User’s Guide for Advanced Research WRF (ARW) Modeling System Version 2.1

Foreword

1. Overview

- Introduction ............................................................................................ 1-1

- The WRF Modeling System Program Components.......................... 1-2

2. Software Installation

- Introduction............................................................................................. 2-1

- Required Compilers and Scripting Languages.................................. 2-2

- Required/Optional Libraries to Download.......................................... 2-2

- Post-Processing Utilities...................................................................... 2-3

- Unix Environment Settings.................................................................... 2-4

- Building the WRF Code........................................................................ 2-4

- Building the WRF 3DVAR Code.......................................................... 2-5

- Building the WRFSI Code..................................................................... 2-5

3. WRF Standard Initialization - Preparing Input Data

- Introduction............................................................................................. 3-1

- Function of Each SI Program............................................................... 3-2

- How to Install WRFSI?.......................................................................... 3-5

- How to Run WRFSI?.............................................................................. 3-8

- WRFSI GUI........................................................................................... 3-12

- Using WRFSI for Nesting.................................................................... 3-12

- Using Multiple Data Sources.............................................................. 3-14

- Checking WRFSI Output..................................................................... 3-15

- Description of Namelist Variables..................................................... 3-16

- List of Fields in WRFSI Output........................................................... 3-21

4. WRF Initialization

- Introduction............................................................................................. 4-1

- Initialization for Ideal Data Cases........................................................ 4-2

- Initialization for Real Data Cases......................................................... 4-4

5. WRF Model

- Introduction ............................................................................................ 5-1

- Software Requirement ......................................................................... 5-2

- Before You Start .................................................................................... 5-2

- How to Compile WRF? ........................................................................ 5-3

- How to Run WRF? ................................................................................ 5-6

- Physics and Diffusion Options........................................................... 5-18

- Description of Namelist Variables..................................................... 5-21

- List of Fields in WRF Output.............................................................. 5-33

6. WRF_VAR

- Introduction............................................................................................. 6-1

- Goals Of This WRF-Var Tutorial.......................................................... 6-2

- Tutorial Schedule .................................................................................. 6-4

- Download Test Data ............................................................................. 6-5

- The 3D-Var Observation Preprocessor (3DVAR_OBSPROC)....... 6-6

- Setting up WRF-Var............................................................................ 6-10

- Run WRF-Var CONUS Case Study.................................................. 6-14

- WRF-Var Diagnostics......................................................................... 6-16

- Updating WRF lateral boundary conditions...................................... 6-18

7. WRF Software

- Introduction............................................................................................. 7-1

- WRF Build Mechanism......................................................................... 7-1

- Registry................................................................................................... 7-4

- I/O Applications Program Interface (I/O API)...................................... 7-5

- Timekeeping.......................................................................................... 7-6

- Software Documentation...................................................................... 7-7

- Portability and Performance................................................................. 7-7

8. Post-Processing Programs

- Introduction............................................................................................. 8-1

- NCL......................................................................................................... 8-2

- RIP4......................................................................................................... 8-4
- WRF2GrADS....................................................................................... 8-10

- WRF2Vis5D......................................................................................... 8-16

- read_wrf_nc utility................................................................................ 8-18