WRFDA on Yellowstone

Yellowstone is NCAR's high-performance supercomputer, used for research by NCAR, UCAR, and university users. The latest version of WRFDA (version 3.8) can be compiled and run using Yellowstone's default module (Intel 12.1.5), but some users may want to use different compilers. Here is a list of tested compilers, as well as some configurations which are known not to work:

For version 3.8:

Compiler	Version	Status
Intel (ifort)	12.1.5 15.0.3	All tests pass!
GNU (gfortran)	4.8.2 5.3.0	All tests pass!
PGI (pgf90)	13.3	Use caution Some 4DVAR tests fail Some tests do not produce bit-for-bit identical results on subsequent runs
	14.7, 14.9, 14.10 15.1, 15.7, 15.10 16.1	4DVAR compilation fails No fix available at this time
Pathscale (pathf90)	all	Compilation fails PathScale can not be used with WRF or WRFDA.

For version 3.7.1:

Compiler	Version	Status
Intel (ifort)	12.1.5 13.0.1 15.0.1, 15.0.3	All tests pass!
	15.0.0	Compilation fails No fix available at this time
GNU (gfortran)	4.8.2, 4.9.2 5.3.0	All tests pass!
PGI (pgf90)	13.3	4DVAR compilation fails No fix available at this time
Pathscale (pathf90)	all	Compilation fails PathScale can not be used with WRF or WRFDA.

For version 3.7:

Compiler	Version	Status
Intel (ifort)	12.1.5 15.0.1, 15.0.3	All tests pass!
GNU (gfortran)	4.8.2	All tests pass!
	4.6.4	WRFPLUS/4DVAR compilation fails Internal compiler error; no fix available
	5.0.1	Yellowstone module problem
PGI (pgf90)	13.3	All tests pass, but use caution Some tests do not produce bit-for-bit identical results on subsequent identical runs.
Pathscale (pathf90)	all	Compilation fails PathScale can not be used with WRF or WRFDA.

For version 3.6.1:

Compiler	Version	Status
Intel (ifort)	12.1.5 15.0.1	All tests pass!
	13.0.1 13.1.2	Some 4DVAR tests fail; use caution
	14.0.2	WRFPLUS/4DVAR compilation fails Internal compiler error; no fix available
	15.0.0	Compilation fails No fix available at this time
GNU (gfortran)	4.6.4 4.7.1 – 4.7.4 4.8.0 – 4.8.2 4.9.1 – 4.9.2	All tests pass!
	4.4.6	WRFPLUS/4DVAR compilation fails No fix available at this time
	4.4.7 4.8.3 – 4.8.4 4.9.0	Compilation fails Yellowstone module issue
PGI (pgf90)	12.10	All tests pass!
	12.5 13.3, 13.9	All tests pass, but use caution Some tests do not produce bit-for-bit identical results on subsequent identical runs.
	14.7, 14.9, 14.10 15.1	4DVAR compilation fails No fix available at this time
Pathscale (pathf90)	all	Compilation fails PathScale can not be used with WRF or WRFDA.

For version 3.6:

Compiler	Version	Status
Intel (ifort)	12.1.5	All tests pass!
GNU (gfortran)	4.7.2 4.8.2	All tests pass!
PGI (pgf90)	13.3	Compilation fails See the known problems page for a fix that allows WRFDA to compile with PGI 13.3.
	13.9	Compilation fails No fix at this time; please use version 13.3 if you must use PGI.
Pathscale (pathf90)	all	Compilation fails PathScale can not be used with WRF or WRFDA.

Older versions

In November 2012, NCAR officially brought the new supercomputer "Yellowstone" online, replacing the old Bluefire machine. Due to the architecture differences between Yellowstone (a Linux architecture with Intel, PGI, GNU, and Pathscale compilers) and Bluefire (an AIX architecture with xl compilers), there are some older versions of WRFDA that do not work as anticipated on Yellowstone. This page details the various older WRFDA versions that are known to work on Yellowstone, and the compilers with which they can be used, in addition to providing fixes for some known problems.

Not all configurations have been tested, so if you encounter a problem running a version of WRFDA which is not listed here as a known problem, please contact wrfhelp.

Working configurations

The following configurations have been tested and should run normally. All are dmpar (distributed-memory parallel) builds unless otherwise noted:

Intel (ifort, icc)
WRFDA V3.5  and V3.5.1	Compiles Runs basic test case Runs CRTM radiance test case
WRFDA V3.4.1	Compiles using configuration option 15 Runs basic test case
WRFDA V3.4	Compiles using configuration option 15 Runs basic test case
WRFDA V3.3.1	Compiles using configuration option 11 Runs basic test case
WRFDA V3.2.1	Compiles using configuration option 11 Runs basic test case
WRFDA V3.2	Compiles using configuration option 11 Runs basic test case
GNU (gfortran, gcc)
WRFDA V3.5.1	Compiles Runs basic test case Runs CRTM radiance test case
WRFDA V3.5	Compiles Runs basic test case Runs CRTM radiance test case (see "Known problems with solutions" below)

Known problems with solutions

Some problems with recent versions of WRFDA can not be fixed without some effort by the user. These problems and their solutions are offered below:

GNU (gfortran, gcc)
WRFDA V3.3.1–3.5	Problem: When reading BUFR/PREPBUFR files, WRFDA fails or hangs.
	Solution: Follow the instructions on this page.
WRFDA V3.3.1–3.4.1	Problem: Compilation fails with error "Graphite loop optimizations cannot be used"
	Solution: After running the configuration script (./configure wrfda) edit the "configure.wrf " file to remove the text "-ftree-loop-linear" line 115 (where the variable "FCOPTIM" is defined). Then compile WRFDA.
Intel (ifort, icc)
WRFDA V3.2–3.5	Problem: When reading BUFR/PREPBUFR files, WRFDA fails or hangs.
	Solution: Follow the instructions on this page.

Versions with major problems

Intel (ifort, icc)
WRFDA V3.3	Problem: "Configure" script reports a compiler error and may remove files from the top directory.
	Solution: If the top directory, including the configuration scripts, has been blanked, you will need to unpack the code again from your original "WRFDAV3.3.TAR.gz" file. If you do not have this file you must re-download the WRFDA package. Once this step is completed, download the configure_fix.tar file, and unpack it in the top WRFDA directory. This fix contains new "configure" script and a new "arch/configure_new.defaults" file. You should now be able to configure and compile WRFDA normally.

Non-working configurations

The following configurations have known problems which are being investigated:

Intel (ifort, icc)
WRFDA V3.3.1	Configuration problem: likely netCDF-related. May still run successfully.
GNU (gfortran, gcc)
WRFDA V3.3	Compilation failure: fails even in debug mode
PGI (pgf90, pgcc)
WRFDA V3.4–current	Compilation fails when compiled with CRTM/BUFR libraries. This is a known bug in PGI version 12.5; we are currently seeking a solution. Compilation is successful when using PGI 12.10, but WRFDA segfaults.
WRFDA V3.3.1	Configuration problem: likely netCDF-related
PathScale (pathf90, pathcc)
WRFDA (All versions)	Compilation error: PathScale is terrible. Will not support in the near future.

We do not plan on supporting versions earlier than 3.2, but if you have a specific question you can contact wrfhelp.

Help

If you need to run one of the version listed here as not working, or if you encounter a problem not listed here running WRFDA on Yellowstone, please contact wrfhelp.