Table of Contents - The Atmospheric Studies Group at TRC

Section 7: Prognostic Meteorological Interfaces
CALMM5 must be run on the platform where MM5 was initially run or a system with compatible binary
format. This constraint arises from the fact that MM5 output is binary and therefore machine-dependent.
Compilation options (Fortran) for CALMM5 are also machine-dependent (e.g., on a Cray: cf77 calmm5.f
; on a Dec Alpha: f77 -convert big_endian calmm5.f ). But the CALMM5 output files is itself machineindependent
(currently only in ASCII format).
Detailed information about MM5 settings is included in the list file (CALMM5.LST). Information
needed for consistency in CALMET is included in the 3D.DAT header records as well. In particular, the
type of map projection used in MM5 is listed. Note that CALMET does not handle polar stereographic
projection and, in that case, CALMM5 simply converts (U, V) to wind speed and wind direction without
further processing of the wind direction. For Lambert conformal projection however, CALMM5 converts
the MM5 (U, V) to wind speed and wind direction with respect to true North.
CALMM5 preprocessor requires a set of common block and parameter files for compiling. It needs one
user-input file to run (CALMM5.INP, hard-wired filename), and produces two or three output files
(CALMM5.LST and 3D.DAT, and 2D.DAT if users select). Output filenames are determined by users.
CALMM5 Input Files
MM5 binary output file
Standard MM5 binary output file of the type: MMOUT_DOMAIN#.
CALMM5.INP
In CALMM5.INP, the user can specify the input and output file names, the period and the boundaries of
the subdomain to extract, the output format (3D.DAT), and which of the optional variables are output.
There are six sets of variables a user can request, in addition to the default output variables (pressure,
elevation, temperature, wind speed and wind direction):
1. Vertical velocity
2. Relative humidity and vapor mixing ratio
3. Cloud and rain mixing ratios (only combined with option 2)
4. Ice and snow mixing ratios (only combined with options 2+3)
5. Graupel mixing ratio (only combined with options 2+3+4)
6. Surface 2-D variables
If the user requests output variables unavailable in MM5, CALMM5 issues a warning in the list file
(CALMM5.LST or user-defined filename) and stops. For example, vertical velocity is only available in
non-hydrostatic MM5 runs.
7-10