MPAS Version 8.2.0

This release of MPAS introduces several significant changes to MPAS-Atmosphere.

New physics

• The Noah-MP v5.0.1 land-surface model is now available by setting
  config_lsm_scheme = 'sf_noahmp' in the &physics namelist group.

  • New static files that include the soilcomp, soilcl1, soilcl2,
    soilcl3, and soilcl4 fields are required when activating Noah-MP in
    the model.

• The aerosol-aware Thompson microphysics (as in WRF v4.1.4) is available by
  setting config_microp_scheme = 'mp_thompson_aerosols' in the &physics
  namelist group.

  • An aerosol climatology file (QNWFA_QNIFA_SIGMA_MONTHLY.dat) is used when
    running the init_atmosphere_model program to produce initial and lateral
    boundary conditions for nifa and nwfa.

Physics changes

• Physics schemes in the physics_mmm directory are now obtained from a
  separate, shared MMM-physics repository at compile time using the
  manage_externals tool.

• The revised Monin-Obukhov scheme replaces the Monin-Obukhov scheme in the
  'mesoscale_reference' suite.

GPU capabilities

• The scalar transport code has been ported to GPUs using OpenACC directives.

  • The atmosphere core must be compiled with OPENACC=true.
  • Additional timers in the log file capture host-device data transfer times.

Infrastructure

• The build system no longer requires an intermediate clean step when compiling
  one core before another.