3.2.3. creation of forcing files

For the preparation of forcing files, specific programs are used and are located in $SRC_SURFEX/src/FORC.

The structure of $SRC_SURFEX/MY_RUN directory part dedicated to forcing looks like:

 MY_RUN
 |-- DATA
 |   |-- Alp_for_0203
 |   |-- Alqueva0206
 |   |-- cdp9697
 |   |-- hapex
 |   |-- ma01
 |   |-- me93
 |   |-- vl92
 |-- FORCING
 |   |--  prepare_forcing.bash
 |-- NAMELIST
 |   |-- Alp_for_0203
 |   |-- Alqueva0206
 |   |-- cdp9697
 |   |-- hapex
 |   |-- ma01
 |   |-- me93
 |   |-- vl92
 |-- KTEST
 |-- hapex
  • DATA directory contains subdirectories (one per experiment) in which atmospheric time-series ascii files are stored
  • NAMELIST directory contains subdirectories (one per experiment) in which at least 2 namelists are stored: the first one named MY_PARAM.nam contains information related to the forcing. For example for the "hapex" experiment, MY_PARAM.nam looks like:


         &NAM_MY_PARAM  
               YEXPERIMENT_NAME   = 'HAPEX'      ,
               NUMBER_GRID_CELLS  = 1               ,
               NUMBER_OF_TIME_STEPS_INPUT  = 17521  ,
               NUMBER_OF_TIME_STEPS_FINAL  = 17521  ,
               ZATM_FORC_STEP     = 1800.           ,
               YFORCING_FILETYPE  = 'NETCDF'
        /
  • YEXPERIMENT_NAME
    is the name associated to the experiment (12 characters)
  • NUMBER_GRID_CELLS
    is the grid cell number
  • NUMBER_OF_TIME_STEPS_INPUT
    number of time steps of forcing serie
  • NUMBER_OF_TIME_STEPS_FINAL
    number of time steps used for the simulation (should be lower or equal to NUMBER_OF_TIME_STEPS_INPUT)
  • ZATM_FORC_STEP
    frequency of atmospheric forcing
  • YFORCING_FILETYPE
    is the type of the forcing files asked by the user:
    • NETCDF:
      1 file will be created: FORCING.nc
    • ASCII or BINARY : Params_config.txt ascii file describing the configuration of the run will be cretaed if forcing file type is ASCII or BINARY. The content of this file is :
      • number of grid cells of the domain
      • number of atmospheric time steps
      • atmospheric time step
      • year corresponding to the begining of the simulation
      • month corresponding to the begining of the simulation
      • day corresponding to the begining of the simulation
      • seconds corresponding to the begining of the simulation
      • longitudes of grid cells
      • latitudes of grid cells
      • elevation (meters) of grid cells
      • reference height for thermodynamical variables for each grid cell
      • reference height for wind for each grid cell
    • ASCII :
      11 ascii files, one per parameter: Forc_CO2.txt, Forc_DIR.txt, Forc_PS.txt, Forc_RAIN.txt, Forc_SNOW.txt, Forc_WIND.txt,Forc_DIR_SW.txt, Forc_LW.txt, Forc_QA.txt, Forc_SCA_SW.txt, Forc_TA.txt.
    • BINARY :
      11 binary files, one per parameter: Forc_CO2.bin, Forc_DIR.bin, Forc_PS.bin, Forc_RAIN.bin, Forc_SNOW.bin, Forc_WIND.bin,Forc_DIR_SW.bin, Forc_LW.bin, Forc_QA.bin, Forc_SCA_SW.bin, Forc_TA.bin.

All forcing files will be placed in $SRC_SURFEX/MY_RUN/KTEST/hapex/ and a consistency test between MY_PARAM.nam and OPTIONS.nam will be done in case the forcing filetype would be different.

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