MPAS static files

[gerard....@noaa.gov]

Hi MPAS help,

Couple of questions about MPAS static files:

1) Once I generate a static file for a given horizontal mesh, can I use that file (i.e. read it in instead of regenerating it) for another run with the same horizontal mesh but a different number of vertical levels?  In other words, does the static file depend on the number of levels?

2) Should MPAS be able to read in a static file (or any netcdf file really) that was written with io_type="netcdf4" if I've reset the io_type for reading to "pnetcdf,cdf5"?  More generally, can I write a netcdf file with one io_type and then read it back in with another?

Thanks,

Gerard

[MPAS-Atmosphere Help]

Hi, Gerard.

1. You can certainly re-use a static file to generate initial conditions that use a different number of vertical layers. There is nothing in the static file that depends on the vertical structure that will be used in the model, and in fact, the vertical levels depend on the terrain field ('ter') that comes from the static file.

2. I don't think it will work in general to write a stream with one io_type and to later read it with another io_type. In some special cases, the underlying libraries (netCDF-4, Parallel-netCDF) will automatically switch to the proper format if the wrong one is selected, but it would definitely be best practice to explicitly set io_type for an input stream to match the io_type that was specified when that stream was created.

Hopefully this helps!

Best regards,

Michael