A Quick Tour of the NOAA Environmental Software Infrastructure and Interoperability Group

1. A Quick Tour of the NOAA Environmental Software Infrastructure and Interoperability Group Cecelia DeLuca Dr. Robert Detrick visit March 28, 2012 http://esrl.noaa.gov/nesii/

2. The Basics • NESII builds software infrastructure for Earth system modeling, data analysis, and scientific collaboration using open source, community development approaches • NESII has been at ESRL / CIRES since November, 2009 - formerly the Earth System Modeling Infrastructure section at the National Center for Atmospheric Research • Partners and customers are from research and operational centers, weather and climate, across U.S. agencies and international organizations

3. Model Coupling and Infrastructure ESMF supports both traditional latxlon grids and emerging high resolution, unstructured grid types • NESII leads development of the Earth System Modeling Framework (ESMF), the leading U.S. software framework for high performance climate and weather models (NCEP NEMS, CESM, NASA models, DoD models) • ESMF increases interoperability by creating standard interfaces for model components • The National Unified Operational Prediction Capability (NUOPC) add conventions and constraints to ESMF to increase interoperability further for a suite of operational weather and ocean models • ESMF increases code reuse and cost efficiency by offering parallel libraries for regridding, model documentation, I/O, model timekeeping, and other utilities • NESII develops technical interfaces between ESMF and hydrological and other domain-specific frameworks IMPACT: “use of the parallel ESMF offline regridding capability has reduced the time it takes to create CLM surface datasets from hours to minutes” - Mariana Vertenstein, Community Earth System Model HOMME cubed sphere grid with pentagons Courtesy Mark Taylor of Sandia FIM mesh Courtesy ESRL GSD

4. Data Services for CMIP5 • NESII leads development of the Earth System Curatorproject, which developed a metadata display for the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) as part of an international collaboration (display left) • ESMF regridding tools are being incorporated into DOE Climate Data Analysis Tools (CDAT) for CMIP5 data support • NESII collaborates on development of the Earth System Grid Federation software and installed an ESGF data node at ESRL for access to CMIP5 and other data IMPACT: MUCH more information is accessible for the climate models used in CMIP5/AR5 than previous assessments

5. Collaboration Tools Central navigation: Structured description Right side: Services Left side: Custom navigation Central Section: Freeform content • NESII developed the Earth System CoG, which “indexes” projects, providing each with a workspace, structured description, and access to resources and services. Users can link projects and consolidate views of information in a project network • CoG creates the information and information flows needed to manage large, multi-project efforts • Still in beta release, CoG is being used to support the National Climate Predictions and Projections Platform, and a variety of other projects (now about 30 in all)

6. The Vision • Develop interoperable modeling components that can connect in multiple waysImprove predictions and support research • Build advanced utilities that many models and data services can useEnable research, promote cost efficiency • Enable models to be self-describingIncrease understanding and defensibility of outputs • Create workflows that automate the modeling process from beginning to endImprove productivity • Build workspaces that encourage collaborative, distributed development of models and data analysisManage complex organizations and leverage distributed expertise