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OpenIFS

ECMWF's portable numerical weather prediction model for research use.

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OpenIFS is the portable, research-oriented version of ECMWF's Integrated Forecasting System (IFS). It is used for numerical weather prediction and atmospheric modeling in high-performance computing environments.

Licensed Software

OpenIFS is licensed software. Only users who are members of the open_ifs_group are permitted to run OpenIFS on RCC systems.

To request access to OpenIFS, please contact RCC support.

OpenIFS on RCC#

OpenIFS is installed centrally on RCC systems at:

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/gpfs/research/software/OpenIFS

You will find the following directories in this location:

  • experiments/: Example experimental datasets for running OpenIFS
  • openifs-48r1/: OpenIFS source code for building and testing
  • openifs-home/: Sample OpenIFS build and test environment containing the executable
  • openifs-jube-suites/: Example JUBE workflow scripts for tutorial experiments
  • oifs_data/: Required prerequisite data for OpenIFS
    Additional usage information is available in:
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/gpfs/research/software/OpenIFS/README.txt

Running OpenIFS on RCC#

Executable Location#

The primary OpenIFS run script is located at:

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/gpfs/research/software/OpenIFS/openifs-48r1/scripts/exp_3d/oifs-run

Users are responsible for configuring: - Appropriate OpenIFS input files - A Slurm job submission script compatible with RCC resources

Example Slurm Submission Script#

An example Slurm job script is provided at:

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/gpfs/research/software/OpenIFS/openifs-48r1/scripts/exp_3d/run.ecmwf-hpc2020.job

This script can be used as a starting point and adapted to RCC partitions, node counts, and walltime requirements.

Workflow Management with JUBE (Optional)#

The directory openifs-jube-suites contains example JUBE scripts for running tutorial OpenIFS experiments. This is recommended for users running repeated or structured OpenIFS experiments.

Preparing Custom Experiments#

To prepare your own experiments, users should use the OpenIFS Data Hub:

  • Data Hub: https://openifs.ecmwf.int/data-hub/
  • Documentation: https://confluence.ecmwf.int/display/OIFS/OpenIFS+Data+Hub

The Data Hub allows users to generate experiment tarballs that match the OpenIFS version, grid type, spectral resolution, and vertical levels required for their run.