Model:WRF

Name	Bill Skamarock
Type of contact	Project manager
Institute / Organization	NCAR
Postal address 1	1850 Table Mesa Dr
Postal address 2
Town / City	Boulder
Postal code	80305
State	Colorado
Country	USA"USA" is not in the list (Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, ...) of allowed values for the "Country" property.
Email address	wrfhelp@ucar.edu
Phone	(303) 497-1000
Fax

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WRF

This code has been community reviewed and published in the open access Journal of Open Source Software (JOSS)

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Also known as
Model type	Modular
Model part of larger framework
Note on status model
Date note status model

Keywords:

Supported platforms	Linux, Mac OS
Other platform	Darwin
Programming language	Fortran90, C
Other program language	Fortran95, Perl
Code optimized	Multiple Processors
Multiple processors implemented
Nr of distributed processors
Nr of shared processors
Start year development	1998
Does model development still take place?	Yes
If above answer is no, provide end year model development
Code development status
When did you indicate the 'code development status'?
Model availability	As code
Source code availability (Or provide future intension)	Through web repository
Source web address	http://www.mmm.ucar.edu/wrf/users/download/get_source.html
Source csdms web address
Program license type	Other
Program license type other	WRF was developed at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) which is operated by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR). NCAR and UCAR make no proprietary claims, either statutory or otherwise, to this version and release of WRF and consider WRF to be in the public domain for use by any person or entity for any purpose without any fee or charge. UCAR requests that any WRF user include this notice on any partial or full copies of WRF. WRF is provided on an "AS IS" basis and any warranties, either express or implied, including but not limited to implied warranties of non-infringement, originality, merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose, are disclaimed. In no event shall UCAR be liable for any damages, whatsoever, whether direct, indirect, consequential or special, that arise out of or in connection with the access, use or performance of WRF, including infringement actions. WRF® is a registered trademark of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR).
Memory requirements	--
Typical run time	--

Describe input parameters	--
Input format
Other input format
Describe output parameters	--
Output format
Other output format
Pre-processing software needed?	Yes
Describe pre-processing software	The WRF Preprocessing System (WPS) is a set of three programs whose collective role is to prepare input to the real program for real-data simulations. Each of the programs performs one stage of the preparation: geogrid defines model domains and interpolates static geographical data to the grids; ungrib extracts meteorological fields from GRIB-formatted files; and metgrid horizontally interpolates the meteorological fields extracted by ungrib to the model grids defined by geogrid. (See also: http://www.mmm.ucar.edu/wrf/users/docs/user_guide_V3/users_guide_chap3.htm)
Post-processing software needed?	Yes
Describe post-processing software	WRF post-processing utilities: NCL, Vis5D, GrADS, RIP4, ARWpost, WPP, VAPOR (See: http://www.mmm.ucar.edu/wrf/users/docs/user_guide_V3/users_guide_chap2.htm)
Visualization software needed?	No
If above answer is yes
Other visualization software

Describe processes represented by the model	To simulate real weather and to do simulations with coarse resolutions, a minimum set of physics components is required, namely radiation, boundary layer and land-surface parameterization, convective parameterization, subgrid eddy diffusion, and microphysics. Since the model is developed for both research and operational groups, sophisticated physics schemes and simple physics schemes are needed in the model. The objectives of the WRF physics development are to implement a basic set of physics into the WRF model and to design a user friendly physics interface. Since the WRF model is targeted at resolutions of 1-10 km, some of physics schemes might not work properly in this high resolution (e.g. cumulus parameterization). However, at this early stage of model development, only existing physics schemes are implemented, and most of them are taken from current mesoscale and cloud models. In the future, new physics schemes designed for resolutions of 1-10 km should be developed and implemented. See http://www.mmm.ucar.edu/wrf/users/docs/wrf-phy.html#physics_scheme for more information
Describe key physical parameters and equations	The WRF-ARW core is based on an Eulerian solver for the fully compressible nonhydrostatic equations, cast in flux (conservative) form, using a mass (hydrostatic pressure) vertical coordinate. Prognostic variables for this solver are column mass of dry air (mu), velocities u, v and w (vertical velocity), potential temperature, and geopotential. Non-conserved variables (e.g. temperature, pressure, density) are diagnosed from the conserved prognostic variables. The solver uses a third-order Runge-Kutta time-integration scheme coupled with a split-explicit 2nd-order time integration scheme for the acoustic and gravity-wave modes. 5th-order upwind-biased advection operators are used in the fully conservative flux divergence integration; 2nd-6th order schemes are run-time selectable.
Describe length scale and resolution constraints	--
Describe time scale and resolution constraints	--
Describe any numerical limitations and issues	--

Describe available calibration data sets	--
Upload calibration data sets if available:
Describe available test data sets	--
Upload test data sets if available:
Describe ideal data for testing	--

Do you have current or future plans for collaborating with other researchers?	The effort to develop WRF has been a collaborative partnership, principally among the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) and the Forecast Systems Laboratory (FSL), the Air Force Weather Agency (AFWA), the Naval Research Laboratory, the University of Oklahoma, and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). WRF allows researchers the ability to conduct simulations reflecting either real data or idealized configurations. WRF provides operational forecasting a model that is flexible and efficient computationally, while offering the advances in physics, numerics, and data assimilation contributed by the research community.

Is there a manual available?	Yes
Upload manual if available:
Model website if any	http://www.wrf-model.org/index.php, http://www.mmm.ucar.edu/wrf/users/docs/user_guide/contents.html
Model forum / discussion board	http://forum.wrfforum.com/

Comments	WRF has a rapidly growing community of users, and workshops and tutorials are held each year at NCAR. WRF is currently in operational use at NCEP, AFWA and other centers. Notice: WRF source code is freely available on the following site: http://www.mmm.ucar.edu/wrf/users/download/get_source.html So no registration is needed.

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OpenMI compliant	No but possible
BMI compliant	No but possible
WMT component	Not yet"Not yet" is not in the list (Yes, In progress, No but possible, No not possible) of allowed values for the "Code CMT compliant or not" property.
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Model info

Authors

Bill Skamarock

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Model citations

Nr. of publications:	8007
Total citations:	210079
h-index:	160
m-quotient:	2.86

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