WRF Portal (A GUI Front End For WRF)

WRF Domain Wizard(A GUI Front End For WPS)

Presented by Jeff Smith January 18, 2007

WRF Portal A GUI Front End For WRF

Jeff Smith and Mark Govett

What is WRF Portal? -1 A GUI front end to WRF

Simplifies configuring and running WRF Monitors existing runs, giving users valuable feedback

on how their run(s) are progressing Stores information in a mySQL database, making it

easy for users to search through previous runs, compare runs, etc.

Includes an imbedded version of WRF Domain Wizard (more on that later)

Includes visualization capabilities (meteorological charts and graphs—uses customized IDV library)

Platform independent (e.g., Linux, Unix, Windows)

What is WRF Portal? -2 Also A Framework

The WRF Portal code and database was designed to be a generic framework that can support other models in the future with minimal code refactoring

Currently an alpha release tested at ESRL and at DTC (Developmental Testbed Center)

ETA Model Output Files

(Eta212, Eta218)

Realexe

WRFexe

Post Process(several programs)

Visualization(GemPak or

NCAR graphicsOr RIP)

Grib files

Verification(statistics and

graphs)

Postprocessing

WRF 2.1 Work Flow Diagram

Hinterp

WRFSI GUI Domain

Tool (runsgridgen.exe)

Grib files, MOAD

Data Root Dir

Vinterp

SI (Standard Initialization)

ETA218ETALSM

GFSAVN

RUCHRNNRP

NNRPSFCSST

NetCDF or binary (one set of WRF_BDY

WRF_INPUTfiles per nest)

BucketNetCDF or binary

GribprepMultiple runs(for multiple

data sources)

Preprocessing

ETA Model Output Files

(Eta212, Eta218)

Realexe

WRFexe

Post Process(several programs)

Visualization(GemPak or

NCAR graphicsOr RIP)

Grib files

Verification(statistics and

graphs)

Postprocessing

WRF 2.1 Work Flow Diagram

Hinterp

WRFSI GUI Domain

Tool (runsgridgen.exe)

Grib files, MOAD

Data Root Dir

Vinterp

SI (Standard Initialization)

ETA218ETALSM

GFSAVN

RUCHRNNRP

NNRPSFCSST

NetCDF or binary (one set of WRF_BDY

WRF_INPUTfiles per nest)

NetCDF or binary

Data LocatorCustom IDV

Version

GribprepMultiple runs(for multiple

data sources)

Preprocessing

Note: Yellow boxes are currently simplified/automated by WRF Portal Mixed color boxes will be partially simplified/automated by WRF Portal in the future.

WRF Portal Technical Information

Software is written in Java JRE 1.4x (or later) Uses Swing (JFC), JDBC, SSH-2 and SFTP Can be run directly from a web page (or from a

command line 130 Java files, 33,000 lines of code

mySQL 5 database supports flexible querying of namelists, user

preferences, configuration info, runs, etc. Referential integrity support

Architecture And Flow

mySQL

Java Virtual Machineon user’s computer (linux, windows, unix, etc.)

WRF Portal UI(Swing Application)

SQLExecutor - JDBC Framework

TCP/IP on port 3306 (default port)

Database Server

WRF Portal Data Layer(Plain Old Java Objects- POJO)

Firewall(either opens port 3306, or SSH forwarding)

Linux or Unix computer running WRF(supercomputer or workstation)

SSH2 connection WRF config files like namelists,workflow.xml, workflow.logReads config files, scripts,

creates dir, workflow.xml

Optional Ruby Workflow Mgr

workflow.log file

Job 1

Job 2

Job 3

Batch scheduler

Stores all namelists, model configurations, runs, etc.

JSchSSH

libraryRuby Workflow Manager

Reads workflow.xml to determinewhich jobs to run

WRF Domain WizardJava workflow Manager

Visualization Tool Polls workflow.logfor progress info

Optional-Javaworkflow manager

Interested PartiesPotential Beta Testers

Interested Parties Center for Coastal Physical Oceanography in Norfolk Centre for Dev. Of Advanced Computing in India Weather Decision Technologies, in Norman OK National Weather Service in Jacksonville, FL NCAR/DTC NOAA and ESRL

Website: http://www.wrfportal.org

WRF Portal Screen Shot – Model Config

WRF Portal Screen Shot – Run Config

WRF Portal Screen Shot – Monitor Runs

WRF Portal Security mySQL database

WRF Portal user logs in with username/password which grants him the limited database access

does not store any sensitive information such as usernames or passwords to other computers

database traffic sent via TCP/IP to port 3306 (or other port), password is encrypted

Security can be further enhanced by using SSH Port forwarding to encrypt data coming and going

WRF Portal uses SSH2 to connect to remote computer for reading/writing files run and monitor jobs

WRF Portal Future Work – Maybe

Grid enabled version Single sign-on

Create a web based monitoring piece Using Java web services

Ensembles Port WRF Portal to other models

WRF Domain WizardGUI Front End For WPS

Jeff Smith and Paula McCaslin

What is WPS? WRF Preprocessing System (WPS) Developed at NCAR Just released with WRF V2.2 and replaces the previous

WRF SI (standard initialization) WPS is Three Programs

geogrid.exe – localizes the domain defined in namelist.wps and creates a NetCDF output file. It extracts global geographical data (e.g. soil moisture, vegetation, albedo, etc.) and maps it to the domain projection.

ungrib.exe -- decodes and extracts atmospheric parameters from GRIB files in order to initialize WRF

metgrid.exe -- combines the meteorological data from ungrib with the NetCDF output from geogrid in order to produce a series of NetCDF files that are used to initialize WRF.

What is WRF Domain Wizard? Successor to the WRFSI GUI and is the graphical

user interface for WPS. Note: the older WRFSI GUI is not compatible with WPS

Using this GUI, users define the region (and projection) of their domain on map define any nests run the WPS programs

Can run as a standalone application (requiring no database connection) or from within WRF Portal

Writes the domain information to namelist.wps, a standard file defined by NCAR

Domain Wizard Technical Info

Software is written in Java JRE 1.4x (or later) Uses Swing (JFC) for GUI SSH-2 and SFTP to connect to remote computer (if

user is not running WPS locally) Can be deployed either from a web page as a Java

Web Start application or run from the command line

Architecture And Flow

Disk files

Java Virtual Machineuser’s computer (linux, windows, etc.)

WRF Domain Wizard(Swing Application)

SSH2 connection namelist.wps, WPS data

SSH I/O layerLocal I/O layer

geogrid

ungrib

metgrid

WPS Programs

Local or Remote Computer Has WPS Installed On It

WRF Domain Wizard Web Page

Java Web Start Link

Download App Link(user downloads and runs GUI from command line)

http connection

http://www.wrfportal.org/DomainWizard.html

Animated Tutorials On The Website -1

Animated Tutorials On The Website -2

Animated Tutorials On The Website -3

WRF Domain Wizard Future Work – Maybe

Visualize the WPS output files So users could inspect them before initializing WRF

with them

More user interface enhancements Port WRF Domain Wizard to other models

Thank You!

Any Questions?