1.6.2. Supported tower sites for single-point runs

CTSM has functionality within the run_tower tool for running single-point cases at particular supported tower sites using forcing data from those sites.

This tool was developed as a collaboration between NCAR’s modeling capabilities and NEON’s measurement network that could drive scientific discovery at the confluence of geosciences and biological sciences. The tool was then expanded to include PLUMBER sites to support a wider variety of ecological research projects.

Broadly, this tool can be used to probe questions such as:

  • What biases in NCAR models can current observations address?

  • How can NCAR models inform observational data streams?

  • What new hypotheses of atmospheric science and macroscale ecology can be tested with observations and NCAR models to increase our understanding of the biosphere-atmosphere system and its response to global environmental change?

  • Can Earth system prediction be extended to ecological forecasts?

1.6.2.1. General Information on Running Supported Tower Sites

The run_tower capability allows users to run Community Land Model (CLM) simulations at NEON and PLUMBER tower sites in a streamlined manner by setting up the appropriate model configurations, datasets, and initial conditions. This script can run for one or more (NEON or PLUMBER) tower sites. It will do the following:

  1. Create a generic base case for cloning.

  2. Make the case for the specific neon or plumber site(s).

  3. Make changes to the case, for

    1. AD spinup

    2. post-AD spinup

    3. transient

    4. SASU or Matrix spinup

  4. Build and submit the case.

The available options, a description of those options, and details on default values can be shown by running run_tower --help.

A tutorial on running and evaluating data from run_tower is also available.

Warning

Note that the run_tower base case must be of same run type as a requested clone, as described by this issue ticket.

1.6.2.2. NEON Tower Single Point Simulations

With this tool, CLM uses gap-filled meteorology from NEON tower sites, the dominant plant species is mapped to the appropriate model plant functional type (PFT), and soil characteristics used in the simulations are updated to match observations from NEON’s soil megapits. Gap-filled NEON tower flux data are also available for model evaluation. Additionally, all the commands to run the model are combined into a script that you can easily call from a single line of code.

Currently supported NEON sites can be found by running run_tower --help.

Note

If you choose to run all, single point simulations at all NEON sites will be run. This is a useful feature, but we recommend testing out running just one site first.

Information on the specific sites can be found on the NEON webpage.

Note

For NEON tower site simulations, the default run type is transient.

To run CTSM at a NEON site, change directories to where the run_tower tool is located, and then run the run_tower command. You can also add any additional arguments as described by the help options. These steps will look something like this:

cd CTSM/tools/site_and_regional
run_tower --neon-sites ABBY

When a simulation completes, the data are stored in the archive directory under CTSM/tools/site_and_regional/archive. In this directory you will find files that include data for every day of the simulation, as well as files that average model variables monthly. The output file names are automatically generated and are composed of the simulation name, which includes the site name, type of simulation (eg, transient), and the date of simulated data. The tower simulations generate two types of files:

  1. h0 Variables that are averaged monthly. One file is available for every month of the simulation. These files include hundreds of variables.

  2. h1 Variables that are recorded every 30 minutes. Values are aggregated into one file for each day of the simulation. Each file includes 48 data points for selected variables.

1.6.2.3. PLUMBER Tower Single Point Simulations

Note

A few important notes regarding the PLUMBER tower site simulations are that the default run type is ad; additionally, PLUMBER cases all start in different years.

Currently supported PLUMBER Sites can be found by running run_tower --help.

Information on the specific sites can be found here.

To run CTSM at a PLUMBER site, change directories to where the run_tower tool is located, and then run the run_tower command. You can also add any additional arguments as described by the help options. These steps will look something like this:

cd CTSM/tools/site_and_regional
run_tower --plumber-sites AR-SLu

The output for a PLUMBER case will be set up similarly to the output for a NEON case, as described above.