Populating the configuration file

The configuration file follows the INI format to allow for simplicity. When running the RHEAS executable, the configuration file is the only position argument while the database name needs to be provided with the -d switch.

Running RHEAS with the help switch

./rheas -h

produces the proper usage command

usage: rheas.py [-h] [-d DB] [-u] config

Runs RHEAS simulation.

positional arguments:
config      configuration file

optional arguments:
-h, --help  show this help message and exit
-d DB       name of database to connect
-u          update database

There are four possible sections for the configuration file:

  • nowcast: nowcast simulation options
  • forecast: forecast simulation options
  • vic: VIC model options
  • dssat: DSSAT model options

Each section needs to be given inside braces, e.g. [nowcast].

Nowcast options

The available options for a nowcast simulation include:

  • model: the model(s) to be used for this simulation. Valid options include vic and dssat; if both models are requested they need to be separated by a comma (required)
  • startdate: the start date of the simulation in the “year-month-day” format (required)
  • enddate: the start date of the simulation in the “year-month-day” format (required)
  • name: name of the simulation (required)
  • basin: path to a shapefile of the model domain. If not provided, the name option should correspond to a previously performed simulation
  • resolution: spatial resolution of the simulation (required)

Forecast options

The available options for a forecast simulation include:

  • model: the model(s) to be used for this simulation. Valid options include vic and dssat; if both models are requested they need to be separated by a comma (required)
  • startdate: the start date of the simulation in the “year-month-day” format (required)
  • enddate: the start date of the simulation in the “year-month-day” format (required)
  • name: name of the simulation (required)
  • basin: path to a shapefile of the model domain. If not provided, the name option should correspond to a previously performed simulation
  • resolution: spatial resolution of the simulation (required)
  • ensemble size: the size of the forecast ensemble (required)
  • method: method to use to generate the meteorological forcings for VIC (required). The options that have been implemented include:
    • esp: use the Ensemble Streamflow Prediction approach that randomly resamples the climatology
    • iri: resample climatology based on the probabilities in the IRI meteorological forecasts

VIC options

The options for the VIC model include:

  • precip: dataset to use for precipitation forcing (required)
  • temperature: dataset to use for maximum and minimum temperature forcing (required)
  • wind: dataset to use for wind speed forcing (required)
  • lai: dataset to use for leaf area index forcing
  • save state: directory where VIC model state file is saved in
  • save to: option for saving output variables. Can be one of
    • db: save output to database
    • path to copy raw VIC output files to
  • initialize: whether to initialize the model from a previously saved state file (can be given as on/off, true/false or yes/no)
  • save: a comma-separated list of variables to be saved from VIC. The variable names can be:
    • net_long: net downward longwave flux [W/m2]
    • net_short: net downward shortwave flux [W/m2
    • snow_cover: fractional area of snow cover [fraction]
    • salbedo: snow pack albedo [fraction]
    • snow_depth: depth of snow pack [cm]
    • tdepth: depth of thawing fronts [cm] for each thawing front
    • fdepth: depth of freezing fronts [cm] for each freezing front
    • rootmoist: root zone soil moisture [mm]
    • smfrozfrac: fraction of soil moisture (by mass) that is ice, for each soil layer
    • smliqfrac: fraction of soil moisture (by mass) that is liquid, for each soil layer
    • snow_canopy: snow interception storage in canopy [mm]
    • soil_moist: soil total moisture content [mm] for each soil layer
    • soil_wet: vertical average of (soil moisture - wilting point)/(maximum soil moisture - wilting point) [mm/mm]
    • surfstor: storage of liquid water and ice (not snow) on surface (ponding) [mm]
    • swe: snow water equivalent in snow pack (including vegetation-intercepted snow) [mm]
    • wdew: total moisture interception storage in canopy [mm]
    • baseflow: baseflow out of the bottom layer [mm]
    • evap: total net evaporation [mm]
    • evap_bare: net evaporation from bare soil [mm]
    • evap_canop: net evaporation from canopy interception [mm]
    • prec: incoming precipitation [mm]
    • rainf: rainfall [mm]
    • refreeze: refreezing of water in the snow [mm]
    • runoff: surface runoff [mm]
    • snow_melt: snow melt [mm]
    • snowf: snowfall [mm]
    • transp_veg: net transpiration from vegetation [mm]
    • albedo: average surface albedo [fraction]
    • baresoilt: bare soil surface temperature [C]
    • snow_surf_temp: snow surface temperature [C]
    • soil_temp: soil temperature [C] for each soil layer
    • surf_temp: average surface temperature [C]
    • vegt: average vegetation canopy temperature [C]
    • advection: advected energy [W/m2]
    • grnd_flux: net heat flux into ground [W/m2]
    • latent: net upward latent heat flux [W/m2]
    • melt_energy: energy of fusion (melting) in snowpack [W/m2]
    • rfrz_energy: net energy used to refreeze liquid water in snowpack [W/m2]
    • sensible: net upward sensible heat flux [W/m2]
    • aero_cond: “scene” aerodynamic conductance [m/s]
    • air_temp: air temperature [C]
    • longwave: incoming longwave [W/m2]
    • shortwave: incoming shortwave [W/m2]
  • observations: a comma-separated list of the observations to be assimilated into VIC. Any of the datasets with AS mode outlined in the database table can be used with their table name (without the schema, e.g. grace)
  • update: the date or frequency when assimilation should be performed. Valid options for the assimilation frequency are: daily, weekly, and monthly. If this option is not set, assimilation is performed whenever the observation is available during the simulation period. When performing a forecast simulation, this option is not taken into account and assimilation is performed at the forecast initialization date

DSSAT options

The options for the DSSAT model include:

  • shapefile: a shapefile contains the areas (e.g. administrative boundaries) for which DSSAT will be run (required)
  • ensemble size: the size of the ensemble to be used (optional)
  • assimilate: flag indicating whether to assimilate soil moisture (sm), LAI (lai) observations or both (optional)