Output files

CABLE writes its output according to a YAML output configuration file, named in the &cable namelist by filename%output_config. The file describes streams (an output file with a write frequency) and the variables sent to them. Each variable can be averaged, summed or sampled over the write period, and can have its tiles reduced to one value per grid cell. Variables can be listed one by one or selected in bulk by group or module. The whole file is checked when the model starts, and every problem found is reported together.

streams:
  1:
    file_name: cable_output.nc
    frequency: monthly

modules:
  - name: biogeophysics
    stream: 1
    aggregation: mean
    reduction: grid_cell_average

This writes the monthly mean, per grid cell, of every biogeophysical variable the current model configuration can provide, to cable_output.nc.

What is on these pages

Page	Contents
Configuration file reference	Every setting, the rules the file must follow, and how names and attributes are built.
Examples	Worked configurations: several files, mixed frequencies, compression, one file per variable.
Variable catalogue	Every variable that can be written, its metadata, and the model variable it comes from. Generated from the source.

Namelist settings

Three entries of the &cable namelist concern output. See cable.nml.

Setting	Meaning
filename%output_config	The YAML output configuration file. Required: a run without it stops at start-up.
output%restart	Write a restart file at the end of the run, to filename%restart_out. This does not depend on the configuration file.
output%grid	Layout of the output files: 'default' follows the meteorological forcing, 'land' writes compressed land points, 'mask' writes a latitude/longitude grid.

Changes from the earlier output% switches

The output%met, output%flux, ... group switches, the per-variable output%<name> switches, output%averaging and all patchout% switches have been removed. A namelist that still sets them stops at start-up with a message pointing here. To convert one:

Earlier setting	Now
output%met	the met group (also in the forcing module)
output%flux, output%soil, output%snow, output%radiation, output%veg, output%balances	the group of the same name (all in the biogeophysics module)
output%carbon, output%casa	the carbon and casa groups (in the biogeochemistry module)
output%params	the params group (the parameters module)
output%<name>, for example output%GPP	list the variable by name under variables
output%averaging = 'all'	frequency: timestep
output%averaging = 'daily' or 'monthly'	frequency: daily or frequency: monthly
output%averaging = 'user6' and similar	not available. Use frequency: 3hrly, or another listed frequency.
patchout%<name>, output%patch	reduction: none, which keeps the individual tiles
the default behaviour of a variable	Mostly aggregation: mean with reduction: grid_cell_average. Parameters were instant with the first tile of each cell. The catalogue page lists each variable.

A group or module now has one aggregation and one reduction for all its members, where the old switches gave each variable its own default. To keep a particular default, list that variable separately. Because the same variable may not appear twice in a stream with the same settings, give the group-level entry a netcdf_name template if you also list members individually (see the rules in the reference).

output%balances no longer exists. The energy and water balance totals printed at the end of a run now depend on verbose only.