The seventh patch release of NU-WRF Version 7 (Arthur Patch 7) was created on 18 April 2016.

WHAT CHANGED:

• Upgrade to LIS 7.1rp5, LDT 7.1rp1, and LVT 7.1rp1.  Key changes include:
  • Updates to MERRA2 and MERRA-Land met forcing readers to work with certain LIS time step lengths. Also updates start and end dates for some MERRA2 streams.
  • Corrections to GDAS T170 domain and terrain data.
  • Updates to NLDAS-2 met forcing reader (improves rainfall and convective rainfall around island/coastal areas when downscaled to higher resolutions.)
  • Fix to pcp met forcing field when also reading snow.
  • Updated user guides.
• Memory corruption fix. Added taucldc and taucldi to Goddard 2011 and CAM radiation package listings in Registry.EM_COMMON.  These arrays are expected by the radiation schemes to be allocated with the WRF "memory" bounds, but WRF was allocating them with shape (1,1,1) instead.  
• NUWRF 3ICE and 4ICE microphysics now output reflectivity as REFL_10CM.
• Removed DBZ array from grid data structure to save space.  Updated sample RIP template sfcDBZUV.in to use REFL_10CM instead.
• COMDBZ now calculated in microphysics driver for every microphysics schemes where REFL_10CM is available.
• Updated Run_MERRA2.csh to use new path for MERRA2 data on Discover.
• Updated proc_merra2_ges_disc.sh to use new filename for MERRA2 terrain file on GES DISC web page.
• Retired old build config files for SLES 11 SP1 nodes on Discover (these no longer exist).  Also removed obsolete DISCOVER_INSTRUCTIONS.TXT.
• Updated NU-WRF User Guide.

WHAT IS MISSING:

• EDA package.  A version of this software based on Arthur Patch 6 was ported to Discover.  I will upgrade to Arthur Patch 7 and rerun (and hopefully release!)
• Fixes to 3ICE and 4ICE latent heating terms.  These aren’t quite ready yet.

KNOWN BUGS:

• Grell-Freitas cumulus scheme (cu_physics=3) sensitive to CPU count. Use G3 (cu_physics=5) instead.
• Run-time problems with Very Large Grids (e.g., 5000x5000x50).
• 1-way nesting changes answer in parent grid for different CPU counts.
• CASA2WRF not using netCDF4 compression in output.
• Intel MPI hangs on Discover for large (> 2000 cpu) jobs; use SGI MPT instead.