[MITgcm-support] questions re. external forcing

[Holly Dail]

Hello -

I have a couple of questions regarding external forcing and would be  
most grateful for advice.  For background, my model setup is:
- 1 degree isotropic N. Atlantic with closed boundaries near 20 S and  
70 N (well, closed for now anyway)
- external forcing with NCEP fields & bulk formula
- interested in quasi steady-state behavior over hundreds of years  
(e.g. tracer distributions)
- I want to include seasons, but plan to neglect (for the moment)  
inter-annual variability

On to the questions:
- I'd like to use the model calendar for my simulation / output, and  
Gregorian for the EXF fields.  When one sets  TheCalendar='model' in  
data.cal, what does the model assume about the calendar for the fields  
defined in data.exf?  Are 365 days/year fields interpolated to 360  
days, or do the seasons 'move' by 5 days/year of simulation due to  
calendar mis-match?

- I'd like to have balanced net heat and freshwater fluxes on an  
annual basis to hopefully reach a quasi steady-state.   I tried adding  
#define ALLOW_BALANCE_FLUXES in CPP_OPTIONS.h and balanceQnet=.TRUE.,  
balanceEmPmR=.TRUE. in data.  This works great, but I believe sets the  
net fluxes to zero in each time step.  This is problematic for  
seasonality.   Since evaporation is computed on the fly, I am also  
limited in what I can do in 'correcting' heat flux and freshwater  
fields before the run.
In the absence of other options, I'm thinking of modifying the code to  
compute the net heat flux and FW flux accumulated over a year and use  
it to 'correct' the following year's fluxes.    Are there better /  
cleaner ways to do this?

Thanks for any help!
Holly