I want to run WRF - ARW model for a small domain of 100X100 km at a grid size of 3X3 km or smaller for forecasting weather parameters, which will be used as an input in a crop simulation model to forecast crop yield.
I need to purchase the required hardware and software for it but I'm very confused of the requirements and specifications which are required for the purpose.
I seek help to answer the following questions:
(1) What is the minimum and optimum H/W specification required and available in the market (preferably in India).
(2) What Linux OS Version and other compilers that would required to be installed?
Thanks
Vinay Sehgal
Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi
I would recommend that you look here:
http://www2.mmm.ucar.edu/wrf/users/support.html
Vinay,
You should have a look at the WRF documentation/users guide to get a detailed answer as suggested by Javier. A bare minimum would be: a reasonably fast computer (for example, an Intel i7 processor fits the bill), a stable version of Linux, and Fortran 90 and C compilers. You may need to add other libraries such as netcdf or mpich depending on your model configuration and options. Your model domain and resolution are quite modest so a fairly standard desktop, or even a laptop should work. I am running another regional model (RSM) over the Mediterranean region (as much as 5000 X 2000 km) with resolutions ranging from 40 down to 10 km on an i7 based desktop with 8 GB memory, 2 X 1TB disks, Suse 12.3 Linux for periods of a few days (higher resolution) and up to a season (lower resolution). I have tried intel, pgi, and gfortran (free) compilers. I even have a coupled RSM-ROMS (atmosphere-ocean) model running on a laptop. The point is that you can do a lot with commonly available, reasonably priced hardware and software, although I wouldn't recommend this configuration for long term climate simulations. We have come a long way from the days of the IBM 370 or CDC 7600 which I used for my PhD research many moons ago. Bottom line is you must decide on the budget you have available as well as what kind of computational demands you will be making. Good luck.
Base on your configuration, looks like not a very big domain.
So, I think most PC can do it. Even a laptop. The major part is how much your budgets, if u want to build a parallel cluster.
The OS is not a very big issue, I would suggest SUSE or CentOS base system will be easier to go. Even u want to try Ubuntu still works fine.
For compiler, u can use "Free" gcc/gfortran to compile WRF. If u have enough budgets, u can purchase PGI or INTEL compiler.
Thanxs to all for the response and guidance. The responses are very helpful.
Further I would like to mention that my budget is about US$40,000/-
At the outset I would like to start with a small domain and few simulations to learn but may have to scale up later for a very large domain (5000x5000 km) at 3km grid size.
Broadly what I could gather is that the system should comprise of
(1) High performance computing hardware: multi-node multi-processor system with large RAM and Hard-disk system
(2) A Network attached storage of 16 / 20 GB
(3) Linux OS with FORTRAN compiler (either free one or Purchase PGI/INTEL)
I would request that given the budget and future requirements, help me out with a good specific configuration of the system to meet future requirements.
If your configuration will go higher resolution, you will need a cluster.
So, here the some configuration of my lab cluster, u can take as an example:
1) head node:
Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2620 v2 (6 core) *2
64GB RAM
HDD: depend on your. recommend system disk with RAID1
2) compute nodes:
Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2670 v2 (10 core) *2
64GB RAM
HDD: only need base system, so we chose 32GB SSD
3) inter-connect: DDR Infiniband (20Gbps) best performance)
So, our system has 80 cores (4 nodes) system and the budget very similar to yours (~$45000 USD).
I think u can find better configuration now, because the configuration above is 1yr ago when I upgraded our lab cluster. We use the server from "SUPERMICRO"
P.S: If u care about the service and warranty, I will suggest u go IBM, HP or DELL…..
Dear Chen
Thanxs for providing a very clear configuration.
As suggested I would prefer to go for DELL, HP, IBM system and INTEL Compiler on CentOS
Dear Vinay,
Use this website to learn the basics http://www.mmm.ucar.edu/wrf/users
Dear Vinay,
Use this website to learn the basics http://www.mmm.ucar.edu/wrf/users
If you want to use WRF for short-term simulations, a desktop PC even a laptop with 8gb of ram will be enough, but if you incorporate data assimilation, especially advanced techniques like the hybrid 3Dvar or the 4D var, you will need a super computer (i'm talking about terabytes of ram)!!
Good luck!
Hi all,
I have run successfully WRF for hindcast simulation. Now, I am planning to use WRF-ARW to give weather prediction for the next 72 hours with 6 hours interval. Could any of you give me guidance to do that? Thank you!
Hi,
Supercomputers of CDAC, Pune can be used in virtual mode for Indian users. So try contacting CDAC and get a node for simulation of WRF.
Please respond your experience hereafter.
I suggest you to review this file :
http://mce2.org/wmogurme/images/workshops/ASEAN/day2/WRF_overview.pdf
Basic Software Requirement
• Fortran 90/95 compiler
– Code uses standard f90 (very portable)
• C compiler
– “Registry”-based automatic Fortran code generation (for
argument lists, declarations, nesting functions, I/O routines)
• Perl
– configure/compile scripts
• netcdf library
– for I/O (other I/O formats semi-supported)
• Public domain mpich for MPI
– if using distributed memory option
I use LINUX Ubuntu as well as the mentioned Software.
Hope it help.
Good Job!
Not much sure Sir..But once you configure it plz do call me for having an exposure...Thanks Sir in advance..
You need supercomputer if you go a high resolution but for normal you can make a run by laptop..
There is no need to use a very high specification to run WRF-ARW. Actually this depends on the resolution, region and time of forecasting. You need to install any suitable version of Linux such as Fedora, Obinto, etc. Then you should download, unpack, compile the source code that is available on the internet.
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Geoscience
- Cartography
- Mapping