Problem trying to replicate example simulations

[martoconnh]

Hi there!

I am just starting with PlasticParcels, so I wanted to try by replicating the Italy example on your website. But I am getting the following error when doing fieldset = pp.constructors.create_fieldset(settings) :

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "c:\Users\martino.rial\Desktop\scripts\test_plasticparcels.py", line 50, in <module>
    fieldset = pp.constructors.create_fieldset(settings)
               ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "C:\Users\martino.rial\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python312\Lib\site-packages\plasticparcels\constructors.py", line 104, in create_fieldset
    fieldset = create_hydrodynamic_fieldset(settings)
               ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "C:\Users\martino.rial\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python312\Lib\site-packages\plasticparcels\constructors.py", line 43, in create_hydrodynamic_fieldset
    filenames = {'U': {'lon': ocean_mesh, 'lat': ocean_mesh, 'depth': wfiles[0], 'data': ufiles},
                                                                      ~~~~~~^^^
IndexError: list index out of range

I'm still not really sure about how everything works, but may this be happening because I have to download the hydrodynamic data that are declared on the settings.json file for this particular case?

"ocean": {
        "modelname": "NEMO0083",
        "directory": "/storage/shared/oceanparcels/input_data/MOi/",
        "filename_style": "psy4v3r1/psy4v3r1-daily_",
        "ocean_mesh": "domain_ORCA0083-N006/PSY4V3R1_mesh_hgr.nc",
...
}

I don't really think this might be the problem, as I would have got an error indicating that these input files could not be found in my device. But I figured I'd ask anyway. Are these databases intrinsic of OceanParcels or something like that?

Thank you !! (And sorry if this is a beginner mistake)

[michaeldenes]

Hi @martoconnh, thank you for your interest in using PlasticParcels! I'm still in the process of updating all the documentation (you'll see over the coming weeks there will be quite a few new commits to the main branch of this project).

You are correct, you will need to download the hydrodynamic model data, biogeochemical model data, wind data, and wave data. We've developed PlasticParcels to be used with the NEMO Global 1/12° Analysis & Forecast psy4v3r1-daily (GLO12) hydrodynamic model. The associated biogeochemistry model is the PISCES-NEMO3.6 Global 1/4° Analysis & Forecast biomer4v2r1-weekly (BIO4) model. And for wind and waves, we use the ERA5 Reanalysis products via the CDSAPI (Climate Data Store API).

I'll be writing more documentation soon on where to download this data, and how it is used by PlasticParcels.

You can of course (with slight modifications where necessary) use your own hydrodynamic model data, along with a biogeochemistry model data (required for the biofouling behaviour), and wind and wave data (required for wind-induced drift, and Stokes drift behaviours, respectively). Expect more documentation soon to help explain all this, but in the meantime please let me know if I can help!

Cheers,
Michael