VIC: VIC.5.0.0.rc2

This is the second release candidate of VIC 5.0.0.

1. "vic_run" (GH#7)

   Although the physics and model behavior of VIC 5.0.0 should be nearly identical to VIC 4.2, the source code has undergone a major cleanup and reorganization. We have separated the physical core ("vic_run") from the driver source code. This work has improved the extensibility and readability of the model.

2. Classic Driver (GH#7)

   The Classic Driver provides similar functionality as VIC 4, including ASCII and binary I/O, and a time-before-space evaluation loop order. The Classic Driver is maintained for two main reasons:

   1. to provide some level of backward compatibility for existing VIC users that wish to continue using VIC using a traditional approach, and,
   2. to allow VIC to be run at individual grid cells, without requiring the infrastructure needed by the Image Driver. Documentation for the Classic Driver can be found here.

3. Image Driver (GH#7)

   The Image Driver adds a number of features to the user interface of the VIC model. Most notably, it uses a space-before-time evaluation loop order, netCDF I/O, and parallelization using MPI. Image Driver specific documentation can be found here.

4. Constants File (GH#192)

   Earlier versions of VIC included many hard-coded parameters and constants. We have consolidated these constants into a single structure and developed an input file that allows users to modify parameters at run-time. See here for more information.

5. Logging (GH#173)

   A set of logging Macros have been added to all drivers and vic_run. The logging level can be set in the driver Makefile via the LOG_LVL variable. The logging Macros provide the filename and line number in the source code to aid in debugging. Additionally, when compiler support is available, a traceback is printed when VIC exits during runtime. When the LOG_DIR variable is provided in the global parameter file, VIC will write its log(s) to log files instead of printing to stdout.

6. Sub-hourly Timestep (GH#188)

   Previous versions of VIC were limited to a minimum timestep of one hour. The units of the VIC timestep have been changed from hours to seconds and the minimum timestep is now one second. If you intend on running VIC at a timestep less that one hour, we suggest significant testing.

7. Calendar Support (GH#188)

   Earlier versions of VIC used the standard Gregorian calendar. Because many modern climate models use non-standard calendars, we have implemented all CF compliant calendars. The standard Gregorian calendar remains the VIC default. See the documentation for individual drivers for how to set the calendar option (e.g. classic).

8. Sample Datasets (GH#387)

   The VIC_sample_data repository contains the necessary input datasets (forcings and parameters) to run short simulations of the VIC model for both the classic and image driver.

9. Tests Datasets (GH#79)

   See https://github.com/UW-Hydro/VIC/issues/79 for more information. A temporary location of the test data is here: ftp://ftp.hydro.washington.edu/pub/gergel/VIC5_test_data/

10. Testing and Continuous Integration (GH#190)

    A comprehensive testing platform has been implemented and is available for public use along with the VIC model. A small subset of the test platform is run on Travis-CI, which facilitates continuous integration of the VIC test platform. More information on the test platform is here