Removal of Content Advisory - April 2024

Advisory to Hurricane WRF (HWRF) users: As of the beginning of April 2024, all support assets for Hurricane WRF (HWRF) will be removed from the DTC website. Users should download all reference materials of interest prior to April 2024.

HWRF System components - V4.0a

Release Date:

The HWRF System components - V4.0a was released on November 5, 2018.

Release Notes

HWRF System Upgrades in v4.0a

  • Compatible with the 2018 operational HWRF.
  • WRF upgraded to v4.0, updated GSI.
  • Horizontal resolution increased from 18/6/2 km to 13.5/4.5/1.5 km
  • D02 and D03 domain size decreased to ~ 17.8 x 17.8 degrees and ~ 5.9 x 5.9 degrees respectively.
  • Number of vertical levels increased to 75 with a model top of 10 hPa for all ocean basins.
  • Miscellaneous upgrades and bug fixes in various physical parameterizations.
    • New cloud overlap method in RRTMG radiation parameterization.
    • Updated horizontal diffusion and convergence damping coefficients.
  • Ocean upgrades
    • New POM domain for the north Central Pacific basin
  • Initialization upgrades
    • Dropsonde drifting is considered when assimilation is done
    • Assimilating new data sets with GSI (GOES-16 AMV, NOAA-20, SFMR, TDR from G-IV)
  • Adding precipitation rate (PRATE) variable in GRIB2 files.


Known Issues and Fixes

HWRFv4.0a reduced capability

Posted: 2021-02-17
Problem: The Hurricane WRF v4.0a public release will have reduced capabilities due to format and library changes impacting input datasets. Starting in January 2021, an update was made to the bufrlib version, impacting input data for data assimilation. Additionally, when GFSv16 becomes operational (expected March 2021), output will be in NetCDF format, which is not supported in HWRFv4.0a. Only use of GRIB2 data will be supported. Implications of these changes are that HWRFv4.0a cannot run with data assimilation or vortex initialization. Historical cases may still be run using legacy input data formats.
Solution: The Developmental Testbed Center will support the use of the system with the following capabilities:
[config]
# No data assimilation
run_gsi=no
# No Ensemble data assimilation
run_ensemble_da=no
# Run with GRIB2 initial condition
gfsinit_type=1
# Disable vortex relocation
run_relocation=no
[pom]
# Get SST from GFS GRIB2 files
gfssst_type=1
The Hurricane WRF v4.0a public release will have reduced capabilities due to format and library changes impacting input datasets. Starting in January 2021, an update was made to the bufrlib version, impacting input data for data assimilation. Additionally, when GFSv16 becomes operational (expected Feb 2021), output will be in netcdf format, which is not supported in HWRFv4.0a. Only use of grib2 data will be supported. Implications of these changes are that HWRFv4.0a cannot run with data assimilation or vortex initialization. Historical cases may still be run using legacy input data formats.
 
The Developmental Testbed Center will support the use of the system with the following capabilities:
[config]
# No data assimilation
run_gsi=no
 
# No Ensemble data assimilation
run_ensemble_da=no
 
# Run with GRIB2 initial condition
gfsinit_type=1
 
# Disable vortex relocation
run_relocation=no
 
[pom]
# Get SST from GFS GRIB2 files
gfssst_type=1

Restart function does not work for HWRF

Problem: HWRF cannot be restarted using the WRF restart feature.
Solution: Currently the WRF restart corrupts the model fields at the location of the nest boundaries. There is no impact with ordinary runs. This issue is currently under review. No work around exists.

Issue with NetCDF installation path: -lnetcdff lib missing

Problem: Error:
./WRF/external/io_netcdf/./wrf_io.f:1578: undefined reference to `nf_open_'
./WRF/external/io_netcdf/./wrf_io.f:1585: undefined reference to `nf_inq_varid_'
./WRF/external/io_netcdf/./wrf_io.f:1592: undefined reference to `nf_inq_var_'
The trailing "_" means it is looking for the Fortran versions of these and not finding them.
Solution: WRF has this code bit in it's "configure" script to handle this:
# for 3.6.2 and greater there might be a second library, libnetcdff.a . Check for this and use
# if available
if [ -f "$NETCDF/lib/libnetcdff.a" -o -f "$NETCDF/lib/libnetcdff.so" ] ; then
USENETCDFF="-lnetcdff"
fi
and then - USENETCDFF is used later to define the libs to include.

For using NetCDF v4 on jet, set environment variable NETCDF4=1 and environment variable NETCDF to the path of the NetCDF v4 library (for example, /apps/netcdf/4.2.1.1-intel)

PGI is currently not supported with v4.0a release

Problem: PGI is currently not supported with v4.0a release
Solution: No plans to support HWRF with PGI.

GSI=YES and RELOCATE=NO does not work

Problem: Configuration not supported.
Solution: Use a different configuration, for example, employ both GSI and vortex relocation.

HWRF Idealized with landfall capability not working with v4.0a release

Problem: HWRF Idealized with landfall capability not working with v4.0a release
Solution: A patch will be released when the issue is fixed.