Debugging

Debugging#

Check your input file!#

The fastest way to diagnose a radiative transfer problem is to look at the exact input uvspec received. Two ways:

Before running — explain() renders the annotated input file for one point without executing anything:

print(ds.pyradtran.explain(params={...}, config_path=cfg))
# rte_solver disort          # config
# albedo 0.85                # dataset-var
# ...

After running — keep the generated .inp files:

execution:
  cleanup_temp_files: false

then look in the working directory (default pyradtran_work/), one .inp (and one raw .out) per simulation point. Failed points keep their input file — and any generated cloud profile files it references — even with cleanup enabled, and the captured stderr lands in failures_<timestamp>.log. With cleanup_temp_files: true, successful runs remove both their .inp and .out files once parsed.

What to check#

Line

What to look for

atmosphere_file, source solar

Do the paths exist? Right atmosphere model?

wavelength

Range in nm, supported by your mol_abs_param?

sza

> 90° means the sun is below the horizon → all-zero solar output

zout

Output altitudes in km, above the site’s altitude?

wc_file / ic_file

Cloud file exists? Columns are z(km), LWC/IWC(g/m³), r_eff(µm)?

Typos in option names or invalid values are caught before any run by the schema validation (see Parameters & Validation) — if something still fails, it is usually a path or a physics mismatch.

Verbose logging#

import logging
logging.getLogger('pyradtran').setLevel(logging.DEBUG)

or execution.debug_mode: true in the config: shows generated files, executed commands, and raw uvspec output.

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