Prerequisites

This page is where you should start. You will have problems with following the steps in the documentation if some of these concepts are unfamiliar to you or you haven’t been granted all the needed access.

Technical concepts

CTSM is a big code written in modern Fortran. This requires its users to have high technical competence.

Git

To start working with CTSM you need some basic understanding of the version control system git and the web interface GitHub.

Not familiar with git?

We recommend you to take a look at CodeRefinery’s Git intro, Git collaborative, and GitHub lessons before you start working with CTSM.

The Unix shell

To start working with CTSM you need some basic understanding of how to work with the terminal. You also recommend you to set up ssh-keys for login.

Not familiar with a terminal?

We recommend taking a look at Software Carpentry’s unix shell episode.

Needed accesses

This section is a guide to the setup and use of CTSM on the Norwegian clusters run by Sigma2.

The Sigma2-clusters

To get access to these you need to create an account by filling out this form. You will need a project code that you can ask your project manager( ie. supervisor) for. Once this form is filled out the project manager and sigma2 will need to approve the application. This will take some days, and you’re good to go.

First time on a HPC-cluster?

If this is your first time using a remote HPC-system, or you want to know more about Sigma2’s set up this tutorial is a great place to start.

Input data folders

All the runs of CTSM require certain input data for forcing data, grids, etc. Usually, these files are downloaded automatically from NCAR’s service, but be aware of the size of the files!

To avoid duplication of input files in the order of TB the users and developers of NorESM, CTSM, and other related climate models in Norway share disk space on the clusters. To get access to this folder you need to ask about the permission of the group owner.