PALM Input Data Standard

PALM provides a standardized way via the NetCDF data format to input e.g. global attributes, topography data or surface properties, vegetation properties, etc., as well as initialization data and boundary conditions for the prognostic variables.

Input variables are distinguished between static, dynamic, radiation, chemistry, aerosol and virtual measurements input variables, while for each a separate input file exists. The static input file, indicated by the filename suffix _STATIC, contains all static information, such as topography, geographical latitude and longitude, surface and vegetation information. The dynamic input file, indicated by the filename suffix _DYNAMIC, contains dynamic information on the initial state of the atmosphere or time-dependent boundary conditions. The radiation input file, indicated by suffix _RAD, contains static and dynamic information on radiation properties such as trace gas profiles or sky-view factors. The chemistry input file, indicated by suffix _CHEM, contains static and dynamic information on chemical species and emissions. The aerosol input file, indicated by suffix _SALSA (from the aerosol module name "SALSA"),contains aerosol emission information.

How to create drivers

You can use this python script​ as a starting point for creating your own static driver. To create a dynamic driver, PALM provides the pre-processing tool INIFOR, which extracts 1D/3D initialization data for the soil and atmosphere as well as boundary data for the PALM domain from DWD-COSMO output. After reading the input files, PALM performs consistency checks on the provided data.

Details of input files

All applied input variables are listed and explained in the following pages and additional remarks on restrictions and initialization are given. Please note, this documentation does not comprise all possible global attributes and variables, only those which are required by PALM. More detailed information on variable attributes can be found in the PALM input data standard​.

Follow the links below to go to the respective description:

• static driver
  
• dynamic driver
  
• radiation driver
  
• chemistry driver
  
• aerosol driver
  
• virtual measurements file