Chapter 7. Trouble Shooting Problems

Table of Contents
Trouble with Setup
Trouble with Building
Trouble with Running

In this chapter we give some guidance on what to do when you encounter some of the most common problems. We can't cover all the problems that a user could potentially have, but we will try to help you recognize some of the most common situations. And we'll give you some suggestions on how to approach the problem to come up with a solution.

In general you will run into one of three type of problems:

  1. setup-time

  2. build-time

  3. run-time

You may also run into problems with create_newcase itself, or with the archiving scripts -- for those problems you should consult the CESM1.2.0 Scripts User's Guide.

Trouble with Setup

The first type of problem happens when you invoke the cesm_setup command. This indicates there is something wrong with your input datasets, or the details of what you are trying to setup the model to do. There's also a trouble-shooting chapter in the CESM1.2.0 Scripts User's Guide. Many of the problems with configuration can be resolved with the guidelines given there. Here we will restrict ourselves to problems from the input files.

Example 7-1. Example of cesm_setup problem with missing datasets


> ./create_newcase -case ne60rcp6 -res ne60_g16 -compset IRCP60CN \
-mach yellowstone_intel
> ./cesm_setup

The following is what is displayed to the screen.


.
.
.
Running preview_namelist script 
CLM configure done.
CLM adding use_case 1850-2100_rcp6_transient defaults for var clm_demand with val fpftdyn 
CLM adding use_case 1850-2100_rcp6_transient defaults for var clm_start_type with val startup 
CLM adding use_case 1850-2100_rcp6_transient defaults for var model_year_align_ndep with val 1850 
CLM adding use_case 1850-2100_rcp6_transient defaults for var rcp with val 6 
CLM adding use_case 1850-2100_rcp6_transient defaults for var sim_year with val 1850 
CLM adding use_case 1850-2100_rcp6_transient defaults for var sim_year_range with val 1850-2100 
CLM adding use_case 1850-2100_rcp6_transient defaults for var stream_year_first_ndep with val 1850 
CLM adding use_case 1850-2100_rcp6_transient defaults for var stream_year_last_ndep with val 2100 
CLM adding use_case 1850-2100_rcp6_transient defaults for var use_case_desc with val Simulate transient land-use, aerosol and Nitrogen deposition changes
with historical data from 1850 to 2005 and then with the RCP6 scenario from AIM
 
build-namelist - No default value found for fpftdyn.
            Are defaults provided for this resolution and land mask?
ERROR: clm.buildnml.csh failed
ERROR: /Users/erik/clm_cesm1_1_1_rel/scripts/ne60rcp6/preview_namelists failed: 25344
The important thing to note here is the line:

ERROR: clm.buildnml.csh failed
which tells us that the problem is in the land clm.buildnml.csh. It may also indicate problems in one of the other buildnml.csh files (atm, cesm, cpl, glc, ice, or ocn), in which case you should consult the appropriate model user's guide.

In the example, the error is that the CLM XML database does NOT have a finidat for the given resolution, rcp scenario and ocean mask. That means you will need to create the file and then supply the file into your case. See Chapter 2 for more information on creating files, and see Chapter 3 for more information on adding files to the XML database. Alternatively, you can provide the file to your case by creating a user namelist as shown in the Section called User Namelist in Chapter 1.

Note: The two most common problems from your clm.buildnml.csh will be errors from the CLM configure or build-namelist. For more information on these scripts see: the Section called More information on the CLM configure script in Chapter 1 and the section on CLM_BLDNML_OPTS.