Decide on UFS Model version to start out with

[sk8forether]

Description

The rnr-refresh software needs to run the UFS Model starting at a version we know we can use going forward for testing our DA methods and especially our Large Ensemble runs. An MVP for the Forecast task should have a least 1 functional model version with a reasonable namelist and scientific workflow.

Background

The UFS-RNR software was typically tied to a specific UFS model version per tag, and any updates to the model version required some code re-writing and extensive testing. The last UFS version compiled and supported in UFS-RNR was p7c, while Phil is using p8+ for Reply runs on Azure. The UFS codebase is continually updating, and newer versions are available all the time. We can reasonably expect to have to update the version at some point in the future.

Looking Forward

• Do we want to follow the same method of tying a supported model version to a release of rnr-refresh? Such as saying "version 1.0.0 of rnr-refresh only supports using UFS version p8b" or something.
  • If so, do we allow the flexibility to use other versions, just be clear that they are not supported?
  • If not, do we want to maintain multiple versions of the UFS model that we support? How do we develop a testing plan for saying which, if any, versions of UFS are supported with a release?