An Integration and Evaluation Framework for ESPC Coupled Models

Lead PI: Dr. Ben Kirtman, University of Miami
Start Year: 2014 | Duration: 5 Years
Partners: University of Miami, NRL Stennis Space Center, University of Colorado, University of Chicago, George Mason University/ COLA, University of Wisconsin, National Center for Atmospheric Research & Florida State University


To realize its potential, a U.S. Earth system modeling and prediction capability must encompass a network of agencies and organizations that contribute model components, infrastructure, and scientific and technical expertise. The model component contributions must be integrated using coupling software, optimized as a whole, and the predictive skill of the resulting models assessed using standard metrics. We propose to provide these integrative functions for the Earth System Prediction Capability (ESPC), using as a reference application a version of the Community Earth System Model (CESM) running an optimized version of the HYbrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM). We will establish a Coupling Testbed as a resource available to ESPC modelers, with Testbed leads who have developed infrastructure for major modeling systems and can engage and motivate interactions with modelers at NASA, NOAA, and other centers. We will advance and update a coupled CESM-HYCOM system prototyped under other funding with a version of HYCOM optimized for accelerator-based architectures. We plan to evaluate the computational performance and predictive skill of the CESM-HYCOM code using standard metrics. In particular, we will perform a suite of numerical experiments examining how the model performs in simulating current climate at both moderate and ocean eddy resolving scales, and we will implement a set of retrospective forecasts taking advantage of the NMME protocol, again at both moderate and ocean eddy resolving scales.



Annual PI Reports


FY 2014 PI Report

FY 2015 PI Report

FY 2017 PI Report