Which Single Point Option Should I choose?

Running for a normal supported site is a great solution, if one of the supported single-point/regional datasets, is your region of interest (see the Section called Running Supported Single-point/Regional Datasets). All the datasets are created for you, and you can easily select one and run, out of the box with it using a supported resolution from the top level of the CESM scripts. The problem is that there is a very limited set of supported datasets. You can also use this method for your own datasets, but you have to create the datasets, and add them to the XML database in scripts, CLM and to the DATM. This is worthwhile if you want to repeat many multiple cases for a given point or region.

In general the Section called Running PTS_MODE configurations is the quick and dirty method that gets you started without having to create datasets -- but has limitations. It's good for an initial attempt at seeing results for a point of interest, but since you can NOT restart with it, it's usage is limited. It is the quickest method as you can create a case for it directly from create_newcase. Although you can't restart, running a single point is very fast, and you can run for long simulation times even without restarts. If you need restarts a good solution is to use getregional_datasets.pl and CLM_USRDAT_NAME which can get you running almost as quickly as well as PTS_MODE. Like PTS_MODE the Section called Creating a set of regional datasets from existing global datasets in Chapter 2 only runs for points that exist within a global dataset.

Next, CLM_USRDAT_NAME is the best way to setup cases quickly where you have to create your own datasets (see the Section called Creating your own single-point/regional surface datasets). With this method you don't have to change DATM or add files to the XML database -- but you have to follow a strict naming convention for files. However, once the files are named and in the proper location, you can easily setup new cases that use these datasets. This is good for treating all the required datasets as a "group" and for a particular model version. For advanced CLM developers who need to track dataset changes with different model versions you would be best off adding these datasets as supported datasets with the "normal supported datasets" method.

Finally, if you also have meteorology data that you want to force your CLM simulations with you'll need to setup cases as described in the Section called Running with your own atmosphere forcing. You'll need to create CLM datasets either according to CLM_USRDAT_NAME. You may also need to modify DATM to use your forcing data. And you'll need to change your forcing data to be in a format that DATM can use.