Common mistakes

The following is a list of the most common mistakes made that lead to either the code failing to compile, crashing immediately, or giving nonsense output.

Compiling

• forgetting to set the ED_ROOT in the paths.mk

Running

• Forgetting to create output directories
• Using local-time met drivers rather than GMT. The model calculates zenith angle based on lat/lon, using local time will put the sun in the wrong part of the sky and potentially underground during daylight.
• Failing to check for errors in INPUT files (invalid data, file format errors, etc) before assuming the bug is in the code
  • A carriage return must appear after the last line of a pss, css, or site file
  • only a single space is allowed between numbers in css, pss, site files
  • the site column must be omitted in pss files when not used.