Surface output parameters

PALM allows the output of instantaneous data as well as of temporally averaged surface data, i.e. from horizontally and vertically orientated surfaces. These data can be further processed into Paraview readable VTK files, in order to visualize surface properties such as surface temperature or radiation balance, etc.. Output is written into binary files.

Please note, in order to visualize surface data with Paraview, a postprocessing tool is required in order to convert into VTK files. This postprocessing tool will be provided soon.

NAMELIST group name: surface_output_parameters

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Parameter Name	FORTRAN Type	Default Value	Explanation
averaging_interval_surf	R	value of averaging_interval	Averaging interval for surface output data (in s). In any case, averaging_interval_surf <= dt_dosurf_av must hold. If an interval is defined, then by default the average is calculated from the data values of all time steps lying within this interval.
data_output_surf	C * 300 (100)	' '	Quantities for which surface data shall be be output. PALM allows the output of instantaneous data as well as of temporally averaged data which is steered by the string '_av' assigned to this parameter (see data_output for more explanation). For example, data_output_surf = 'shf', 'shf_av', will output instantaneous as well as time-averaged data of surface sensible heat flux at all surface elements. Surface data for all surfaces elements on the processor subdomain is output in a separate NetCDF file. Further, additional information about polygons and vertices defining the surface elements are output. This information enables to create VTK files with a post-processor (not available yet) which can be read by this visualization software PARAVIEW. The following quantities are available for output: Quantity name Meaning Unit Remarks us friction velocity m / s ts scaling parameter for temperature K qs scaling parameter for mixing ratio kg / kg ss scaling parameter for passive scalar - qcs scaling parameter - ncs scaling parameter - qrs scaling parameter - nrs scaling parameter - ol Obukhov length m z0 roughness length for momentum m z0h roughness length for heat m z0q roughness length for moisture m theta1 potential temperature at 1st grid point outside the wall K qv1 mixing ratio at 1st grid point outside the wall kg / kg thetav1 virtual potential temperature at 1st grid point outside the wall K usws surface momentum flux for the u-component m m / ( s s ) vsws surface momentum flux for the v-component m m / ( s s ) shf surface sensible heat flux K m / s qsws surface latent heat flux kg m / ( kg s ) ssws surface passive scalar flux m / s qcsws - - ncsws - - qrsws - - nrsws - - sasws surface salinity flux - q_surface surface moisture kg / kg theta_surface surface temperature K thetav_surface surface virtual temperature K rad_net radiation balance W / m2 rad_lw_in incoming longwave radiation W / m2 rad_lw_out outgoing longwave radiation W / m2 rad_sw_in incoming shortwave radiation W / m2 rad_sw_out outgoing shortwave radiation W / m2 ghf ground heat flux W / m2 r_a aerodynamic resistance 1 / m r_soil soil resistance 1 / m r_canopy canopy resistance 1 / m r_s total resistance 1 / m
dt_dosurf	R	value of dt_data_output	Temporal interval at which instantaneous surface data shall be output (in s). Output can be skipped at the beginning of a simulation using parameter skip_time_dosurf, which has zero value by default.
dt_dosurf_av	R	value of dt_dosurf	Temporal interval at which time averaged surface data shall be output (in s). Output can be skipped at the beginning of a simulation using parameter skip_time_dosurf_av, which has zero value by default.
skip_time_dosurf	R	0.0	No surface data output before this interval has passed (in s). This parameter causes that surface data output activities are starting not before this interval (counting from the beginning of the simulation, t=0) has passed.
skip_time_dosurf_av	R	0.0	No surfave data output of averaged variables before this interval has passed (in s). This parameter causes that averaged surface data output activities are starting not before this interval (counting from the beginning of the simulation, t=0) has passed.