What’s New¶

v0.8.4 (April 24, 2024)¶

time_step_output behavior has changed — 1 hour by default
time_step is now 5 min by default
added Dcrit parameter for accurately finding where drifters are stranded in tidal flats
vertical_mixing is True by default now
added seafloor_action option
fixed some Leeway/3D handling and log messaging
export_variables are specific to drift_model as needed
do not drop zeta anymore since used in opendrift
output_file is now an option

Now initialize all class attributes with None and removed usage of hasattr which simplifies and clarifies some code.
Improved handling of start_time, end_time, duration, and steps in manager.py which fixed a bug in which users couldn’t input start_time and have the simulation run successfully.
simplified handling of horizontal_diffusivity in opendrift model.
user can change end_time, duration, and steps and have the others update accordingly. Tests added to check this.
changed known model “CIOFS_now” to “CIOFSOP” to avoid upper/lower issues and include “OP” for “operational”.
many more tests and improved behavior for attribute checks and updates

is set up to tell opendrift ROMS reader to save the interpolator to a cache that is set up the first time it is run. This only works with the newest dev version of opendrift at the moment, and the files saved are hundreds of MB, but it speeds up the simulations pretty well (12 to 30 seconds).
reworked which variables are dropped in which scenarios for opendrift and integrated with using wetdry vs static masks.
added package appdirs to manage the cache for storing interpolator pickles.
fix to CLI so duration input is formatted correctly.
can now input name to accompany user-input xarray Dataset for ocean_model.
added ocean_model “CIOFS_now” local and remote links.

updated to using version of opendrift in which you can input an xarray Dataset directly
added new parameter for built-in ocean_models to specify whether to look locally or remote for the output (ocean_model_local)
added local model output information for known models using parquet files for kerchunk access to model output
changed max_speed parameter, which controls buffer size in opendrift, to 2 from 5.
improved handling of “steps”, “duration”, and “end_time” parameters.
improved reader interaction and speed with opendrift by dropping unnecessary variables from ocean_model Dataset, separating out the standard_name mapping input to the ROMS reader in opendrift, added option for whether or not to use wet/dry masks in ocean_model output if available

modified level of surfacing for some configuration parameters
made ptm an entry point
finished removing WKT code, which hadn’t been working
added “excludestring” as an option for filtering configuration parameters
updated checks for necessary drift_model=="Leeway" and parameter combinations.
updated docs according to software updates