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Run Configuration Directory Structure

info

Mirrored from the NGIAB 101 training module's "Data Preparation" section.

Running NextGen requires building a standard run directory complete with only the necessary files. This is done automatically with the Data Preprocess tool. Below is an explanation of the standard run directory.

Root directory ngen-run/​

A NextGen run directory ngen-run contains the following subfolders:

  • config: model configuration files and hydrofabric configuration files. (required)
  • forcings: catchment-level forcing timeseries files. Forcing files contain variables like wind speed, temperature, precipitation, and solar radiation. (required)
  • lakeout: for t-route (optional)
  • metadata programmatically generated folder used within ngen. Do not edit this folder. (automatically generated)
  • outputs: This is where ngen will place the output files. (required)
  • restart: For restart files (optional)
ngen-run/
│
├── config/
│
├── forcings/
│
├── lakeout/
|
├── metadata/
│
├── outputs/
│
├── restart/

Configuration directory ngen-run/config/​

This folder contains the NextGen realization file, which serves as the primary model configuration for the ngen framework. This file specifies which models to run (such as NoahOWP/CFE, LSTM, etc), run parameters like date and time, and hydrofabric specifications (like location, gage, catchment).

Based on the models defined in the realization file, BMI configuration files may be required. For those models that require per-catchment configuration files, a folder will hold these files for each model in ngen-run/config/cat-config. See the directory structure convention below.

ngen-run/
|
├── config/
|   │
|   ├── nextgen_09.gpkg
|   |
|   ├── realization.json
|   |
|   ├── ngen.yaml
|   |
|   ├── cat-config/
|   │   |
|   |   ├──PET/
|   │   |
|   |   ├──CFE/
|   │   |
|   |   ├──NOAH-OWP-M/

NextGen requires a single geopackage file. This file is the hydrofabric (Johnson, 2022) (spatial data). An example geopackage can be found on Lynker-Spatial's website. Tools to subset a geopackage into a smaller domain can be found at Lynker's hfsubset.