Site Management: Schedule Files

Schedule files are text files containing a schedule of land-use events. Events are actions such as planting, growth start and end, fertilization, etc. Schedule files for Century5 are essentially the same as for Century4; differences are:

The line "Site file name" is ignored in Century5.
Century5 schedule files can include a comment block at the top, just as Century5 site parameter .100 files can have.
Data for an event can be on the same line as the event name, as well as on the next line as in Century4.
Schedules can stored in netCDF files as well as text files.

A schedule file has at least two parts. The first is the simulation information. The second and subsequent sections are "blocks" which specify land-use events.

For schedules in netCDF files, the main difference between schedule files and Century5 management files lies in the way management blocks are defined and used. In text schedule files, repeated use of a block in simulation time requires the block to be repeatedly inserted into the schedule file. In contrast, the netCDF management file structure separates the definition of a block from its use in simulation time, such that blocks are defined only once but can be used multiple times. For large management schedules, this can result in greatly smaller files, and is less prone to errors.

Century4 and Century5 schedule files can be used with DayCent5.

The following is a representative Century5-compatible schedule file. The first part consists of lines beginning with a #. These are comments and are ignored by the models and associated utilities. The second part is the simulation configuration. The remaining parts are management blocks.

# ---------------------------------------------------------------
#  File: c3grs.sch
#  DayCent5 management file for a C3 grassland.
#  (The Century5 file would be the same but exclude "Daily output" lines.)
#
#  Runs for about 2005 years for a spinup w/grazing.
#  Last 2 years do not have grazing.
#  Prints monthly results for the last 3 years.
#  Prints daily results for the last 2 years for DayCent5.
#
#  This schedule can be used with Century5 and DayCent5.
# ---------------------------------------------------------------
# Simulation Configuration
1           Starting year
2005        Last year
not-used    Site file name
0           Labeling type
0           Labeling year
-1          Microcosm
0           CO2 Systems
1           Initial system
CPR         Initial crop
            Initial tree

Year Month Option
1           Block #   Northern Hemisphere C3 Dominated
2003        Last year
1           Repeats # years
2003        Output starting year
1           Output month
0.0833      Output interval
M           Weather choice
  1   1 CROP  CPR
  1   1 FRST
  1   5 GRAZ  GM
  1   6 GRAZ  GM
  1   7 GRAZ  GM
  1   8 GRAZ  GM
  1   9 GRAZ  GM
  1  11 SENM
  1  12 LAST
END

2           Block #   no grazing
2005        Last year
1           Repeats # years
2004        Output starting year
1           Output month
0.0833      Output interval
2004        Daily output starting year
1           Daily output month
M           Weather choice
  1   1 CROP  CPR
  1   1 FRST
  1  11 SENM
  1  12 LAST
END

About Simulation Configuration

The simulation configuration is in the first section of the schedule file. For details, see the page Simulation Configuration

About Management Blocks

Management blocks describe for each year and month what occurs to crops, grasslands, and trees and shrubs. For details, see the page Management Blocks.