MITgcm Setup

This page will help you get started with MITgcm for the first time.

Acquiring the code

The MITgcm is hosted on GitHub. I highly recommend cloning the code and updating your model code as the main repository is updated. The model is still being actively improved. For example, in just 4 months:

• A bug in the MITgcmutils python package was fixed to no longer invoke a FutureWarning
• The description of the SIZE.h file was significantly improved
• The defaults of the SEAICE package are in the process of being fixed (active Pull Request)

To get started, log into the machine you want to set up the code on (ie, Graham, Hood, one of the Mountain Lake machines). Change directories onto a project disk where you want to put the code (If you are on Graham this must done from a login node, since the compute nodes don't have internet access). Run

   git clone https://github.com/MITgcm/MITgcm.git

Once this completes, you should have a directory MITgcm which contains

   MITgcm/
   
       LICENSE.txt
       README.md
       doc/
       eesupp/
       jobs/
       lsopt/
       model/
       optim/
       pkg/
       tools/
       utils/
       verification/

Now you're ready to run the tutorials and start designing and running your own cases.

The gcmpy package has some useful tools for visualizing and handling MITgcm data. Its documentation lives on Read the Docs.