The meteorological evaluation framework provides possibility for the users to assess the meteorological performance of OpenIFS based on two sets of case studies. Two severe weather events, storms Desmond and Xaver, have been chosen, which had been predicted originally with different skill. Several model experiments were carried out to test the effect of starting date, forecast length, initial condition as well as spatial resolution on the forecast quality. The model outputs are visualized and evaluated using Metview.

This section describes the steps needed to repeat the evaluation on user computers (assuming UNIX/Linux system). For the example below, we use one forecast date, 3 December 2015, from storm Desmond and run the experiment on T255L91 resolution with the ERA5 initial condition. The results of the experiment are evaluated for 5 December 2015.

Prerequisites

  1. To run OpenIFS and access to the case study evaluation package, installation of OpenIFS40r1v2 is required (earlier versions do not include the evaluation package). For more information on the installation, please see the OpenIFS installation section.
  2. To work with the GRIB files, installation of ecCodes is needed. Recommended version is ecCodes 2.5.0 or more recent ones.
  3. To use the visualization tools, installation of Metview is required, preferably version 4.7.1 or more recent versions (see also the Troubleshooting section).

Create the directory structure

Let us assume that the current directory is OIFS_HOME. The necessary folders are as follows:

  • Directory for input and output data, e.g.: % mkdir -p data

  • Subdirectory for the initial conditions of OpenIFS experiments, e.g.: % mkdir -p data/initial_conditions

  • Subdirectory for the initial conditions of the T255L91 experiment initialized from ERA5, e.g. with gs0c 4-digit experiment ID:
    % expID=gs0c; mkdir -p data/initial_conditions/${expID}

  • Directory for running OpenIFS, e.g.: % mkdir -p rundir

  • Subdirectory of OpenIFS outputs, which is input directory for the Metview macros at the same time, e.g.: % mkdir -p data/forecast

  • Subdirectory for outputs of a given forecast experiment, e.g.: % expID=gs0c; mkdir -p data/forecast/${expID}

  • Subdirectory of the re-analysis data, e.g.: % mkdir -p data/reference

  • Directory of the Metview macros and the external Metview functions, e.g.: % mkdir -p macros definitions

  • Directory for the figures prepared using Metview, e.g.: % mkdir -p figures

% find .
./data
./data/forecast
./data/forecast/gs0c
./data/initial_conditions
./data/initial_conditions/gs0c
./data/reference
./definitions
./figures
./macros
./rundir

Please be aware that the name of input directories is pre-defined in the Metview macros. This means that you can choose different name for the data directory (e.g., input instead of data), but you have to keep the same subdirectory structure for the forecast results and re-analyses (i.e., input/forecast/${expID} and input/reference are expected).

OpenIFS Meteorological Evaluation


On this page


Useful links


Download the initial data

  1. Navigate to the http://download.ecmwf.int/test-data/openifs/reference_casestudies site in a web browser, choose the experiment initialized from ERA5 data on 3 December 2015 with T255L91 resolution (i.e., gs0c experiment) and download the .gz file (approximately 128 MB) into the data/initial_conditions/gs0c directory. Or from the command line:
    % cd data/initial_conditions/gs0c
% wget -c http://download.ecmwf.int/test-data/openifs/reference_casestudies/data/Desmond_201512/T255L91_ERA5/gs0c_2015120300.tar.gz
  2. To unpack the files either use the tar -zxf command if your version of tar supports the 'z' option:
    % tar -zxf gs0c_2015120300.tar.gz

    or use gunzip followed by tar -xf:

    % gunzip gs0c_2015120300.tar.gz
% tar -xf gs0c_2015120300.tar

Prepare the experiment

  1. Go to the working directory where your experiment will run and clean it if it has been already used:

    % cd ${OIFS_HOME}/rundir
% rm -f ICM* ifsdata rtables *l_2 wam* *in fort.* master.exe MPP*

  2. Copy or link the initial conditions from the input directory to your working directory:

    % INPUTDIR=${OIFS_HOME}/data/initial_conditions/gs0c
% ln -sf ${INPUTDIR}/ICM* .
% ln -sf ${INPUTDIR}/wam* .
% ln -sf ${INPUTDIR}/*in .
  3. Set the necessary environment variables:
    • OIFS_GRIB_API_DIR: folder of GRIB-API
    • OIFS_DATA_DIR: folder of climate data called ifsdata
    • LD_LIBRARY_PATH: folder of GRIB_API libraries
    • GRIB_SAMPLES_PATH: path of GRIB_API samples

  4. Copy the namelists to your rundir:

    % NAMDIR=${OIFS_HOME}/data/initial_conditions/gs0c
% cp ${NAMDIR}/wam_namelist .
% cp ${NAMDIR}/wam_namelist_coupled_000 .
% cp ${NAMDIR}/namelistfc fort.4

  5. Modify the fort.4 file  with setting the following namelist variables:

    • Number of processors you use to run OpenIFS: NPROC in the NAMPAR0 group,

    • Set the NPRNT_STATS (in the NAMPAR0 group) to the same value as NPROC,
    • Timestep: TSTEP=2700 in the NAMDYN group,
    • Number of vertical levels and spectral truncation: NFPLEV=91 and NFPMAX=255 in the NAMFPG group,
    • Experiment ID: CNMEXP="gs0c" in the NAMCT0 group,

    • Number of latitudes and longitudes on the transform grid: NLAT=256, NLON=512 in the NAMFPD group,

    • Fullpos variables in the NAMFPC group (for more details please see section 6.2),

    • Output file names: setting LINC="true" in the NAMOPH group leads to ICM??${expID}+00${step} output file names where step is in hour instead of timestep (here on 4 digits).

  6. Run the model using the oifs_run.sh script which is in the OpenIFS 40r1v2 package. To run the script you have to specify the experiment ID, the executable file (named master.exe), the forecast length and you can set the spectral truncation as well as the timestep here:

    % # oifs_run.sh -e${expID} -m${executable} -r${RESOUTION} -f${SCLENGTH} -s${TSTEP}
% ${JOBDIR}/oifs_run.sh -egs0c -m${BINDIR}/master.exe -r255 -fh96 -s2700 > out 2>err

    With these settings you run a 96-hour forecast (-fh96), where JOBDIR and BINDIR are the location of the oifs_run.sh script and the master.exe OpenIFS executable, respectively.
    Before the model run begins, the oifs_run.sh script checks the inputs and ensure that the necessary climate data on the corresponding resolution are also available in your working directory.

  7. When OpenIFS starts to run, you will see the following content in your working directory:

    master.exe        fort.4                                               # executable and namelist
wam_namelist      wam_namelist_coupled_000						       # namelists for the wave model
ICMGGgs0cINIUA    ICMCLgs0cINIT    ICMSHgs0cINIT     ICMGGgs0cINIT     # initial conditions
cdwavein          sfcwindin        specwavein        uwavein		   # wave model initial conditions
wam_grid_tables   wam_subgrid_0    wam_subgrid_1     wam_subgrid_2     # wave model files
ifsdata           rtables          255l_2						       # climate data
ncf927            ifs.stat         NODE.001_01                         # text output (log) files
out               err                                                  # output and error files from the model run
ICMGGgs0c+000000  ICMSHgs0c+000000 ICMGGgs0c+000003  ICMSHgs0c+000003  # output files for the first two steps
    For more information about the content of the working directory, please see section 6.2.

For more instructions and details about running the model, please visit the related page in the OpenIFS User Guides.

Post-processing the model outputs

The Metview macros prepared for visualization of experiment results require the meteorological variables in GRIB format separated by variables and days with the appropriate names.

  1. The 2-meter temperature, the precipitation, the mean sea level pressure and the wind gust are expected in gridpoint representation. They are prepared from the ICMGG* outputs with the next operations:

    % expID=gs0c; date=20151203
% steps="00 03 06 09 12 15 18 21 24 27 30 33 36 39 42 45 48 51 54 57 60 63 66 69 72" # every 3 hours from 0 UTC on 3 December to 0 UTC on 6 December
% for step in ${steps}
   do
      grib_copy -w shortName=2t   ICMGG${expID}+0000${step} t2_${date}_${step}.grib    #to get the 2-meter temperature
      grib_copy -w shortName=msl  ICMGG${expID}+0000${step} mslp_${date}_${step}.grib  #to get the mean sea level pressure
      grib_copy -w shortName=10fg ICMGG${expID}+0000${step} gust_${date}_${step}.grib  #to get the 10-meter wind gust
   done

  2. For precipitation, both the convective and large-scale precipitation components have to be gathered in the same file:

    % expID=gs0c; date=20151203
% steps="00 03 06 09 12 15 18 21 24 27 30 33 36 39 42 45 48 51 54 57 60 63 66 69 72" # every 3 hours from 0 UTC on 3 December to 0 UTC on 6 December
% for step in ${steps}
   do
      grib_copy -w shortName=lsp/cp ICMGG${expID}+0000${step} p_${date}_${step}.grib
   done

  3. The pressure level data are required in spectral representation. They are prepared from the ICMSH* outputs with the next operations:

    % expID=gs0c; date=20151203
% steps="00 03 06 09 12 15 18 21 24 27 30 33 36 39 42 45 48 51 54 57 60 63 66 69 72" # every 3 hours from 0 UTC on 3 December to 0 UTC on 6 December
% for step in ${steps}
   do
      grib_copy -w shortName=t,level=850 ICMSH${expID}+0000${step} t850_${date}_${step}.grib  #to get the temperature at 850 hPa
      grib_copy -w shortName=r,level=700 ICMSH${expID}+0000${step} q700_${date}_${step}.grib  #to get the relative humidity at 700 hPa
      grib_copy -w shortName=z,level=500 ICMSH${expID}+0000${step} z500_${date}_${step}.grib  #to get the geopotential at 500 hPa       
   done

  4. For wind, both the u and v components have to be collected in the same file:

    % expID=gs0c; date=20151203
% steps="00 03 06 09 12 15 18 21 24 27 30 33 36 39 42 45 48 51 54 57 60 63 66 69 72" # every 3 hours from 0 UTC on 3 December to 0 UTC on 6 December
% for step in ${steps}
   do
      grib_copy -w shortName=u/v,level=250 ICMSH${expID}+0000${step} u250_${date}_${step}.grib  #to get the u and v components at 250 hPa
      grib_copy -w shortName=u/v,level=100 ICMSH${expID}+0000${step} u100_${date}_${step}.grib  #to get the u and v components at 100 hPa     
   done

  5. After these operations, the timesteps belonging to the same days have to be merged into a common file and the concatenated file has to be moved to the input directory of the Metview visualization:

    % expID=gs0c; date=20151203
% variables="t2 mslp gust p t850 q700 z500 u250 u100"
% for variable in ${variables}
   do
      cat ${variable}_${date}_*.grib > ${variable}_${date}.grib
      mv ${variable}_${date}.grib ${OIFS_HOME}/data/${expID}
   done

More details can be found about the post-processing in section 6.3.

Download the re-analysis data

As reference for the evaluation, we use both ERA-Interim and ERA5 re-analyses. The data are provided on the ECMWF download server in the proper format needed for visualization with Metview or they can be downloaded in their original format from the ECMWF MARS system. This retrieve has to be accomplished only once, if we download the data for the whole period of the case study.

To download the re-analysis GRIB files from the download server into the input directory of the Metview visualization:

% cd ${OIFS_HOME}/data/reference
% wget -c http://download.ecmwf.int/test-data/openifs/reference_casestudies/data/Desmond_201512/reference/ei_20151201-20151206.tar.gz # ERA-Interim
% wget -c http://download.ecmwf.int/test-data/openifs/reference_casestudies/data/Desmond_201512/reference/ea_20151201-20151206.tar.gz # ERA5

Please note that this procedure requires installation of Python 2.7 or more recent version.

  1. A registration on the ECMWF website and a WebAPI key are needed:
    • If you are new user, register on the ECMWF web site: https://apps.ecmwf.int/registration.
    • Log in at https://www.ecmwf.int/ (Log In link at top right of page. Register if you need to).
    • Retrieve your key: https://api.ecmwf.int/v1/key/.
    • Copy the information in this page and paste it in the file $HOME/.ecmwfapirc (UNIX/Linux).
    Failure to do these steps will result in an error retrieving the re-analysis data. For further information and help please visit Access ECMWF Public Datasets.
  2. To download the data from MARS, we use the scr_download_re-analysis shell script, which is available in the casestudies/mars directory in the OpenIFS cycle 40r1v2 release as well as in the ECMWF download server: http://download.ecmwf.int/test-data/openifs/reference_casestudies/programs/mars.
    Download all the necessary variables from the ERA-Interim data for the period of 1–6 December 2015 into the ${OIFS_HOME}/data/reference directory: 
    % ./scr_download_re-analysis -cei -s t2,mslp,p,gust -p t850,q700,z500,u250,u100 -f20151201 -l20151206 -o${OIFS_HOME}/data/reference
    Or you can simply apply the all option instead of listing each variable:
    % ./scr_download_re-analysis -cei -s all -p all -f20151201 -l20151206 -o${OIFS_HOME}/data/reference
  1. Register to Copernicus Climate Data Store (CDS): https://cds.climate.copernicus.eu/user/register.
  2. Install the CDS API client, for example by running this command on Unix/Linux: % pip install cdsapi.
  3. A CDS key is needed to be downloaded and installed. This page shows that: How to use the CDS API.
  4. Before you may download any data from the CDS, you need to accept the Terms and Conditions of the chosen dataset. To do this, log in to the C3S Climate Data Store, click on Datasets on the top menu bar, select Product type of interest (e.g. Reanalysis for ERA5 datasets) on the left-hand side menu, follow the dataset title link and accept dataset licence.
  5. To download the data from MARS, we use the scr_download_re-analysis shell script, which is available in the casestudies/mars directory in the OpenIFS cycle 40r1v2 release as well as in the ECMWF download server: http://download.ecmwf.int/test-data/openifs/reference_casestudies/programs/mars.  
    Download all the necessary variables from the ERA5 data for the period of 1–6 December 2015 into the ${OIFS_HOME}/data/reference directory: 
    % ./scr_download_re-analysis -cea -s t2,mslp,p,gust -p t850,q700,z500,u250,u100 -f20151201 -l20151206 -o${OIFS_HOME}/data/reference
    Or you can simply apply the all option instead of listing each variable:
    % ./scr_download_re-analysis -cea -s all -p all -f20151201 -l20151206 -o${OIFS_HOME}/data/reference

After these two steps, altogether 18 files are in the ${OIFS_HOME}/data/reference directory for the 9 meteorological variables with filename ei_${variable}_20151201-20151206.grib for ERA-Interim and ea_${variable}_20151201-20151206.grib for ERA5.

You can download the re-analysis fields also for a shorter period, but be aware that the Metview macro plot_ERAI_ERA5.mv expects the re-analysis file to the evaluation with the filename *_20151201-20151206.grib.

More information is provided about the background of the different re-analyses in section 6.3.

Plotting

The visualization package is available in the casestudies directory of the OpenIFS cycle 40r1v2 release as well as in the ECMWF download server: http://download.ecmwf.int/test-data/openifs/reference_casestudies/programs/metview. Transfer the content of the definitions and macros folders into the corresponding local directories. Going to the macros folder, the visualization can be done by the Metview macros (*.mv files) in two ways: (1) interactively using a dialogue box or (2) in batch mode.

Before using the macros, the path of the definitions directory has to be added to the METVIEW_MACRO_PATH to reach the external functions and colour definitions:

% cd ${OIFS_HOME}/macros
% export METVIEW_MACRO_PATH="${OIFS_HOME}/definitions:${METVIEW_MACRO_PATH}"

There is an include statement in the plot_forecastrun.mv and plot_ERAI_ERA5.mv macros and further 2 ones in plot_IC.mv taking the two colour definitions from this directory. The path of the definitions folder has to be set in the macros according to the local working tree. To do that, open these files in a text editor, search the definitions and modify its path if it is necessary (4 times in total).

(1) Interactive plotting

Forecast maps

To prepare maps from the T255L91 forecast initialized with ERA5 on 3 December 2015 for the validation date, i.e., 5 December 2015, start Metview (just type metview and press Enter), execute plot_forecastrun.mv with right mouse click on its icon and selecting the Execute option from the menu:


Set the following options in the pop-up dialogue box step by step:

  1. Give the surface parameters, the wind at 250 and 100 hPa as pressure level parameter and click "OK":
  2. Set the temperature at 850 hPa as pressure level parameter and click "OK":
  3. Set the relative humidity at 700 hPa as pressure level parameter and click "OK":
  4. Set the geopotential at 500 hPa as pressure level parameter and click "OK":

Note the "/" at the end of the input and figure directory paths.

These steps generate all the maps from the forecast outputs between 0 UTC on 5 December and 0 UTC on 6 December.

Re-analysis maps

The time handling in case of the re-analyses is different, so the procedure to prepare maps from the ERA-Interim data for the validation date consists of the following steps:

  1. Repeat steps 1 to 4 above with plot_ERAI_ERA5.mv for 5 December 2015 (below an example for the surface parameters and the wind at 250 and 100 hPa):

    The generated figures range from 0 to 18 UTC on 5 December for most variables, excluding the daily precipitation amount and the windgust.
  2. Repeat the previous step for each variable apart from precipitation and windgust selecting 6 December as verification date to prepare the figures also for 0 UTC on 6 December (below an example for the temperature at 850 hPa):
  3. As the windgust values represent a time period, run the plot_ERAI_ERA5.mv macro selecting windgust for 4 December to prepare the figures also for 0 UTC on 5 December:

To prepare maps from the ERA5 data for the validation date, repeat the steps 1 to 3 above selecting ERA5 as reference (below an example for the temperature at 850 hPa):

Maps from the initial conditions

To compare the initial conditions with the ones of the T255L91 experiment initialized from ERA-Interim (with gryg experiment ID) on 3 December 2015, you do not have to run the latter experiment because only the initial conditions are needed.

  1. Copy the initial condition files into the corresponding input directory and append a suffix with the appropriate date to the filename:

    % expIDs="gryg gs0c"
% for expID in $expIDs; do
      for file in ICMGG${expID}INIT ICMSH${expID}INIT ICMGG${expID}INIUA; do
          cp ${OIFS_HOME}/data/initial_conditions/${expID}/2015120300/${file} ${OIFS_HOME}/data/forecast/${expID}/${file}_20151203
      done
  done

  2. Execute the macro plot_IC.mv in Metview, in the pop-up dialogue box give the surface parameters as well as the atmospheric parameters on the lowest model level (level 91) and click "OK":

    The macro creates the figures for the selected meteorological variables, showing the initial conditions of the two experiments and also their departure on maps. It is also worthwhile to compare the orography in the two initial conditions.

(2) Plotting in batch mode

  1. To prepare maps from the T255L91 forecast initialized with ERA5 on 3 December 2015 for the validation date, i.e., 5 December 2015:

    % # metview -b plot_forecastrun.mv [experiment_ID] [resolution] [initial_condition] \
% #                                [parameters] [pressure_levels] [start_date] [verification_date] \
% #                                [area] [input_directory] [output_directory]

% metview -b plot_forecastrun.mv gs0c T255L91 ea "t2,mslp,p,gust" " " 20151203 20151205 "25,-35,75,50" ../data/forecast/ ../figures/  # surface parameters
% metview -b plot_forecastrun.mv gs0c T255L91 ea "t" "850" 20151203 20151205 "25,-35,75,50" ../data/forecast/ ../figures/             # t850
% metview -b plot_forecastrun.mv gs0c T255L91 ea "q" "700" 20151203 20151205 "25,-35,75,50" ../data/forecast/ ../figures/             # q700
% metview -b plot_forecastrun.mv gs0c T255L91 ea "z" "500" 20151203 20151205 "25,-35,75,50" ../data/forecast/ ../figures/             # z500
% metview -b plot_forecastrun.mv gs0c T255L91 ea "u" "250,100" 20151203 20151205 "25,-35,75,50" ../data/forecast/ ../figures/         # u250, u100

  2. To prepare maps from the ERA-Interim data for the validation date:

    % # metview -b plot_forecastrun.mv [reference] [parameters] [pressure_levels]\
% #                                [verification_date] [area] [input_directory] [output_directory]

% for date in 20151205 20151206
   do
      metview -b plot_ERAI_ERA5.mv ERA-Interim "t2,mslp" " " ${date} " " ../data/ ../figures/    # surface parameters
      metview -b plot_ERAI_ERA5.mv ERA-Interim t 850 ${date} " " ../data/ ../figures/            # t850
      metview -b plot_ERAI_ERA5.mv ERA-Interim q 700 ${date} " " ../data/ ../figures/            # q700
      metview -b plot_ERAI_ERA5.mv ERA-Interim z 500 ${date} " " ../data/ ../figures/            # z500
      metview -b plot_ERAI_ERA5.mv ERA-Interim u "250,100" ${date} " " ../data/ ../figures/      # u250, u100
   done

% metview -b plot_ERAI_ERA5.mv ERA-Interim "p" " " 20151205 " " ../data/ ../figures/             # precipitation
% metview -b plot_ERAI_ERA5.mv ERA-Interim "gust" " " 20151204 " " ../data/ ../figures/          # windgust

  3. To prepare maps for the validation date, i.e., 5 December 2015 from the ERA5 data:

    % for date in 20151205 20151206
   do
      metview -b plot_ERAI_ERA5.mv ERA5 "t2,mslp" " " ${date} " " ../data/ ../figures/    # surface parameters
      metview -b plot_ERAI_ERA5.mv ERA5 t 850 ${date} " " ../data/ ../figures/            # t850
      metview -b plot_ERAI_ERA5.mv ERA5 q 700 ${date} " " ../data/ ../figures/            # q700
      metview -b plot_ERAI_ERA5.mv ERA5 z 500 ${date} " " ../data/ ../figures/            # z500
      metview -b plot_ERAI_ERA5.mv ERA5 u "250,100" ${date} " " ../data/ ../figures/      # u250, u100
   done

% metview -b plot_ERAI_ERA5.mv ERA5 "p" " " 20151205 " " ../data/ ../figures/             # precipitation
% metview -b plot_ERAI_ERA5.mv ERA5 "gust" " " 20151204 " " ../data/ ../figures/          # windgust

  4. To compare the initial conditions with the ones of the T255L91 experiment initialized from ERA-Interim (with gryg experiment ID) on 3 December 2015, you do not have to run the latter experiment because only the initial conditions are needed. Before running the macro plot_IC.mv, we have to copy the initial conditions into the corresponding input directory and append a suffix with the appropriate date to the filename:

    % expIDs="gryg gs0c"
% for expID in $expIDs; do
      for file in ICMGG${expID}INIT ICMSH${expID}INIT ICMGG${expID}INIUA; do
          cp ${OIFS_HOME}/data/initial_conditions/${expID}/2015120300/${file} ${OIFS_HOME}/data/forecast/${expID}/${file}_20151203
      done
  done

% # metview -b plot_IC.mv [case_study] [parameters] [model_levels]\
% #                       [start_date] [area] [input_directory] [output_directory]

% metview -b plot_IC.mv Desmond "t2,mslp,p,gust" " " 20151203 "25,-35,75,50" ../data/forecast/ ../figures/ # surface parameters
% metview -b plot_IC.mv Desmond t 850 20151203 "25,-35,75,50" ../data/forecast/ ../figures/                # t850
% metview -b plot_IC.mv Desmond q 700 20151203 "25,-35,75,50" ../data/forecast/ ../figures/                # q700
% metview -b plot_IC.mv Desmond z 500 20151203 "25,-35,75,50" ../data/forecast/ ../figures/                # z500
% metview -b plot_IC.mv Desmond u "250,100" 20151203 "25,-35,75,50" ../data/forecast/ ../figures/          # u250, u10

More details about plotting with Metview are available in section 6.4.

Construct the catalogue

Running the Metview macros results in a large amount of figures. The individual pictures can be assembled into a catalogue containing all relevant plots. We provide 2 possibilities for the users, the Macro functionality of Microsoft Office Word and HTML templates, from which the latter one is introduced here:

  1. First navigate to the directory of your figures (assuming that they are in the same folder and not distributed in further subdirectories) and convert the .ps files to .png files:

    % cd ${OIFS_HOME}/figures
% for file in *ps; do convert -density 120 ${file} `echo ${file} | cut -d. -f1`.png; done

  2. Retrieve the corresponding set of templates from the ECMWF download server:

    % INPUTDIR=http://download.ecmwf.int/test-data/openifs/reference_casestudies/
% wget -c ${INPUTDIR}figs/Desmond/png-ps/Desmond_OutputBrowsing.tar.gz
  1. Uncompress the .tar.gz file:
    2. % tar -xzvf Desmond_OutputBrowsing.tar.gz
  1. To activate the templates, open one of the .html files in a web browser (Firefox or else). For instance, if you achieved the gs0c experiment in addition to the gryg run, you can study the role of the initial conditions opening initial_condition_T255.html. This template shows two tables with pictures. In the first one you can compare the initial conditions themselves (i.e., ERA-Interim and ERA5) and the difference between them.

  1. The figures can be watched with clicking on the small pictures. It pops up the figure in its original size and one can step forward to the next image or backward to the previous one using the arrows ( ) in the small frame.

  1. The second table shows the forecast results and the re-analysis fields in each timestep. The figures can be watched with clicking on the small pictures after opening a line. It pops up the figure in its original size and one can step forward to the next image or backward to the previous one using the arrows ( ) in the small frame. This moves between the figures available for the same timestep, while clicking on any of the double downward arrows (⇩) we can walk between the results of a given experiment timestep by timestep.

  1. If some pictures are missing, for instance, only one of the 2 experiments was carried out, the place of the figures will be empty. But you can still navigate between the maps using the arrows in the top menu.

  1. If you want to study different experiments, for instance the impact of the resolution changes on the forecast, you can navigate there in the top black menu.

  1. After constructing your own catalogue, compare the results of your experiment with the ones run at ECMWF. Navigate to the http://download.ecmwf.int/test-data/openifs/reference_casestudies/oDesmond.html page in a new web browser window and open the table including the counterpart of your experiment.

Troubleshooting

Here some cases are collected, when the model run and the forecast evaluation can terminate with error.

Model run

  • The initial conditions are prepared for fix dates and spatial resolutions. Make sure that your settings coincide with that.
  • The initial conditions are prepared with fix experiment ID that you can identify from the file names (e.g., in ICMGGgs0cINIT experiment ID is gs0c). Please make sure that you use the proper expID in the job and the namelist, too.
  • Further possible issues regarding running the OpenIFS and their solution are listed in the OpenIFS FAQ.

Visualization with Metview

  • If you do not find the evaluation package (basically the Metview macros) in your local computing environment, you are likely to use earlier OpenIFS version than OpenIFS40r1v2. In that case, please download and install this version from the FTP server or download the Metview macros and the corresponding macro definitions from the ECMWF download server.
  • Metview macros can stop with error message if not the recommended software versions are used. The supported (minimum) versions are GRIB-API 1.18.0, ecCodes 2.5.0 and Metview 4.7.1.
    Using Metview 4.7.1 or 4.7.2, the next warnings are produced:
    macro - WARN   - 20180611.125356 - Ambiguous verb: 'READ' could be:
macro - WARN   - 20180611.125356 -   READ (METVIEW)
macro - WARN   - 20180611.125356 -   READ (TIGGEMETVIEW)
macro - INFO   - 20180611.125356 - Choosing READ (METVIEW)
macro - WARN   - 20180611.125356 - Ambiguous verb: 'READ' could be:
macro - WARN   - 20180611.125356 -   READ (METVIEW)
macro - WARN   - 20180611.125356 -   READ (TIGGEMETVIEW)
macro - INFO   - 20180611.125356 - Choosing READ (METVIEW)
macro - INFO   - 20180611.125358 - Warn: Magics-warning: [NONE] is not a valid value for SUBPAGE_MAP_PROJECTION: reset to default -> [cylindrical]
macro - INFO   - 20180611.125358 - Warn: Magics-warning: tolerance condition error for 3.14159 -1.5708
    Metview 4.8.0–4.8.5 give the following warnings:
    macro - INFO   - 20180611.125358 - Warn: Magics-warning: [NONE] is not a valid value for SUBPAGE_MAP_PROJECTION: reset to default -> [cylindrical]
macro - INFO   - 20180611.125358 - Warn: Magics-warning: tolerance condition error for 3.14159 -1.5708
    Metview 4.8.6–5.0.3 return with the following message:
    macro - INFO   - 20180611.125358 - Warn: Magics-warning: [NONE] is not a valid value for SUBPAGE_MAP_PROJECTION: reset to default -> [cylindrical]
    You can neglect all these warnings, they do not influence the output figures.

  • Metview macros might terminate with the next message if METVIEW_MACRO_PATH is not set:

    macro - ERROR  - 20180611.143638 - Line 2729 in 'plot_IC.mv': Function not found: build_layout_2plus1(list)
metview: EXIT on ERROR (line 1), exit status 1, starting 'cleanup'

  • Metview macros stops with error if the include statements in the .mv files are not set properly:

    base_visdef: No such file or directory
macro - ERROR  - 20180611.144342 - Line 151: Cannot include file
metview: EXIT on ERROR (line 1), exit status 1, starting 'cleanup'
  • Metview macros partly require mandatory directory structure. The folder of the input data can be arbitrary, however, under this directory macros expect the re-analysis fields to be placed in the subdirectory named reference, while the forecast data in the subdirectory identified with the 4-digit experiment ID (i.e., data/reference and data/gs0c etc.). Please make sure that the input data are stored in these folders with the proper file names (more information about the requested file names can be found in section 6.4).
  • Metview macros can fail if they refer to non-existing directories. Please make sure that folders of the input data, output figures and the macro definitions are created.
  • Saving the outputs can cause surprise if you do not append "/" at the end of the path when specifying the output directory. Please use "/" at the end of the input data path, too.

  • Metview macros are constructed to process the data for given dates and parameters. If you use them for different dates and meteorological variables (it is easy to do that in batch mode), they will return with error message. To avoid that you can run the macros first in help mode, typing:

    % metview -b macroname

  • Please be aware that Metview macros require the input parameters in pre-defined order and number. If you do not want to specify a given parameter, use " " instead, e.g.:

    % metview -b plot_IC.mv Desmond "t2,mslp,p,gust" " " 20151203 "25,-35,75,50" ../data/forecast/ ../figures/

    where macro plot_ic.mv is executed for surface parameters, therefore, vertical levels are not specified.

  • Macro plot_IC.mv plots the initial conditions solely for the T255L91 experiments. It aborts if you try to use it for experiments with different resolution.

Preparing the catalogue

  • If you want to use the prepared HTML templates to have an overview on the results, you need the pictures in .png format. Please make sure that you achieved the conversion from the .ps files.
  • If none of the HTML templates show any results it is likely that you did not download and unpack them in the proper directory. Please note that it has to be done in the same folder where the .png files are located.
  • If you did not conduct every experiment, HTML templates can show incomplete columns in the tables. To browse among the pictures there is no need to have all the possible figures, you can still navigate between the maps using the arrows in the top menu (after opening a picture).


Back to top