Please read through this file before running the HWRF v4.0a install script

This README contains important information that users should be aware of. The script you're about to download will install all the libraries, programs, and static geography data files needed to run the Hurricane Weather Research Forecast Model version 4.0a (HWRF-4.0a). This script assumes a clean home directory with no other HWRF configuration files in the directory.

Obtaining the HWRF install script

Git must be installed on your machine in order to obtain the script.

Make sure you begin in your home directory:

cd home

git clone https://github.com/HathewayWill/HWRFV4.0aINSTALL_SCRIPT.git

cd HWRFV4.0aINSTALL_SCRIPT

chmod 775 ./HWRFV4.0aInstall_Script.sh

./HWRFV4.0aInstall_Script.sh

Please make sure to read the entire HWRFV4.0aInstall_Script.sh script before installing

• We have provided comments in the script about what the script is doing and the files being worked on.

• This is a "one-click" installation script; no user input is needed unless an error occurs, in which case a prompt may ask the user to press the Enter key to end the script execution at that point.

• Should an error occur, users should contact the script authors with as much detailed information as possible about where the error occurred, what messages were generated, and especially by providing log files generated by the script for the library that encountered the error.

HWRF installation requirements

• Must be installed with parallel processing capability and configured for distributed memory (dmpar).
• Must be installed with Intel compilers; it will not work with other compilers.
• See the HWRF User Guide chapter 2 for more details.
• This script utilizes apt package manager. If your distro of Linux does not include apt please download first!

Script testing info

• ### *** Tested on 64-bit Ubuntu 20.04.4 LTS & Ubuntu 22.04 ***
• Tested on both a bare metal computer and a VirtualBox virtual machine, and installed HWRF successfully on both.
• Tested with available libraries as of 08/01/2022, exceptions have been noted in the script.
• This script is not compatibile with 32-bit machines due to intel compiler issues, so it must only be run on 64-bit UNIX/Linux Debian-type systems/

About the various versions of the software

• As far as we know, the versions of the libraries installed by this script all passed the installation procedures successfully. We did not test the normal use or performance of the HWRF model itself, so users are advised to run their own tests to verify that the HWRF model runs as intended.

• We tested several other combinations of library versions, and this combination was the only one that worked for us; be careful and cautious if attempting to replace a library with a different version, as this is likely to generate errors during the configure/install procedures. If a newer version of the libraries required for HWRF is released the authors will investigate the new libararies and release a new script as needed.

• We make no guarantees - explicit or implied - that any other versions of the involved libraries than the ones downloaded by this script will install successfully, or that they will work together properly.

All HWRF-related libraries and geographic data files together will likely take up ~250GB of disk space

• Users with limited disk space are encouraged to comment out (#) as many of the "wget" and "tar" statements in the static geographic data section of the script as needed to reduce the amount of disk space used. Note that the first two files downloaded in that section are mandatory in all cases, while the next subsection downloads files that are considered mandatory for "specific applications". These and the optional files below that are better candidates for commenting out, depending on the user's specific needs.

• Additional space beyond the 250GB may also be required for normal use of the HWRF model.

Critical Update on reduced HWRF v4.0a capabilities from the NOAA/UCAR/URI Developmental Testbed Center

(see https://dtcenter.org/community-code/hurricane-wrf-hwrf/hwrf-system-components-v4-0a#issues)

• The Hurricane WRF v4.0a public release will have reduced capabilities due to format and library changes impacting input datasets. Starting in January 2021, an update was made to the bufrlib version, impacting input data for data assimilation. Additionally, when GFSv16 becomes operational (expected March 2021), output will be in NetCDF format, which is not supported in HWRFv4.0a. Only use of GRIB2 data will be supported. Implications of these changes are that HWRFv4.0a cannot run with data assimilation or vortex initialization. Historical cases may still be run using legacy input data formats.
• While it is possible to convert NETCDF/NETCDF4 files to Grib2. This aspect of the model has not been tested. If you choose to use a NETCDF/NETCDF4 converter to Grib2 it MAY be possbile to use newer case studies.

Estimated Script Run Time: ~45 - 90 Minutes, assuming a 10mbps download speed

- Special thanks to github user mkr39.

Sponsorships and donations accepted but NOT required

Hatheway, W. , Raper, M. (2022). HWRF Install Script (Version 1.0) [Computer software]