WRF Feature, Capabilities, Infrastructure Testing For the release, a number of existing capability options in the WRF code need to be explicitly tested to insure the continued correct working of the model for users. Among these options tested are: adaptive time step analysis nudging observational nudging DFI program NDOWN program OBSGRID sst update TC Bogus Global Model Vortex Following While the testing of some of the new physics options is done for 28 48-h time periods, all of the new physics options are run through a couple of canned cases, and verified with subjective analysis. The level of success is easier to achieve, generally producing a complete forecast that gives reasonable results. The specific new additions to the model are scrutinized much more closely. An important consideration for this level of testing is the interworking of schemes, from source-code incompatibility to the consequences of unphysical results. Testing for these new features includes: aerosols (new - Goddard and RRTMG schemes have been modified) CLM Grell Freitas cumulus Grenier Bretherton PBL GRIMS shallow cumulus scheme HUJI SBM (new) Lake Model lightning options 1, 2, 11 Milbrandt 2-moment Morrison Gettleman microphysics NoahMP land surface Noah subgrid tiling (new) NSSL microphysics options 17 (new), 19, 21 NWP diagnostics ozone options 0, 2 sea ice SKEBS (backscatter scheme) TEMB PBL Scheme Thompson Scheme (new - aerosol climatology added) topo_wind option 2 trajectories In addition to modifications to the WRF code directly, the land surface community has been working to augment the available source for higher-resolution input data. These data sets are now available through the WPS system (specifically the static data for geogrid). MODIS LAI (10m, 30s) Landuse MODIS (15s) VARSSO (2m, 5m, 10m) Lake Depth For each of the above tests (types of land data, various physics options, feature upgrades, previous capability re-assurances), a fixed set of permutations were conducted: single domain case nested case, one-way-nest, and nest-starts-later cases restart run compared output from original run to restart run to ensure they were identical As part of the assurance that the WRF code is not suffering from accidental side-effects, all of the idealized cases have been run, comparing the previous release and the current WRF 3.6 release. The cases all build, run, and produce similar results. As some of the cases use physics schemes that have been upgraded, it is not really possible to get identical results in most of these tests. This portion of the testing handles all of the lateral boundary condition options in WRF, and exercises many of the dynamics switches. The feature testing was conducted on a Linux platform. All tests were run with MPI for both Intel V12.1.5 and PGI 12.5, while a few were also tested with GNU V4.8.2. Things that do not work: Global Run does not give bit for bit output when running a restart HUJI SBM can only run on a very small grid (less than 10km) NSSL option 19 does not give bit for bit output when running a restart with a nest NSSL option 21 same as above NWP Diagnostics core dumps unless using only 1 processor (PGI only) SKEBS does not have a restart capability at this time TEMF PBL scheme does not give bit for bit output when running a restart (PGI and GNU only) Thompson aerosol scheme does not give bit for bit output when running a restart new geography data with RUC input new geography data with noahmp new geography data with CLM