This EAGER award focuses on exploring the feasibility of the implementation of a new paradigm in the development of an integrative and interoperable data and knowledge management system for the geosciences for a new NSF initiative called EarthCube. Led by a team of expert Earth system modelers, this project focuses on developing new approaches for integrating and coupling model components so that holistic geoscience scenarios that involve the interaction of large scale climate and atmospheric circulation models and smaller, more heterogeneous component models of surface earth processes can be explored and more effectively used by a broader range of users. The project engages participants from a number of major NSF-funded geoscience modeling investments (CSDMS, NCAR, CUHAUSI). A main goal of the of the work is to bridge the gaps between present modeling frameworks, data standards, and computational architectures. The approach includes collection of all relevant approaches and then comparing their pros and cons and linking existing different "plug and play" modeling components together and assessing the accuracy and robustness of model results. Major project goals are to see if more standard modeling protocols can be developed and to develop a general roadmap for improving the interoperability and meshing of model components that address phenomena at wildly different spatial and temporal scales. Broader impacts of the work include building new modeling infrastructure for science and leveraging prior NSF investments in cyberinfrastructure. It also improves the utility of, ease of use, and broader access of scientists and other potential users to more fully integrated and powerful earth systems models.
This project contributed to the NSF EarthCube visioning process by providing key input from the geoscience modeling community in the form of a 30-page roadmap on Earth System Model coupling needs and requirements. This document reviewed the status of several leading Earth System Model coupling architectures and proposed a set of requirements for future development that would facilitate wider community access and usability of Earth System Models and their components. The requirements of geoscience model developers and users were gathered from existing modeling projects and communities (e.g. CSDMS, ESMF, MCT, CUAHSI and UCAR), as well as from two modeling workshops that were held in connection with this project. This project also developed a completely new, trans-disciplinary geoscientific modeling capability through utilization and enhancement of Earth system modeling architectures. Specifically, under this project the widely-used regional Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) atmospheric model was provided with a CSDMS Basic Model Interface (BMI). BMI-enabled models can be automatically converted to CSDMS plug-and-play components, which allows them to be easily coupled to other model components within the Community Surface Dynamics Modeling System (CSDMS). This work therefore makes it possible for WRF, a premier atmospheric model, to be easily coupled to other CSDMS models, such as spatially-distributed hydrologic models. The new coupled system provides a clear pathway for seamless cross-domain research between weather and climate sciences and many geoscience disciplines. A pilot project is underway that will use this new functionality to address societally important water problems in southern California.
