Hector input files

General information

When Hector is invoked from the command line, it takes a single parameter: the name of the primary input file to read. This file, typically stored in the input/ directory, contains configuration and parameter data controlling the model’s run, output, and behavior.

The primary input file is a text INI-style file with sections, properties, and values. For example, the beginning of the RCP 4.5 file included in the repository looks like this:

; Config file for hector model: RCP45
;------------------------------------------------------------------------
[core]
run_name=rcp45

Here, comments start with a semicolon (;); section names (core) are enclosed in square brackets; and a property (run_name) is assigned a value (rcp45). Properties are guaranteed to be unique within a particular section, and all sections match one-to-one with a model component.

There are two Hector-specific wrinkles to the INI property-value assignment scheme. First, some properties have a time index that’s required when assigning:

Ftalbedo[1750]=0.0
Ftalbedo[1950]=-0.2

More commonly, such time series are assigned by reading data in from a comma-separated value text file:

lucEmissions=csv:input/emissions/RCP45_emissions.csv 

In this case, the input/emissions/RCP45_emissions.csv file is parsed and the data in column lucEmissions are assigned to the model variable, with a required Date column providing the time index.

List of model parameters

Properties with asterisks (*) are optional.

Section (component)	Property	Units	Notes
core	run_name	Text
	startDate	Year
	endDate	Year
	do_spinup*	0/1	Defaults to 1 (TRUE)
	max_spinup*	Numeric	Defaults to 1000
carbon-cycle-solver	eps_abs	Numeric	Solution tolerance, Pg C; see GSL documentation
	eps_rel	Numeric	Solution tolerance; see GSL documentation
	dt	Numeric	Default timestep; see GSL documentation
	eps_spinup	Numeric	Spinup tolerance (drift), Pg C