Application Set-up

User Reference Guide

New users to ROMS should read the Getting Started guide. For information on the ROMS algorithms and internal workings of the code see the Technical Reference.

Most users configuring a typical application of the forward simulation model will need to edit only the few files described below. For so-called realistic applications of particular coastal regions or open ocean basins, most of the work in configuring the model is actually in the creation of the various input netcdf files.

makefile

The makefile is altered only occasionally when the user wishes to change from serial to parallel execution, or change the default compiler option.

The most common change to the default (compile for serial execution) is to activate parallel execution by entering either:

     MPI := on

or

     OPENMP := on

See Compiling and Linking for detailed help.

cppdefs.h

Code options that must be set prior to compilation are set in cppdefs.h. These include algorithm choices (e.g. advection and turbulence closure schemes), boundary conditions, output options (averages, diagnostics, stations, floats), and application modules (biology, sediments).

See C_Preprocessor for an overview on how the C-Preprocessor interprets the syntax of cppdefs.h file. A complete list of options is provided at Options.

Input Parameter Files

ROMS reads several input parameter files at run time. File ocean.in controls the fundamental behavior of the forward model run, and directs ROMS to other input files such as stations.in, floats.in etc that may or may not be required depending on the options that are active.

ocean.in

The ocean.in file is used to set many parameter values that can be altered without recompiling. In serial execution, ocean.in is read from the UNIX standard input. In parallel execution using MPI, the ocean.in file is processed in parallel by all threads so the usage syntax is different. See for guidance.

Other input files read when certain application options are activated are:

Input Netcdf Files

Grid and bathymetry, and vertical s-coordinate stretching

Initial conditions

Initial conditions, restart, and using output files (history and averages) for input

Forcing files

Surface fluxes, atmospheric boundary layers, tides

Open boundary condition data

boundary file formats and conventions, tides