layer of increased diffusion (damp_opt =1) or a Rayleigh relaxation layer (2) or an implicit gravity-wave damping layer (3, new in Version 3.0), can be added near the model top to control reflection from the upper boundary.

b. w-Damping: For operational robustness, vertical motion can be damped to prevent the model from becoming unstable with locally large vertical
velocities. This only affects strong updraft cores, so has very little impact on results otherwise.

c. Divergence Damping: Controls horizontally propagating sound waves.

d. External Mode Damping: Controls upper-surface (external) waves.

e. Time Off-centering (epssm): Controls vertically propagating sound waves.

Advection Options

a. Horizontal advection orders for momentum (h_mom_adv_order) and scalar (h_sca_adv_order) can be 2ndto 6th, with 5th order being the recommended one.

b. Vertical advection orders for momentum (v_mom_adv_order) and scalar (v_sca_adv_order) can be 2ndand 6th, with 3rd order being the recommended one.

c. Positive-definite advection option can be applied to moisture (pd_moist= .true.), scalar (pd_scalar), chemistry variables (pd_chem) and tke (pd_tke).

Other Dynamics Options

a. The model can be run hydrostatically by setting non_hydrostatic switch to .false.

b. Coriolis term can be applied to wind perturbation (pert_coriolis = .true.) only (idealized only).

c. For diff_opt = 2 only, vertical diffusion may act on full fields (not just on perturbation from 1D base profile (mix_full_fields = .true.; idealized only).

Lateral Boundary Condition Options

a.     Periodic (periodic_x / periodic_y): for idealized cases.

b.     Open (open_xs, open_xe, open_ys, open_ye): for idealized cases.

c.     Symmetric (symmetric_xs, symmetric_xe, symmetric_ys, symmetric_ye): for idealized cases.

d.     Specified (specified): for real-data cases. The first row and column are specified with external model values (spec_zone = 1, and it should not change). The rows and columns in relax_zone have values blended from external model and WRF. The value of relax_zone may be changed, as long as spec_bdy_width = spec_zone + relax_zone.

spec_exp: exponential multiplier for relaxation zone ramp, used with specified boundary condition. 0. = linear ramp, default; 0.33 = ~3*dx exp decay factor. May be useful for long simulations.

e.     Nested (nested): for real and idealized cases.

 

 

Description of Namelist Variables

 

The following is a description of namelist variables. The variables that are a function of nests are indicated by (max_dom) following the variable. Also see README.namelist file in WRFV3/run/ directory.

 

Variable Names

Value

Description

&time_control

 

Time control

run_days

1

run time in days

run_hours

0

run time in hours
Note: if it is more than 1 day, one may use both run_days and run_hours or just run_hours. e.g. if the total run length is 36 hrs, you may set run_days = 1, and run_hours = 12, or run_days = 0, and run_hours 36

run_minutes

0

run time in minutes

run_seconds

0

run time in seconds

start_year (max_dom)

2001

four digit year of starting time

start_month (max_dom)

06

two digit month of starting time

start_day (max_dom)

11

two digit day of starting time

start_hour (max_dom)

12

two digit hour of starting time

start_minute (max_dom)

00

two digit minute of starting time

start_second (max_dom)

00

two digit second of starting time
Note: the start time is used to name the first wrfout file. It also controls the start time for nest domains, and the time to restart

end_year (max_dom)

2001

four digit year of ending time

end_month (max_dom)

06

two digit month of ending time

end_day (max_dom)

12

two digit day of ending time

end_hour (max_dom)

12

two digit hour of ending time

end_minute (max_dom)

00

two digit minute of ending time

end_second (max_dom)

00

two digit second of ending time
Note all end times also control when the nest domain integrations end. All start and end times are used by real.exe. One may use either run_days/run_hours etc. or end_year/month/day/hour etc. to control the length of model integration. But run_days/run_hours takes precedence over the end times. Program real.exe uses start and end times only.

interval_seconds

10800

time interval between incoming real data, which will be the interval between the lateral boundary condition file (for real only)

input_from_file (max_dom)

T (logical)

logical; whether nested run will have input files for domains other than 1

fine_input_stream (max_dom)

 

selected fields from nest input

 

0

all fields from nest input are used

 

2

only nest input specified from input stream 2 (defined in the Registry) are used

history_interval (max_dom)

60

history output file interval in minutes (integer only)

history_interval_mo (max_dom)

1

history output file interval in months (integer); used as alternative to history_interval

history_interval_d (max_dom)

1

history output file interval in days (integer); used as alternative to history_interval

history_interval_h (max_dom)

1

history output file interval in hours (integer); used as alternative to history_interval

history_interval_m (max_dom)

1

history output file interval in minutes (integer); used as alternative to history_interval and is equivalent to history_interval

history_interval_s (max_dom)

1

history output file interval in seconds (integer); used as alternative to history_interval

frames_per_outfile (max_dom)

1

output times per history output file, used to split output files into smaller pieces

restart

F (logical)

whether this run is a restart run

restart_interval

1440

restart output file interval in minutes

reset_simulation_start

F

whether to overwrite simulation_start_date with forecast start time

auxinput1_inname

“met_em.d<domain>

<date>”

input from WPS (this is the default)

auxinput4_inname

“wrflowinp_d<domain>”

input for lower bdy file, works with sst_update = 1

auxinput4_interval

360

file interval in minutes for lower bdy file

io_form_history

2

2 = netCDF; 102 = split netCDF files one per processor (no supported post-processing software for split files)

 

1

binary format (no supported post-processing software avail)

 

4

PHDF5 format (no supported post-processing software avail)

 

5

GRIB 1

 

10

GRIB 2

io_form_restart

2

2 = netCDF; 102 = split netCDF files one per processor (must restart with the same number of processors)

io_form_input

2

2 = netCDF

io_form_boundary

2

netCDF format

debug_level

0

50,100,200,300 values give increasing prints

auxhist2_outname

"rainfall_d<domain>"

file name for extra output; if not specified, auxhist2_d<domain>_<date> will be used. Also note that to write variables in output other than the history file requires Registry.EM file change

auxhist2_interval

10

interval in minutes

io_form_auxhist2

2

output in netCDF

frame_per_auxhist4 (max_dom)

 

output times per output file

auxinput11_interval

 

designated for obs nudging input

auxinput11_end_h

 

designated for obs nudging input

nocolons

.false.

replace : with _ in output file names

write_input

t

write input-formatted data as output for 3DVAR application

inputout_interval

180

interval in minutes when writing input-formatted data

input_outname

“wrf_3dvar_input_

d<domain>_<date>”

Output file name from 3DVAR

inputout_begin_y

0

beginning year to write 3DVAR data

inputout_begin_mo

0

beginning month to write 3DVAR data

inputout_begin_d

0

beginning day to write 3DVAR data

inputout_begin_h

3

beginning hour to write 3DVAR data

Inputout_begin_m

0

beginning minute to write 3DVAR data

inputout_begin_s

0

beginning second to write 3DVAR data

inputout_end_y

0

ending year to write 3DVAR data

inputout_end_mo

0

ending month to write 3DVAR data

inputout_end_d

0

ending day to write 3DVAR data

inputout_end_h

12

ending hour to write 3DVAR data

Inputout_end_m

0

ending minute to write 3DVAR data

inputout_end_s

0

ending second to write 3DVAR data.

 

 

The above example shows that the input-formatted data are output starting from hour 3 to hour 12 in 180 min interval.

 

 

 

&domains

 

domain definition: dimensions, nesting parameters

time_step

60

time step for integration in integer seconds (recommended 6*dx in km for a typical case)

time_step_fract_num

0

numerator for fractional time step

time_step_fract_den

1

denominator for fractional time step Example, if you want to use 60.3 sec as your time step, set time_step = 60, time_step_fract_num = 3, and time_step_fract_den = 10

max_dom

1

number of domains - set it to > 1 if it is a nested run

s_we (max_dom)

1

start index in x (west-east) direction (leave as is)

e_we (max_dom)

91

end index in x (west-east) direction (staggered dimension)

s_sn (max_dom)

1

start index in y (south-north) direction (leave as is)

e_sn (max_dom)

82

end index in y (south-north) direction (staggered dimension)

s_vert (max_dom)

1

start index in z (vertical) direction (leave as is)

e_vert (max_dom)

28

end index in z (vertical) direction (staggered dimension - this refers to full levels). Most variables are on unstaggered levels. Vertical dimensions need to be the same for all nests.

num_metgrid_levels

40

number of vertical levels in WPS output: type ncdump –h to find out

eta_levels

1.0, 0.99,…0.0

model eta levels from 1 to 0. If not given, real will provide a set of levels

force_sfc_in_vinterp

1

use surface data as lower boundary when interpolating through this many eta levels

p_top_requested

5000

p_top to use in the model; must be available in WPS data

interp_type

1

vertical interpolation;

1: linear in pressure;

2: linear in log(pressure)

extrap_type

2

vertical extrapolation of non-temperature variables.

1: extrapolate using the two lowest levels;

2: use lowest level as constant below ground

t_extrap_type

2

vertical extrapolation for potential temperature.

1: isothermal;

2: -6.5 K/km lapse rate for temperature

3: constant theta

use_levels_below_ground

.true.

in vertical interpolation, whether to use levels below input surface level:

true: use input isobaric levels below input surface

false: extrapolate when WRF location is below input surface level

use_surface

.true.

whether to use input surface level data in vertical interpolation

true: use input surface data

false: do not use input surface data

lagrange_order

1

vertical interpolation order;

1: linear;

2: quadratic

lowest_lev_from_sfc

.false.

T = use surface values for the lowest eta (u,v,t,q); F = use traditional interpolation

dx (max_dom)

10000

grid length in x direction, unit in meters

dy (max_dom)

10000

grid length in y direction, unit in meters

ztop (max_dom)

19000.

height in meters; used to define model top for idealized cases

grid_id (max_dom)

1

domain identifier

parent_id (max_dom)

0

id of the parent domain

i_parent_start (max_dom)

1

starting LLC I-indices from the parent domain

j_parent_start (max_dom)

1

starting LLC J-indices from the parent domain

parent_grid_ratio (max_dom)

1

parent-to-nest domain grid size ratio: for real-data cases the ratio has to be odd; for idealized cases, the ratio can be even if feedback is set to 0.

parent_time_step_ratio (max_dom)

1

parent-to-nest time step ratio; it can be different from the parent_grid_ratio

feedback

1

feedback from nest to its parent domain; 0 = no feedback

smooth_option

0

smoothing option for parent domain, used only with feedback option on. 0: no smoothing; 1: 1-2-1 smoothing; 2: smoothing-desmoothing

(options for preset moving nest)

num_moves

2,

total number of moves for all domains

move_id (max_moves)

2,2,

a list of nest domain id's, one per move

move_interval (max_moves)

60,120,

time in minutes since the start of this domain

move_cd_x (max_moves)

1,-1,

the number of parent domain grid cells to move in i direction

move_cd_y (max_moves)

-1,1,

the number of parent domain grid cells to move in j direction (positive in increasing i/j directions, and negative in decreasing i/j directions. Only 1, 0 and -1 is permitted.

(options for automatic moving nest)

vortex_interval (max_dom)

15

how often the new vortex position is computed

max_vortex_speed (max_dom)

40

unit in m/sec; used to compute the search radius for the new vortex position

corral_dist (max_dom)

8

how many coarse grid cells the moving nest is allowed to get near the coarse grid boundary

(options for adaptive time step)

use_adaptive_time_step

.false.

whether to use adaptive time step

step_to_output_time

.true.

whether to modify the time steps so that the exact history time is reached

target_cfl

1.2

if vertical and horizontal CFL <= this value, then time step is increased

max_step_increase_pct

5

percentage of previous time step to increase, if the max CFL is <= target_cfl

starting_time_step

-1

flag -1 implies 6*dx is used to start the model. Any positive integer number specifies the time step the model will start with. Note that when use_adaptive_time_step is true, the value specified for time_step is ignored.

max_time_step

-1

flag -1 implies the maximum time step is 3*starting_time_step. Any positive integer number specified the maximum time step

min_time_step

-1

flag -1 implies the minimum time step is 0.5*starting_time_step. Any positive integer number specified the minumum time step

 

 

 

(options to control parallel computing)

tile_sz_x

0

number of points in tile x direction

tile_sz_y

0

number of points in tile y direction can be determined automatically

numtiles

1

number of tiles per patch (alternative to above two items)

nproc_x

-1

number of processors in x for decomposition

nproc_y

-1

number of processors in y for decomposition

-1: code will do automatic decomposition >1: for both: will be used for decomposition

 

 

 

&physics

 

Physics options

mp_physics (max_dom)

 

microphysics option

 

0

no microphysics

 

1

Kessler scheme

 

2

Lin et al. scheme

 

3

WSM 3-class simple ice scheme

 

4

WSM 5-class scheme

 

5

Ferrier (new Eta) microphysics

 

6

WSM 6-class graupel scheme

 

7

Goddard GCE scheme (also use gsfcgce_hail and gsfcgce_2ice)

 

8

Thompson graupel scheme

 

10

Morrison 2-moment scheme

mp_zero_out

 

For non-zero mp_physics options, this keeps moisture variables above a threshold value >= 0.

 

0

no action taken, no adjustment to any moisture field

 

1

except for Qv, all other moisture arrays are set to zero if they fall below a critical value

 

2

Qv >= 0 and all other moisture arrays are set to zero if they fall below a critical value

mp_zero_out_thresh

1.e-8

critical value for moisture variable threshold, below which moisture arrays (except for Qv) are set to zero (unit: kg/kg)

gsfcgce_hail

0

0: running gsfcgce scheme with graupel

1: running gsfcgce scheme with hail

gsfcgce_2ice

0

0: running gsfcgce scheme with snow, ice and graupel / hail

1: running gsfcgce scheme with only ice and snow

2: running gsfcgce scheme with only ice and graupel (used only in very extreme situation)

no_mp_heating

0

switch to turn off latent heating from mp

0: normal

1: turn off latent heating from a microphysics scheme

ra_lw_physics (max_dom)

 

longwave radiation option

 

0

no longwave radiation

 

1

rrtm scheme

 

3

CAM scheme

 

99

GFDL (Eta) longwave (semi-supported)

ra_sw_physics (max_dom)

 

shortwave radiation option

 

0

no shortwave radiation

 

1

Dudhia scheme

 

2

Goddard short wave

 

3

CAM scheme

 

99

GFDL (Eta) longwave (semi-supported)

radt (max_dom)

30

minutes between radiation physics calls. Recommend 1 minute per km of dx (e.g. 10 for 10 km grid); use the same value for all nests

co2tf

1

CO2 transmission function flag for GFDL radiation only. Set it to 1 for ARW, which allows generation of CO2 function internally

cam_abs_freq_s

21600

CAM clear sky longwave absorption calculation frequency (recommended minimum value to speed scheme up)

levsiz

59

for CAM radiation input ozone levels

paerlev

29

for CAM radiation input aerosol levels

cam_abs_dim1

4

for CAM absorption save array

cam_abs_dim2

same as e_vert

for CAM 2nd absorption save array

sf_sfclay_physics (max_dom)

 

surface-layer option

 

0

no surface-layer

 

1

Monin-Obukhov scheme

 

2

Monin-Obukhov (Janjic Eta) scheme

 

3

NCEP GFS scheme (NMM only)

 

7

Pleim-Xu (ARW only), only tested with Pleim-Xu surface and ACM2 PBL

sf_surface_physics (max_dom)

 

land-surface option (set before running real; also set correct num_soil_layers)

 

0

no surface temp prediction

 

1

thermal diffusion scheme

 

2

unified Noah land-surface model

 

3

RUC land-surface model

 

7

Pleim-Xu scheme (ARW only)

bl_pbl_physics (max_dom)

 

boundary-layer option

 

0

no boundary-layer

 

1

YSU scheme

 

2

Mellor-Yamada-Janjic (Eta) TKE scheme

 

3

NCEP GFS scheme (NMM only)

 

7

ACM2 (Pleim) scheme

 

99

MRF scheme (to be removed)

bldt (max_dom)

0

minutes between boundary-layer physics calls. 0 = call every time step

cu_physics (max_dom)

 

cumulus option

 

0

no cumulus

 

1

Kain-Fritsch (new Eta) scheme

 

2

Betts-Miller-Janjic scheme

 

3

Grell-Devenyi ensemble scheme

 

4

Simplied Arakawa-Schubert (NMM only)

 

5

New Grell scheme (G3)

 

99

previous Kain-Fritsch scheme

cudt

0

minutes between cumulus physics calls.

0 = call every time step

isfflx

1

heat and moisture fluxes from the surface (only works for sf_sfclay_physics = 1)

1 = with fluxes from the surface

0 = no flux from the surface

ifsnow

0

snow-cover effects (only works for sf_surface_physics = 1)

1 = with snow-cover effect

0 = without snow-cover effect

icloud

1

cloud effect to the optical depth in radiation (only works for ra_sw_physics = 1 and ra_lw_physics = 1)

1 = with cloud effect

0 = without cloud effect

swrat_scat

1.

Scattering tuning parameter (default 1 is 1.e-5 m2/kg)

surface_input_source

1,2

where landuse and soil category data come from:

1 = WPS/geogrid;

2 = GRIB data from another model (only if arrays VEGCAT/SOILCAT exist)

num_soil_layers

 

number of soil layers in land surface model (set in real)

 

5

thermal diffusion scheme for temp only

 

4

Noah land-surface model

 

6

RUC land-surface model

 

2

Pleim-Xu land-surface model

pxlsm_smois_init

(max_dom)

1

PX LSM soil moisture initialization option

0: from analysis

1: from LANDUSE.TBL (SLMO)

ucmcall (max_dom)

0

activate urban canopy model (in Noah LSM only) (0=no, 1=yes)

maxiens

1

Grell-Devenyi only

maxens

3

G-D only

maxens2

3

G-D only

maxens3

16

G-D only

ensdim

144

G-D only. These are recommended numbers. If you would like to use any other number, consult the code, know what you are doing.

seaice_threshold

271.

tsk < seaice_threshold, if water point and 5-layer slab scheme, set to land point and permanent ice; if water point and Noah scheme, set to land point, permanent ice, set temps from 3 m to surface, and set smois and sh2o

sst_update

 

option to use time-varying SST, seaice, vegetation fraction, and albedo during a model simulation (set before running real)

 

0

no SST update

 

1

real.exe will create wrflowinp_d01 file at the same time interval as the available input data. To use it in wrf.exe, add auxinput4_inname = "wrflowinp_d<domain>", auxinput4_interval in namelist section &time_control

usemonalb

.false.

whether to use monthly albedo map instead of LANDUSE.TBL values. Recommended for sst_update = 1

slope_rad

0

slope effects for ra_sw_physics=1 (1=on, 0=off)

topo_shading

0

neighboring-point shadow effects for ra_sw_physics=1 (1=on, 0=off)

shadlen

25000.

max shadow length in meters for topo_shading = 1

omlcall

0

simple ocean mixed layer model. (1=on, 0=off)

oml_hml0

50.

initial ocean mixed layer depth (m), constant everywhere

oml_gamma

0.14

lapse rate in deep water for oml (K m-1)

isftcflx

0

alternative Ck, Cd for tropical storm application. (1=on, 0=off)

 

 

 

&fdda

 

for grid and obs nudging

(for grid nudging)

 

 

grid_fdda (max_dom)

1

grid-nudging on (=0 off) for each domain

gfdda_inname

“wrffdda_d<domain>”

Defined name in real

gfdda_interval (max_dom)

360

Time interval (min) between analysis times

gfdda_end_h (max_dom)

6

Time (h) to stop nudging after start of forecast

io_form_gfdda

2

Analysis format (2 = netcdf)

fgdt (max_dom)

0

Calculation frequency (in minutes) for analysis nudging. 0 = every time step, and this is recommended

if_no_pbl_nudging_uv (max_dom)

0

1= no nudging of u and v in the pbl; 0= nudging in the pbl

if_no_pbl_nudging_t (max_dom)

0

1= no nudging of temp in the pbl; 0= nudging in the pbl

if_no_pbl_nudging_t (max_dom)

0

1= no nudging of qvapor in the pbl; 0= nudging in the pbl

if_zfac_uv (max_dom)

0

0= nudge u and v all layers, 1= limit nudging to levels above k_zfac_uv

k_zfac_uv

10

10=model level below which nudging is switched off for u and v

if_zfac_t (max_dom)

0

 

k_zfac_t

10

10=model level below which nudging is switched off for temp

if_zfac_q (max_dom)

0

 

k_zfac_q

10

10=model level below which nudging is switched off for water qvapor

guv (max_dom)

0.0003

nudging coefficient for u and v (sec-1)

gt (max_dom)

0.0003

nudging coefficient for temp (sec-1)

gq (max_dom)

0.0003

nudging coefficient for qvapor (sec-1)

if_ramping

0

0= nudging ends as a step function, 1= ramping nudging down at end of period

dtramp_min

60.

time (min) for ramping function, 60.0=ramping starts at last analysis time,

-60.0=ramping ends at last analysis time

(for obs nudging)

 

 

obs_nudge_opt (max_dom)

1

obs-nudging fdda on (=0 off) for each domain; also need to set auxinput11_interval and auxinput11_end_h in time_control namelist

max_obs

150000

max number of observations used on a domain during any given time window

fdda_start

0.

obs nudging start time in minutes

fdda_end

180.

obs nudging end time in minutes

obs_nudge_wind (max_dom)

1

whether to nudge wind: (=0 off)

obs_coef_wind (max_dom)

6.e-4

nudging coefficient for wind, unit: s-1

obs_nudge_temp (max_dom)

1

whether to nudge temperature: (=0 off)

obs_coef_temp (max_dom)

6.e-4

nudging coefficient for temp, unit: s-1

obs_nudge_mois (max_dom)

1

whether to nudge water vapor mixing ratio: (=0 off)

obs_coef_mois (max_dom)

6.e-4

nudging coefficient for water vapor mixing ratio, unit: s-1

obs_nudge_pstr (max_dom)

0

whether to nudge surface pressure (not used)

obs_coef_pstr (max_dom)

0.

nudging coefficient for surface pressure, unit: s-1 (not used)

obs_rinxy

200.

horizontal radius of influence in km

obs_rinsig

0.1

vertical radius of influence in eta

obs_twindo (max_dom)

0.666667

half-period time window over which an observation will be used for nudging; the unit is in hours

obs_npfi

10

freq in coarse grid timesteps for diag prints

obs_ionf (max_dom)

2

freq in coarse grid timesteps for obs input and err calc

obs_idynin

0

for dynamic initialization using a ramp-down function to gradually turn off the FDDA before the pure forecast (=1 on)

obs_dtramp

40.

time period in minutes over which the nudging is ramped down from one to zero.

obs_nobs_prt (max_dom)

10

number of current obs to print grid coord. info.

obs_ipf_in4dob

.true.

print obs input diagnostics (=.false. off)

obs_ipf_errob

.true.

print obs error diagnostics (=.false. off)

obs_ipf_nudob

.true.

print obs nudge diagnostics (=.false. off)

obs_ipf_init

.true.

enable obs init warning messages

 

 

 

&dynamics

 

Diffusion, damping options, advection options

rk_ord

 

time-integration scheme option:

 

2

Runge-Kutta 2nd order

 

3

Runge-Kutta 3rd order (recommended)

diff_opt

 

turbulence and mixing option:

 

0

= no turbulence or explicit spatial numerical filters (km_opt IS IGNORED).

 

1

evaluates 2nd order diffusion term on coordinate surfaces. uses kvdif for vertical diff unless PBL option is used. may be used with km_opt = 1 and 4. (= 1, recommended for real-data case)

 

2

evaluates mixing terms in physical space (stress form) (x,y,z). turbulence parameterization is chosen by specifying km_opt.

km_opt

 

eddy coefficient option

 

1

constant (use khdif and kvdif)

 

2

1.5 order TKE closure (3D)

 

3

Smagorinsky first order closure (3D) Note: option 2 and 3 are not recommended for DX > 2 km

 

4

horizontal Smagorinsky first order closure (recommended for real-data case)

diff_6th_opt (max_dom)

0

6th-order numerical diffusion

0 = no 6th-order diffusion (default)

1 = 6th-order numerical diffusion

2 = 6th-order numerical diffusion but prohibit up-gradient diffusion

diff_6th_factor (max_dom)

0.12

6th-order numerical diffusion non-dimensional rate (max value 1.0 corresponds to complete removal of 2dx wave in one timestep)

damp_opt

 

upper level damping flag

 

0

without damping

 

1

with diffusive damping; maybe used for real-data cases (dampcoef nondimensional ~ 0.01 - 0.1)

 

2

with Rayleigh damping (dampcoef inverse time scale [1/s], e.g. 0.003)

 

3

with w-Rayleigh damping (dampcoef inverse time scale [1/s] e.g. .05; for real-data cases)

zdamp (max_dom)

5000

damping depth (m) from model top

dampcoef (max_dom)

0.

damping coefficient (see damp_opt)

w_damping

 

vertical velocity damping flag (for operational use)

 

0

without damping

 

1

with damping

base_pres

100000.

Base state surface pressure (Pa), real only. Do not change.

base_temp

290.

Base state sea level temperature (K), real only.

base_lapse

50.

real-data ONLY, lapse rate (K), DO NOT CHANGE.

khdif (max_dom)

0

horizontal diffusion constant (m^2/s)

kvdif (max_dom)

0

vertical diffusion constant (m^2/s)

smdiv (max_dom)

0.1

divergence damping (0.1 is typical)

emdiv (max_dom)

0.01

external-mode filter coef for mass coordinate model (0.01 is typical for real-data cases)

epssm (max_dom)

.1

time off-centering for vertical sound waves

non_hydrostatic (max_dom)

.true.

whether running the model in hydrostatic or non-hydro mode

pert_coriolis (max_dom)

.false.

Coriolis only acts on wind perturbation (idealized)

top_lid (max_dom)

.false.

zero vertical motion at top of domain

mix_full_fields

.false.

used with diff_opt = 2; value of ".true." is recommended, except for highly idealized numerical tests; damp_opt must not be 1 if ".true." is chosen. .false. means subtract 1-d base-state profile before mixing

mix_isotropic(max_dom)

0

0=anistropic vertical/horizontal diffusion coeffs, 1=isotropic

mix_upper_bound(max_dom)

0.1

non-dimensional upper limit for diffusion coeffs

h_mom_adv_order (max_dom)

5

horizontal momentum advection order (5=5th, etc.)

v_mom_adv_order (max_dom)

3

vertical momentum advection order

h_sca_adv_order (max_dom)

5

horizontal scalar advection order

v_sca_adv_order (max_dom)

3

vertical scalar advection order

time_step_sound (max_dom)

4

number of sound steps per time-step (if using a time_step much larger than 6*dx (in km), increase number of sound steps). = 0: the value computed automatically

pd_moist (max_dom)

.false.

positive define advection of moisture; set to .true. to turn it on

pd_scalar (max_dom)

.false.

positive define advection of scalars

pd_tke (max_dom)

.false.

positive define advection of tke

pd_chem (max_dom)

.false.

positive define advection of chem vars

tke_drag_coefficient (max_dom)

0

surface drag coefficient (Cd, dimensionless) for diff_opt=2 only

tke_heat_flux (max_dom)

0

surface thermal flux (H/rho*cp), K m/s) for diff_opt = 2 only

do_coriolis (max_dom)

.true.

whether to do Coriolis calculations (idealized)

do_curvature (max_dom)

.true.

whether to do curvature calculations (idealized)

do_gradp (max_dom)

.true.

whether to do horizontal pressure gradient calculations (idealized)

fft_filter_lat

45.

the latitude above which the polar filter is turned on for global model

 

 

 

&bdy_control

 

boundary condition control

spec_bdy_width

5

total number of rows for specified boundary value nudging

spec_zone

1

number of points in specified zone (spec b.c. option)

relax_zone

4

number of points in relaxation zone (spec b.c. option)

specified (max_dom)

.false.

specified boundary conditions (only can be used for to domain 1)

spec_exp

0.

exponential multiplier for relaxation zone ramp for specified=.t. (0.= linear ramp default; 0.33=~3*dx exp decay factor)

 

 

The above 5 namelists are used for real-data runs only

periodic_x (max_dom)

.false.

periodic boundary conditions in x direction

symmetric_xs (max_dom)

.false.

symmetric boundary conditions at x start (west)

symmetric_xe (max_dom)

.false.

symmetric boundary conditions at x end (east)

open_xs (max_dom)

.false.

open boundary conditions at x start (west)

open_xe (max_dom)

.false.

open boundary conditions at x end (east)

periodic_y (max_dom)

.false.

periodic boundary conditions in y direction

symmetric_ys (max_dom)

.false.

symmetric boundary conditions at y start (south)

symmetric_ye (max_dom)

.false.

symmetric boundary conditions at y end (north)

open_ys (max_dom)

.false.

open boundary conditions at y start (south)

open_ye (max_dom)

.false.

open boundary conditions at y end (north)

nested (max_dom)

.false.,.true.,.true.,

nested boundary conditions (must be set to .true. for nests)

polar

.false.

polar boundary condition (v=0 at polarward-most v-point) for global application

 

 

 

&namelist_quilt

 

Option for asynchronized I/O for MPI applications

nio_tasks_per_group

0

default value is 0: no quilting; > 0 quilting I/O

nio_groups

1

default 1

 

 

 

&grib2

 

 

background_proc_id

255

Background generating process identifier, typically defined by the originating center to identify the background data that was used in creating the data. This is octet 13 of Section 4 in the grib2 message

forecast_proc_id

255

Analysis or generating forecast process identifier, typically defined by the originating center to identify the forecast process that was used to generate the data. This is octet 14 of Section 4 in the grib2 message

production_status

255

Production status of processed data in the grib2 message. See Code Table 1.3 of the grib2 manual. This is octet 20 of Section 1 in the grib2 record

compression

40

The compression method to encode the output grib2 message. Only 40 for jpeg2000 or 41 for PNG are supported

 

 

 

&dfi_control

digital filter option control (does not yet support nesting)

dfi_opt

3

which DFI option to use

0: no digital filter initialization

1: digital filter launch (DFL)

2: diabatic DFI (DDFI)

3: twice DFI (TDFI) (recommended)

dfi_nfilter

7

digital filter type: 0 – uniform; 1- Lanczos; 2 – Hamming; 3 – Blackman; 4 – Kaiser; 5 – Potter; 6 – Dolph window; 7 – Dolph (recommended); 8 – recursive high-order

dfi_write_filtered_

input

.true.

whether to write wrfinput file with filtered model state before beginning forecast

dfi_write_dfi_history

.false.

whether to write wrfout files during filtering integration

dfi_cutoff_seconds

3600

cutoff period, in seconds, for the filter. Should not be longer than the filter window

dfi_time_dim

1000

maximum number of time steps for filtering period, this value can be larger than necessary

dfi_bckstop_year

2001

four-digit year of stop time for backward DFI integration. For a model that starts from 2001061112, this specifies 1 hour backward integration

dfi_bckstop_month

06

two-digit month of stop time for backward DFI integration

dfi_bckstop_day

11

two-digit day of stop time for backward DFI integration

dfi_bckstop_hour

11

two-digit hour of stop time for backward DFI integration

dfi_bckstop_minute

00

two-digit minute of stop time for backward DFI integration

dfi_bckstop_second

00

two-digit second of stop time for backward DFI integration

dfi_fwdstop_year

2001

four-digit year of stop time for forward DFI integration. For a model that starts at 2001061112, this specifies 30 minutes of forward integration

dfi_fwdstop_month

06

two-digit month of stop time for forward DFI integration

dfi_fwdstop_day

11

two-digit day of stop time for forward DFI integration

dfi_fwdstop_hour

12

two-digit hour of stop time for forward DFI integration

dfi_fwdstop_minute

30

two-digit minute of stop time for forward DFI integration

dfi_fwdstop_second

00

two-digit second of stop time for forward DFI integration

List of Fields in WRF Output

List of Fields

The following is an edited output from netCDF command 'ncdump'. Note that valid output fields will depend on the model options used.

ncdump -h wrfout_d01_yyyy_mm_dd-hh:mm:ss

 

      netcdf wrfout_d01_2000-01-24_12:00:00 {
dimensions:
         Time= UNLIMITED ; // (1 currently)
         DateStrLen= 19 ;
         west_east= 73 ;
         south_north= 60 ;
         west_east_stag= 74 ;
         bottom_top= 27 ;
         south_north_stag= 61 ;
         bottom_top_stag= 28 ;
         soil_layers_stag= 5 ;
variables:
         charTimes(Time, DateStrLen) ;
         floatLU_INDEX(Time, south_north, west_east) ;
                 LU_INDEX:description= "LAND USE CATEGORY" ;
                 LU_INDEX:units= "" ;
         floatU(Time, bottom_top, south_north, west_east_stag) ;
                 U:description= "x-wind component" ;
                 U:units= "m s-1" ;
         floatV(Time, bottom_top, south_north_stag, west_east) ;
                 V:description= "y-wind component" ;
                 V:units= "m s-1" ;
         floatW(Time, bottom_top_stag, south_north, west_east) ;
                 W:description= "z-wind component" ;
                 W:units= "m s-1" ;
         floatPH(Time, bottom_top_stag, south_north, west_east) ;
                 PH:description= "perturbation geopotential" ;
                 PH:units= "m2 s-2" ;
         floatPHB(Time, bottom_top_stag, south_north, west_east) ;
                 PHB:description= "base-state geopotential" ;
                 PHB:units= "m2 s-2" ;
         floatT(Time, bottom_top, south_north, west_east) ;
                 T:description= "perturbation potential temperature(theta-t0)" ;
                 T:units= "K" ;
         floatMU(Time, south_north, west_east) ;
                 MU:description= "perturbation dry air mass in column" ;
                 MU:units= "Pa" ;
         floatMUB(Time, south_north, west_east) ;
                 MUB:description= "base state dry air mass in column" ;
                 MUB:units= "Pa" ;
         floatNEST_POS(Time, south_north, west_east) ;
                 NEST_POS:description= "-" ;
                 NEST_POS:units= "-" ;
         floatP(Time, bottom_top, south_north, west_east) ;
                 P:description= "perturbation pressure" ;
                 P:units= "Pa" ;
         floatPB(Time, bottom_top, south_north, west_east) ;
                 PB:description= "BASE STATE PRESSURE" ;
                 PB:units= "Pa" ;
         floatSR(Time, south_north, west_east) ;
                 SR:description= "fraction of frozen precipitation" ;
                 SR:units= "-" ;
         floatFNM(Time, bottom_top) ;
                 FNM:description= "upper weight for vertical stretching" ;
                 FNM:units= "" ;
         floatFNP(Time, bottom_top) ;
                 FNP:description= "lower weight for vertical stretching" ;
                 FNP:units= "" ;
         floatRDNW(Time, bottom_top) ;
                 RDNW:description= "inverse d(eta) values between full (w) levels" ;
                 RDNW:units= "" ;
         floatRDN(Time, bottom_top) ;
                 RDN:description= "inverse d(eta) values between half (mass) levels" ;
                 RDN:units= "" ;
         floatDNW(Time, bottom_top) ;
                 DNW:description= "d(eta) values between full (w) levels" ;
                 DNW:units= "" ;
         floatDN(Time, bottom_top) ;
                 DN:description= "d(eta) values between half (mass) levels" ;
                 DN:units= "" ;
         floatZNU(Time, bottom_top) ;
                 ZNU:description= "eta values on half (mass) levels" ;
                 ZNU:units= "" ;
         floatZNW(Time, bottom_top_stag) ;
                 ZNW:description= "eta values on full (w) levels" ;
                 ZNW:units= "" ;
         floatCFN(Time) ;
                 CFN:description= "extrapolation constant" ;
                 CFN:units= "" ;
         floatCFN1(Time) ;
                 CFN1:description= "extrapolation constant" ;
                 CFN1:units= "" ;
         floatQ2(Time, south_north, west_east) ;
                 Q2:description= "QV at 2 M" ;
                 Q2:units= "kg kg-1" ;
         floatT2(Time, south_north, west_east) ;
                 T2:description= "TEMP at 2 M" ;
                 T2:units= "K" ;
         floatTH2(Time, south_north, west_east) ;
                 TH2:description= "POT TEMP at 2 M" ;
                 TH2:units= "K" ;
         floatPSFC(Time, south_north, west_east) ;
                 PSFC:description= "SFC PRESSURE" ;
                 PSFC:units= "Pa" ;
         floatU10(Time, south_north, west_east) ;
                 U10:description= "U at 10 M" ;
                 U10:units= "m s-1" ;
         floatV10(Time, south_north, west_east) ;
                 V10:description= "V at 10 M" ;
                 V10:units= "m s-1" ;
         floatRDX(Time) ;
                 RDX:description= "INVERSE X GRID LENGTH" ;
                 RDX:units= "" ;
         floatRDY(Time) ;
                 RDY:description= "INVERSE Y GRID LENGTH" ;
                 RDY:units= "" ;
         floatRESM(Time) ;
                 RESM:description= "TIME WEIGHT CONSTANT FOR SMALL STEPS" ;
                 RESM:units= "" ;
         floatZETATOP(Time) ;
                 ZETATOP:description= "ZETA AT MODEL TOP" ;
                 ZETATOP:units= "" ;
         floatCF1(Time) ;
                 CF1:description= "2nd order extrapolation constant" ;
                 CF1:units= "" ;
         floatCF2(Time) ;
                 CF2:description= "2nd order extrapolation constant" ;
                 CF2:units= "" ;
         floatCF3(Time) ;
                 CF3:description= "2nd order extrapolation constant" ;
                 CF3:units= "" ;
         intITIMESTEP(Time) ;
                 ITIMESTEP:description= "" ;
                 ITIMESTEP:units= "" ;
         floatXTIME(Time) ;
                 XTIME:description= "minutes since simulation start" ;
                 XTIME:units= "" ;
         floatQVAPOR(Time, bottom_top, south_north, west_east) ;
                 QVAPOR:description= "Water vapor mixing ratio" ;
                 QVAPOR:units= "kg kg-1" ;
         floatQCLOUD(Time, bottom_top, south_north, west_east) ;
                 QCLOUD:description= "Cloud water mixing ratio" ;
                 QCLOUD:units= "kg kg-1" ;
         floatQRAIN(Time, bottom_top, south_north, west_east) ;
                 QRAIN:description= "Rain water mixing ratio" ;
                 QRAIN:units= "kg kg-1" ;
         floatLANDMASK(Time, south_north, west_east) ;
                 LANDMASK:description= "LAND MASK (1 FOR LAND, 0 FOR WATER)" ;
                 LANDMASK:units= "" ;
         floatTSLB(Time, soil_layers_stag, south_north, west_east) ;
                 TSLB:description= "SOIL TEMPERATURE" ;
                 TSLB:units= "K" ;
         floatZS(Time, soil_layers_stag) ;
                 ZS:description= "DEPTHS OF CENTERS OF SOIL LAYERS" ;
                 ZS:units= "m" ;
         floatDZS(Time, soil_layers_stag) ;
                 DZS:description= "THICKNESSES OF SOIL LAYERS" ;
                 DZS:units= "m" ;
         floatSMOIS(Time, soil_layers_stag, south_north, west_east) ;
                  SMOIS:description= "SOIL MOISTURE" ;
                 SMOIS:units= "m3 m-3" ;
         floatSH2O(Time, soil_layers_stag, south_north, west_east) ;
                 SH2O:description= "SOIL LIQUID WATER" ;
                 SH2O:units= "m3 m-3" ;
         floatXICE(Time, south_north, west_east) ;
                 XICE:description= "SEA ICE FLAG" ;
                 XICE:units= "" ;
         floatSFROFF(Time, south_north, west_east) ;
                 SFROFF:description= "SURFACE RUNOFF" ;
                 SFROFF:units= "mm" ;
         floatUDROFF(Time, south_north, west_east) ;
                 UDROFF:description= "UNDERGROUND RUNOFF" ;
                 UDROFF:units= "mm" ;
         intIVGTYP(Time, south_north, west_east) ;
                 IVGTYP:description= "DOMINANT VEGETATION CATEGORY" ;
                 IVGTYP:units= "" ;
         intISLTYP(Time, south_north, west_east) ;
                 ISLTYP:description= "DOMINANT SOIL CATEGORY" ;
                 ISLTYP:units= "" ;
         floatVEGFRA(Time, south_north, west_east) ;
                 VEGFRA:description= "VEGETATION FRACTION" ;
                 VEGFRA:units= "" ;
         floatGRDFLX(Time, south_north, west_east) ;
                 GRDFLX:description= "GROUND HEAT FLUX" ;
                 GRDFLX:units= "W m-2" ;
         floatSNOW(Time, south_north, west_east) ;
                 SNOW:description= "SNOW WATER EQUIVALENT" ;
                 SNOW:units= "kg m-2" ;
         floatSNOWH(Time, south_north, west_east) ;
                 SNOWH:description= "PHYSICAL SNOW DEPTH" ;
                 SNOWH:units= "m" ;
         floatRHOSN(Time, south_north, west_east) ;
                 RHOSN:description= " SNOW DENSITY" ;
                 RHOSN:units= "kg m-3" ;
         floatCANWAT(Time, south_north, west_east) ;
                 CANWAT:description= "CANOPY WATER" ;
                 CANWAT:units= "kg m-2" ;
         floatSST(Time, south_north, west_east) ;
                 SST:description= "SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE" ;
                 SST:units= "K" ;
         floatQNDROPSOURCE(Time, bottom_top, south_north, west_east) ;
                 QNDROPSOURCE:description= "Droplet number source" ;
                 QNDROPSOURCE:units= " /kg/s" ;
         floatMAPFAC_M(Time, south_north, west_east) ;
                 MAPFAC_M:description= "Map scale factor on mass grid" ;
                 MAPFAC_M:units= "" ;
         floatMAPFAC_U(Time, south_north, west_east_stag) ;
                 MAPFAC_U:description= "Map scale factor on u-grid" ;
                 MAPFAC_U:units= "" ;
         floatMAPFAC_V(Time, south_north_stag, west_east) ;
                 MAPFAC_V:description= "Map scale factor on v-grid" ;
                 MAPFAC_V:units= "" ;
         floatF(Time, south_north, west_east) ;
                 F:description= "Coriolis sine latitude term" ;
                 F:units= "s-1" ;
         floatE(Time, south_north, west_east) ;
                 E:description= "Coriolis cosine latitude term" ;
                 E:units= "s-1" ;
         floatSINALPHA(Time, south_north, west_east) ;
                 SINALPHA:description= "Local sine of map rotation" ;
                 SINALPHA:units= "" ;
         floatCOSALPHA(Time, south_north, west_east) ;
                 COSALPHA:description= "Local cosine of map rotation" ;
                 COSALPHA:units= "" ;
         floatHGT(Time, south_north, west_east) ;
                 HGT:description= "Terrain Height" ;
                 HGT:units= "m" ;
         floatTSK(Time, south_north, west_east) ;
                 TSK:description= "SURFACE SKIN TEMPERATURE" ;
                 TSK:units= "K" ;
         floatP_TOP(Time) ;
                 P_TOP:description= "PRESSURE TOP OF THE MODEL" ;
                 P_TOP:units= "Pa" ;
         floatRAINC(Time, south_north, west_east) ;
                 RAINC:description= "ACCUMULATED TOTAL CUMULUS PRECIPITATION" ;
                 RAINC:units= "mm" ;
         floatRAINNC(Time, south_north, west_east) ;
                 RAINNC:description= "ACCUMULATED TOTAL GRID SCALE PRECIPITATION" ;
                 RAINNC:units= "mm" ;
         floatSNOWNC(Time, south_north, west_east) ;
                 SNOWNC:description="ACCUMULATED TOTAL GRIDSCALE SNOW AND ICE" ;
                 SNOWNC:units= "mm" ;
         floatGRAUPELNC(Time, south_north, west_east) ;
                 GRAUPELNC:description= "ACCUMULATED TOTAL GRID SCALE GRAUPEL" ;
                 GRAUPELNC:units= "mm" ;
         floatSWDOWN(Time, south_north, west_east) ;
                 SWDOWN:description= "DOWNWARD SHORT WAVE FLUX AT GROUND SURFACE" ;
                 SWDOWN:units= "W m-2" ;
         floatGLW(Time, south_north, west_east) ;
                 GLW:description= "DOWNWARD LONG WAVE FLUX AT GROUND SURFACE" ;
                 GLW:units= "W m-2" ;
         floatOLR(Time, south_north, west_east) ;
                 OLR:description= "TOA OUTGOING LONG WAVE" ;
                 OLR:units= "W m-2" ;
         floatXLAT(Time, south_north, west_east) ;
                 XLAT:description= "LATITUDE, SOUTH IS NEGATIVE" ;
                 XLAT:units= "degree_north" ;
         floatXLONG(Time, south_north, west_east) ;
                 XLONG:description= "LONGITUDE, WEST IS NEGATIVE" ;
                 XLONG:units= "degree_east" ;
         floatXLAT_U(Time, south_north, west_east_stag) ;
                 XLAT_U:description= "LATITUDE, SOUTH IS NEGATIVE" ;
                 XLAT_U:units= "degree_north" ;
         floatXLONG_U(Time, south_north, west_east_stag) ;
                 XLONG_U:description= "LONGITUDE, WEST IS NEGATIVE" ;
                 XLONG_U:units= "degree_east" ;
         floatXLAT_V(Time, south_north_stag, west_east) ;
                 XLAT_V:description= "LATITUDE, SOUTH IS NEGATIVE" ;
                 XLAT_V:units= "degree_north" ;
         floatXLONG_V(Time, south_north_stag, west_east) ;
                 XLONG_V:description= "LONGITUDE, WEST IS NEGATIVE" ;
                 XLONG_V:units= "degree_east" ;
         floatALBEDO(Time, south_north, west_east) ;
                 ALBEDO:description= "ALBEDO" ;
                 ALBEDO:units= "-" ;
         floatTMN(Time, south_north, west_east) ;
                 TMN:description= "SOIL TEMPERATURE AT LOWER BOUNDARY" ;
                 TMN:units= "K" ;
         floatXLAND(Time, south_north, west_east) ;
                 XLAND:description= "LAND MASK (1 FOR LAND, 2 FOR WATER)" ;
                 XLAND:units= "" ;
         floatUST(Time, south_north, west_east) ;
                 UST:description= "U* IN SIMILARITY THEORY" ;
                 UST:units= "m s-1" ;
         floatPBLH(Time, south_north, west_east) ;
                 PBLH:description= "PBL HEIGHT" ;
                 PBLH:units= "m" ;
         floatHFX(Time, south_north, west_east) ;
                 HFX:description= "UPWARD HEAT FLUX AT THE SURFACE" ;
                 HFX:units= "W m-2" ;
         floatQFX(Time, south_north, west_east) ;
                 QFX:description= "UPWARD MOISTURE FLUX AT THE SURFACE" ;
                 QFX:units= "kg m-2 s-1" ;
         floatLH(Time, south_north, west_east) ;
                 LH:description= "LATENT HEAT FLUX AT THE SURFACE" ;
                 LH:units= "W m-2" ;
         floatSNOWC(Time, south_north, west_east) ;
                 SNOWC:description= "FLAG INDICATING SNOW COVERAGE (1 FOR SNOW COVER)" ;
                 SNOWC:units= "" ;
}

 

Special WRF Output Variables

WRF model outputs the state variables defined in the Registry file, and these state variables are used in the model's prognostic equations. Some of these variables are perturbation fields. Therefore some definition for reconstructing meteorological variables is necessary. In particular, the definitions for the following variables are:

total geopotential

   PH + PHB

total geopotential height in m

   ( PH + PHB ) / 9.81

total potential temperature in_ K

   T + 300

total pressure in mb

   ( P + PB ) * 0.01

 

The definition for map projection options:

map_proj = 1: Lambert Conformal

map_proj = 2: Polar Stereographic

map_proj = 3: Mercator

map_proj = 10: latitude and longitude

List of Global Attributes


// global attributes:
                 :TITLE= " OUTPUT FROM WRF V3.0 MODEL" ;
                 :START_DATE= "2000-01-24_12:00:00" ;
                 :SIMULATION_START_DATE= "2000-01-24_12:00:00" ;
                 :WEST-EAST_GRID_DIMENSION= 74 ;
                 :SOUTH-NORTH_GRID_DIMENSION= 61 ;
                 :BOTTOM-TOP_GRID_DIMENSION= 28 ;
                 :DX= 30000.f ;
                 :DY= 30000.f ;
                 :GRIDTYPE= "C" ;
                 :DYN_OPT= 2 ;
                 :DIFF_OPT= 1 ;
                 :KM_OPT= 4 ;
                 :DAMP_OPT= 0 ;
                 :KHDIF= 0.f ;
                 :KVDIF= 0.f ;
                 :MP_PHYSICS= 3 ;
                 :RA_LW_PHYSICS= 0 ;
                 :RA_SW_PHYSICS= 1 ;
                 :SF_SFCLAY_PHYSICS= 1 ;
                 :SF_SURFACE_PHYSICS= 1 ;
                 :BL_PBL_PHYSICS= 1 ;
                 :CU_PHYSICS= 1 ;
                 :SURFACE_INPUT_SOURCE= 1 ;
                 :SST_UPDATE= 0 ;
                 :GRID_FDDA= 0 ;
                 :GFDDA_INTERVAL_M= 0 ;
                 :GFDDA_END_H= 0 ;
                 :UCMCALL= 0 ;
                 :FEEDBACK= 1 ;
                 :SMOOTH_OPTION= 0 ;
                 :SWRAD_SCAT= 1.f ;
                 :W_DAMPING= 0 ;
                 :PD_MOIST= 1 ;
                 :PD_SCALAR= 0 ;
                 :PD_TKE= 0 ;
                 :DIFF_6TH_OPT= 0 ;
                 :DIFF_6TH_FACTOR= 0.12f ;
                 :OBS_NUDGE_OPT= 0 ;
                 :WEST-EAST_PATCH_START_UNSTAG= 1 ;
                 :WEST-EAST_PATCH_END_UNSTAG= 73 ;
                 :WEST-EAST_PATCH_START_STAG= 1 ;
                 :WEST-EAST_PATCH_END_STAG= 74 ;
                 :SOUTH-NORTH_PATCH_START_UNSTAG= 1 ;
                 :SOUTH-NORTH_PATCH_END_UNSTAG= 60 ;
                 :SOUTH-NORTH_PATCH_START_STAG= 1 ;
                 :SOUTH-NORTH_PATCH_END_STAG= 61 ;
                 :BOTTOM-TOP_PATCH_START_UNSTAG= 1 ;
                 :BOTTOM-TOP_PATCH_END_UNSTAG= 27 ;
                 :BOTTOM-TOP_PATCH_START_STAG= 1 ;
                 :BOTTOM-TOP_PATCH_END_STAG= 28 ;
                 :GRID_ID= 1 ;
                 :PARENT_ID= 0 ;
                 :I_PARENT_START= 0 ;
                 :J_PARENT_START= 0 ;
                 :PARENT_GRID_RATIO= 1 ;
                 :DT= 180.f ;
                 :CEN_LAT= 34.83001f ;
                 :CEN_LON= -81.03f ;
                 :TRUELAT1= 30.f ;
                 :TRUELAT2= 60.f ;
                 :MOAD_CEN_LAT= 34.83001f ;
                 :STAND_LON= -98.f ;
                 :GMT= 12.f ;
                 :JULYR= 2000 ;
                 :JULDAY= 24 ;
                 :MAP_PROJ= 1 ;
                 :MMINLU= "USGS" ;
                 :ISWATER= 16 ;
                 :ISICE= 24 ;
                 :ISURBAN= 1 ;
                 :ISOILWATER= 14 ;

 


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