Remove gcpy/benchmark/modules/species_database.yml file

gcpy/benchmark/modules/species_database.yml
- Removed.  This file was substantially out-of-date with GEOS-Chem.
  We now specify the path to this file in the YAML configuration files
  that are passed to gcpy/benchmark/run_benchmark.py, so this is now
  redundant.

gcpy/benchmark/modules/benchmark_drydep.py
gcpy/benchmark/modules/benchmark_funcs.py
gcpy/benchmark/modules/benchmark_mass_cons_table.py
gcpy/benchmark/modules/budget_ox.py
gcpy/benchmark/modules/budget_tt.py
gcpy/benchmark/modules/oh_metrics.py
- Replaced spcdb_dir=os.path.dirname(__file__) with spcdb_dir=None
  in function interfaces
- Add code to throw a ValueError if spcdb_dir is None

CHANGELOG.md
- Updated accordingly

Signed-off-by: Bob Yantosca <[email protected]>

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -32,6 +32,9 @@ The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/),
 - Added brackets around `exempt-issue-labels` list in `.github/workflows/stale.yml`
 - Now flag differences greater than +/- 10% in benchmark timing table outputs
 
+### Removed
+- Removed `gcpy/benchmark/modules/species_database.yml` file and corresponding code pointing to this
+
 ## [1.5.0] - 2024-05-29
 ### Added
 - Script `gcpy/benchmark/modules/benchmark_utils.py`, with common benchmark utility functions

gcpy/benchmark/modules/benchmark_drydep.py

@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ def make_benchmark_drydep_plots(
         n_job=-1,
         time_mean=False,
         varlist=None,
-        spcdb_dir=os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), "..", "..")
+        spcdb_dir=None,
 ):
     """
     Creates six-panel comparison plots (PDF format) from GEOS-Chem
@@ -82,14 +82,18 @@ def make_benchmark_drydep_plots(
             Default value: -1
         spcdb_dir: str
             Directory of species_datbase.yml file
-            Default value: Directory of GCPy code repository
+            Default value: None
         time_mean : bool
             Determines if we should average the datasets over time
             Default value: False
         varlist: list of str
             List of variables to plot.  If varlist is None, then
             all common variables in Ref & Dev will be plotted.
     """
+    # Make sure the species database folder is passed
+    if spcdb_dir is None:
+        msg = "The spcdb_dir argument has not been specified!"
+        raise ValueError(msg)
 
     # Create directory for plots (if it doesn't exist)
     dst = make_output_dir(