User Manual

This section documents the GOTM-compatible gotm.yaml keys recognized by pyGOTM. Each section below corresponds to a top-level YAML block and records the parameter type, units, valid values, default value, and the physics it controls where that information is available.

Every parameter listed here is implemented in the pyGOTM source. Parameters recognized by the source but not supported by the current compiled Numba runtime are marked [unsupported in compiled runtime]. Unsupported compiled-runtime configurations fail during setup; pyGOTM does not silently fall back to a legacy Python timestep loop during parity runs.

Note

pyGOTM reads GOTM-compatible gotm.yaml files (format version 7). Any official GOTM 6.0.7 test-case YAML can be loaded directly. The 22 reference cases live under validation/reference/.

Input source pattern

Many scalar and profile parameters follow the same InputSetting pattern:

some_field:
  method: constant         # constant | file
  constant_value: 0.0      # value when method=constant
  file: path/to/file.dat   # path when method=file
  column: 1                # column index in the file
  scale_factor: 1.0        # multiplier applied to file values
  offset: 0.0              # additive offset applied to file values

When method: constant the constant_value is used for the entire simulation. When method: file values are read from a column-separated ASCII data file and interpolated to each model time step.

For a complete specification of every file format accepted by pyGOTM — including exact column layouts, timestamp syntax, ordering requirements, and annotated examples — see Input Data File Formats.

Reference