Running VAMPS

Synopsis

vamps [--help] [--Header] [--copyright] [--license] [--verbose]
      [--showdef] [--fit] [--noinputdump]
      [--Comment commentchar] [--Output setname]
      [--Determine variable] [--output filename]
      [--Logfile filename] [--Setvar section name value]
      [--spEed speed] filename

Command-line options

Options may be given as standard one-letter options or GNU-style long options. Long options start with two dashes -- and may be truncated to any unambiguous abbreviation. The short option is the first letter of the long option, or the first capitalised letter if one is present (e.g. -H for --Header, -E for --spEed).

--Header: Omit the headers in output.
--copyright: Show copyright information and exit.
--license: Print license information and exit.
--help: Print help text and exit.
--verbose: Enter verbose mode; programme progress is displayed on stderr. Default is silent.
--noinputdump: By default the contents of the input file is included in the output. Use this option to suppress that.
--Output setname: Dump the specified setname to a separate file in ts(5) format. See the configuration reference for a list of allowed set names.
--Determine variable: Determine variable (can be a single variable or a time series). This is normally set in the input file. Multiple options are allowed.
--Logfile filename: Log this session to filename.
--Setvar section name value: Set the value of variable name in section section to value. This overrides the setting in the input file.
--Comment commentchar: Set the comment character to commentchar. Do not change this without good reason.
--showdef: Send programme defaults to stdout. This can be used to create a defaults file from scratch.
--output filename: Send output to filename instead of stdout.
--spEed speed: Set calculation speed (1 = slow/accurate, 6 = fastest/least accurate). See the speed variable in [soil] for details.
--fit: Fit data to the settings in the [fit] section.
filename: Read input from filename. If given as a single dash - it is taken from standard input.

Usage modes

VAMPS runs in two modes:

Batch mode — started with command-line options, runs and exits when finished. This is the normal mode.
Interactive mode — starts an interactive interface (--interFace or -F). This option must be the last option on the command line. Note: the S-Lang interactive interface from earlier versions is no longer available in version 1.0. User scripting is now done in Python 3 via the xtrapy mechanism.

If --verbose is set VAMPS shows the progress of calculations on stderr.

VAMPS intercepts some signals (like keyboard interrupts) and ignores them MAXSIG times (usually 5). To stop VAMPS using ^C you must press it MAXSIG times.

The vsel utility

vsel is the recommended tool for extracting time-series variables from VAMPS .out output files. It can produce two-column ASCII output suitable for import into plotting programmes (gnuplot) or spreadsheets.

From Python, the equivalent functionality is available in share/util.py as the vsel() and vprof() functions.

Troubleshooting

Variable missing

If VAMPS issues a message like:

deffile.c: Fatal:  could not find  ->steps<-
    in section     ->time<-
    in file         ->example1.inp<-
deffile.c:  error message:
    from: deffile.c
    description: Var not found or invalid, see above.

you have not specified a variable that VAMPS needs to run. This can be a variable that is always required, or one that is needed because of another variable you have set. For example, if you specify the Gash method for interception you must also specify S in the [interception] section.

Mass-balance error warning

VAMPS issues a warning when large jumps in the mass-balance error are encountered. You can ignore them as long as you are aware that the solution is not optimal.

Note

The mass balance is not calculated correctly when using lateral drainage.

To reduce mass-balance errors, in order:

Decrease dtmax — prevents VAMPS from making large timestep estimates.
Decrease dtmin and/or thetol.
Increase maxitr.