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not sure how restarts get enabled, just setting NFRRES/NRESTS doesn't seem to be enough - is there a master switch somewhere?

mention rcf file/namelist

 

What's a model restart?

A restart allows the model to continue a forecast with a succession of  individual runs, each one starting where the other one left off. e.g. running an extended forecast of 100 days with 5 separate runs of 20 days each. A restart will always be exact, that is, the results of the restarted forecast should always match a single run of the model for the same total length (assuming all settings remain the same).

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NFRRES : frequency of restart file writes (restart file interval). Use this to set a regular restart frequency. e.g. restart files created every 24hrs.

This can be either positive or negative.

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If negative it represents a frequency in hours. e.g. NFRRES=-48, would mean the model creates restart files every 2 days regardless of the model timestep.NFRRES is ignored if the first entry in the NRESTS array is non-zero.

NRESTS : list of restart times. Use this to set an irregular restart. e.g. restart file created at 24hrs, 72hrs, 144hrs.

Values for NRESTS can be either positive in which case they are interpreted as the model timesteps at which a restart file is made, or negative in which case they specify hours.

The first value for NRESTS must indicate the number of valid entries in the

Examples

Code Block
languagenone
titleExample 1: Regular output frequency
 &NAMRES
       NFRRES=-24,
 /

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Code Block
languagenone
titleExample 2: Irregular restart frequency in hours
 &NAMRES
       NFRRES=1,
       NRESTS=-3,-48,-120,-192,
 /

In this example, the first entry (-3) is negative so all times are in hours (which are also negative). It also indicates 3 restart write times are requested. The restart files will be created at 3hrs, 48hrs, 120hrs and 192hrs. Note the restart files do not need to be created at equally spacing spaced intervals if using a list of restart times in NRESTS. The value of NFRRES is ignored normally set to 1 in this case as the first entry in NRESTS is nonzero. If NFRRES is set > 1 it's assumed to .

Files created

Restart files

The output files all begin with the name 'srf'. One file will be created per MPI task. The files are written as unformatted binary (not GRIB) in order to preserve precision.

The file name includes a date as : srfddddhhmm, where dddd is the day number of the run, hh is the hour and mm is the minutes. e.g. srf00000120.0002 would be for day 1 and 20mins into the run written from MPI task 2.

By default, old restart files are automatically deleted. This is advisable because the files can be very large. One restart file at T1279 is approx 500Mb when using 128 MPI tasks, giving a total restart file requirement of approx 64Gb. Changing this behaviour is not possible via NAMRES. Instead, edit the file ifs/setup/sures.F90 and change the default value of LDELRES to TRUE.

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A file, 'rcf' will be created by the model at the point when the restart files are written. This file contains the NAMELIST that informs the model what it needs to know to restart the model.

Do not delete or edit this file, otherwise the model will be unable to restart - regardless of whether the actual restart files (those beginning with srf) are present.

Conversely, if you don't want to run a restart but want to repeat the run, do delete the rcf file (and the srf files). If you don't the model will attempt to continue the run according to the namelist in the rcf file.

Model code

The key subroutines for restarts are:

monio.F90 - sets up the internal arrays to determine write times.

wrresf.F90 - calls the I/O subsystem to write out the restart files. If you add more arrays to the model and want them to appear in restart files, change this routine.

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