<p>We are trying to couple our land surface model into WRF. As a first step, we'd like to know what is the minimal list of variables required by such coupling?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-04-20T13:17:43.623Z
This depends on your land surface model. Create a list of all the inputs, and find their appropriate variables in WRF. Then create a list of all the outputs, and update the WRF variables that you want. The latter is completely up to you.
milancurcic
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-04-20T13:24:13.790Z
But what's the minimal requirement to make the coupling work? I see existing LSMs in WRF all have different input/output lists. Can I take the slab model, which has the minimal list of input/output variables, as the minimal case?
sunt05
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-04-20T14:41:09.577Z
According to the README.namelist, you can run without any LSM by setting sf_surface_physics to 0, which implies no surface temperature evolution. So the absolute minimum is probably nothing. Slab sounds like a reasonable starting point to me.
milancurcic
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-04-20T14:53:58.930Z
@milancurcic thanks! so the slab model would be a sensible step to move on with.
sunt05
<numerical-modelling><wrf><land-surface><land-surface-models>
WRF: minimal list of variables required by coupling a land surface model to the whole system
sunt05
# WRF: minimal list of variables required by coupling a land surface model to the whole system

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-04-20)

We are trying to couple our land surface model into WRF. As a first step, we'd like to know what is the minimal list of variables required by such coupling?

**Tags:** numerical-modelling, wrf, land-surface, land-surface-models

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: This depends on your land surface model. Create a list of all the inputs, and find their appropriate variables in WRF. Then create a list of all the outputs, and update the WRF variables that you want. The latter is completely up to you.  
> **username_0**: But what's the minimal requirement to make the coupling work? I see existing LSMs in WRF all have different input/output lists. Can I take the slab model, which has the minimal list of input/output variables, as the minimal case?  
> **username_1**: According to the README.namelist, you can run without any LSM by setting sf_surface_physics to 0, which implies no surface temperature evolution. So the absolute minimum is probably nothing. Slab sounds like a reasonable starting point to me.  
> **username_0**: @username_1 thanks! so the slab model would be a sensible step to move on with.  

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## 0 answers

