**Management Plan**

**Collaborative Design and Development**

**of the**

**Community Climate System Model**

***Department of Energy***

***Office of Biological and Environmental Research***

***Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing***

**[Principal Investigators]{.underline}**

**Bob Malone (LANL) and John Drake (ORNL)**

**[Co-Principal Investigators]{.underline}**

**Chris Ding (LBNL), Steve Ghan (PNNL),**

**Doug Rotman (LLNL), John Taylor (ANL),**

**Jeff Kiehl (NCAR), Warren Washington (NCAR),**

**S.-J. Lin (NASA/DAO)**

**May 2002**

[1 Introduction 1](#introduction)

[2 Objectives 1](#objectives)

[3 Multiple levels of coordination 1](#multiple-levels-of-coordination)

[3.1 Coordination among DOE Labs 2](#coordination-among-doe-labs)

[3.1.1 Principal Investigators 2](#__RefHeading___Toc10477073)

[3.1.2 Laboratory Coordinators 3](#__RefHeading___Toc10477074)

[3.1.3 Topic Leaders 3](#__RefHeading___Toc10477075)

[3.1.4 Topic Coordinators 3](#__RefHeading___Toc10477076)

[3.2 Coordination with CCSM 3](#__RefHeading___Toc10477185)

[3.2.1 Working Groups 4](#working-groups)

[3.2.2 Scientific Steering Committee 5](#scientific-steering-committee)

[3.2.3 CCSM Advisory Board 5](#ccsm-advisory-board)

[3.3 Coordination with CCPP 5](#coordination-with-ccpp)

[3.4 Coordination with SciDAC Program Elements
6](#coordination-with-scidac-program-elements)

[3.5 Coordination with ESMF 6](#coordination-with-esmf)

[Appendices 8](#appendices)

[A. Acronyms 8](#a.-acronyms)

[B. Names, affiliations, and primary interests
8](#b.-names-affiliations-and-primary-interests)

[C. SciDAC-ESMF Memorandum Of Understanding
9](#c.-scidac-esmf-memorandum-of-understanding)

# Introduction[^1]

This project employs multi-disciplinary teams to accelerate development
of the Community Climate System Model (CCSM), based at the National
Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). A consortium of six Department
of Energy (DOE) National Laboratories will collaborate with NCAR and the
NASA Data Assimilation Office (DAO). The laboratories are Argonne (ANL),
Los Alamos (LANL), Lawrence Berkeley (LBNL), Lawrence Livermore (LLNL),
Oak Ridge (ORNL), and Pacific Northwest (PNNL). The proposed work
focuses on software design with extensive documentation of the CCSM and
its component models; performance optimization of the dynamical cores
and other critical aspects of the atmosphere, ocean, and sea ice models;
and the introduction of atmospheric chemistry and ocean biogeochemistry
into the model.

Key objectives are to develop, validate (through comparison with
observed data), document and optimize the performance of the CCSM, a
comprehensive coupled climate model, using the latest software
engineering methodology. This management plan defines roles and
responsibilities to assure that the proposed work remains coordinated,
focused, and compatible with the objectives of the CCSM Scientific
Steering Committee, while supporting the DOE Climate Change Prediction
Program (CCPP).

As part of the DOE Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing
(SciDAC) program, the "CCSM Consortium" must also work collectively with
applicable parts of the whole SciDAC infrastructure development efforts,
namely the Integrated Software Infrastructure Centers (ISICs) and
National Collaboratories (NCs). The project also acts as a focal point
for collaborations with related efforts sponsored by other agencies,
such as the NASA Earth System Modeling Framework (ESMF).

# Objectives

The overarching objective of the SciDAC CCSM Model Development project
is to work in collaboration with NCAR to develop and maintain the CCSM
as a state-of-the-art climate model optimized for performance,
portability, and interoperability on a range of parallel computer
architectures. Another objective is to facilitate its use to gain the
best possible scientific understanding of climate variability and global
change on decadal to century time scales. This project seeks to
implement modern software engineering practices and modular, open
development of each component of the CCSM. Efficient parallel execution
for high-throughput climate simulations at multiple resolutions will be
achieved through flexible model configurations and optimized utilities
and algorithm libraries. The completeness of the model will also be
extended through the development of new physical parameterizations,
chemical and biogeochemical process models, more accurate dynamical
representations, and more efficient solution methods.

# Multiple levels of coordination[^2] 

Coordination of the SciDAC project must take place at several levels.

-   It is necessary to coordinate contributions from several DOE labs in
    each of many topic areas (see Tasble 1 below).

-   Activities in DOE labs must be coordinated with related activities
    at NCAR and NASA/DAO, to avoid duplication of effort and to insure
    that DOE contributions are both timely and relevant to the overall
    CCSM goals.

-   SciDAC activities ultimately must be compatible with the overall
    vision for CCSM determined by the collection of CCSM Working Groups
    (WGs) and the CCSM Scientific Steering Committee (SSC).

-   SciDAC activities must complement, yet be compatible with, CCPP
    objectives.

-   As part of the DOE SciDAC program, this SciDAC Consortium project is
    expected to interact with and benefit from research and development
    activities in the rest of the SciDAC program, namely, the Integrated
    Software Infrastructure Centers (ISICs) and National Collaboratories
    (NCs).

-   SciDAC activities must be compatible with NCAR plans for future
    evolution of CCSM, for example, the expected adoption of ESMF.

Clearly, for DOE laboratory scientists to be effectively involved in so
many aspects of CCSM, it is imperative that they participate actively in
relevant activities. Most important is involvement in the Working Groups
as members or, if possible, as co-chairs. This is where alternative
approaches are evaluated and compared prior to making recommendations to
the SSC. Attendance at the annual summer meeting in Breckenridge
provides a unique opportunity to see the "big picture" of CCSM's
progress. Obviously, if the opportunity arises, it can be very helpful
to serve as a member of the CAB or SSC.

## Coordination among DOE Labs

This SciDAC Consortium project involves different subsets of six DOE
laboratories contributing to different aspects of CCSM development and
evaluation (see Table 1). The nomenclature used to describe different
managerial responsibilities is explained here.

Coordination will take place by means of weekly teleconference calls,
supplemented by monthly Access Grid meetings. Problems will dealt with
via email, telephone and mini-teleconference calls. Semi-annual meetings
will be held. One will take place In Breckenridge on the Monday
immediately preceding the annual CCSM Workshop in late June. The second
will be held in conjunction with the periodic CCPP program review, if
conveniently spaced in time, in conjunction with a major SciDAC meeting,
or possibly via the Access Grid. A project web page is maintained at
<http://www.scidac.org/CCSM>.

Principal Investigators

The PIs, Bob Malone (LANL) and John Drake (ORNL), will coordinate the
all aspects of the project among the participating DOE laboratories and
corresponding activities at NCAR and NASA/DAO. The PIs are responsible
for (a) monitoring progress of SciDAC tasks, (b) negotiating the roles
of the DOE labs relative to one another and NCAR, and (c) insuring
through discussions with CCSM management that SciDAC contributions are
compatible with CCSM objectives. The PIs will provide semi-annual
reports on the progress of the project to the DOE program sponsors.
These will include highlights of the project and status of scheduled
tasks and milestones. Drake and Malone will also act as serve as
liaisons to NCAR and CCSM management for the coordination of the
project.

### Laboratory Coordinators

Each participating DOE lab has a designated Laboratory Coordinator for
the project, whose purview cuts across all topics being pursed at that
laboratory. It is the responsibility of the Lab Coordinators to
communicate issues and progress to the PIs and to help manage ongoing
activities at their labs. Laboratory Coordinators and their NCAR and
NASA/DAO counterparts are listed (italicized) in the second row of
Table 1. Generally speaking, the Lab Coordinators are the PIs and co-PIs
listed on the title page.

  ----------------------------- ------------ -------------- ------------ -------------- ---------- ------------ -------------- ----------
  **Topic**                     **NCAR**     **NASA/DAO**   **ANL**      **LANL**       **LBNL**   **LLNL**     **ORNL**       **PNNL**

  ***[Coordinators]{.mark}***   *Kiehl*      *Lin*          *Taylor*     ***Malone***   *Ding*     *Rotman*     ***Drake***    *Ghan*

  **[SWE]{.mark}**              Craig        Sawyer         Larson       **Jones**                              Worley         

  **[CAM]{.mark}**              Williamson   Lin            Jacob                       Woo-Sun    Mirin        **Drake**      Ghan

  **[COM/POP]{.mark}**          Gent                        Jacob        **Jones**                 Duffy                       

  **[CSIM/CICE]{.mark}**        Holland                     Taylor       **Lipscomb**                                          

  **[CLM]{.mark}**              Bonan                       Larson                                              **Hoffman**    Ghan

  **[Coupler]{.mark}**          Bettge                      **Larson**   Jones          Ding                                   

  **[Atmos Chem]{.mark}**       McKenna                     Taylor                                 **Rotman**   Erickson       

  **[Biogeochem]{.mark}**       Doney                       Taylor       Maltrud                   Caldiera     **Erickson**   
  ----------------------------- ------------ -------------- ------------ -------------- ---------- ------------ -------------- ----------

Table 1. Laboratory Coordinators (italicized in second row) are
responsible for overseeing all activities at their respective
institutions and high-level coordination among institutions. Major topic
areas (component models, major new subcomponent models) are listed in
the first column, followed by Topic Leaders and (in bold) Topic
Coordinators.

### Topic Leaders

Each lab that is contributing to a particular topic area has selected a
"Topic Leader", whose job is to monitor progress within that lab and
coordinate with Topic Leaders for the same topic at other DOE labs.

### Topic Coordinators

In each topic, the PIs have appointed one of the Topic Leaders the
overall DOE lab "Topic Coordinator", whose job is to monitor progress
and, with the help of the Topic Leaders, coordinate work among the DOE
labs and with NCAR and NASA/DAO.

  ----------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- -------
  []{.mark}                                                           

                                                                      

                                                                      

                                                                      

                                                                      

                                                                      

                                                                      

                                                                      

                                                                      

                                                                      
  ----------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- -------

1.  []{#__RefHeading___Toc10477185 .anchor}Coordination with CCSM

The management structure of the CCSM project at NCAR has three parts:
the Scientific Steering Committee (SSC), the CCSM Advisory Board (CAB),
and a collection of Working Groups, each devoted to a component model,
scientific research area, or other aspect of CCSM. Detailed information
about the CCSM management structure and scientific plans is available
on-line at <http://www.cgd.ucar.edu/csm>.

### Working Groups

Each of the topic areas listed in Table 1 falls within the scope of some
CCSM Working Group (WG). Each working group consists of scientists who
come together to work on topics in which they share common interest.
Membership in any WG is open to all persons having an interest in the
topic. The WGs allow scientists to participate in cooperative research,
compare different approaches, and minimize unnecessary duplication. The
WGs present their research and recommendations, preferably based on
consensus, to the SSC, which has the authority to accept or reject any
recommendation. The SSC may also call for further research before any
decision is made. Thus, it is imperative that SciDAC personnel be
involved closely in the activities of relevant WGs.

At present, there are nine WGs, each co-chaired by one or more non-NCAR
scientists and zero or more NCAR-based scientists. The topic areas and
co-chairs of each WG are displayed in Table 2. DOE laboratory scientists
appear in italics.

  ------------------------------------------------------------------------
  **Working Group** **Co-chairs**     **Affiliations**
  ----------------- ----------------- ------------------------------------
  Atmosphere Model  William Collins   NCAR

                    David Randall     Colorado State University

  Ocean Model       Peter Gent        NCAR

                    *Richard Smith*   *Los Alamos National Laboratory*

  Land Model        Gordon Bonan      NCAR

                    Paul Houser       NASA Goddard Space Institute

  Polar Climate     Richard E. Moritz University of Washington

                    *Elizabeth Hunke* *Los Alamos National Laboratory*

  Paleoclimate      Bette             NCAR
                    Otto-Bliesner     

                    Lisa Sloan        University of California-Santa Cruz

  Climate           Mike Alexander    NOAA/CDC
  Variability                         

                    J. Hurrell        NCAR

  Biogeochemistry   Scott Doney       NCAR

                    Inez Fung         University of California-Berkeley

  Climate Change    Warren Washington NCAR

  And Assessment    Gerald Meehl      NCAR

                    *Karl Taylor*     *Lawrence Livermore National
                                      Laboratory*

  Software          Richard Rood      NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

  Engineering       Cecelia DeLuca    NCAR

                    Tony Craig        NCAR
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Table 2. Names (topic areas) of CCSM Working Groups and Co-chairs.

Communications with the WGs occurs only through participation by DOE
scientists and managers in relevant WGs. In several cases, DOE
scientists are co-chairs of WGs. Active involvement is the most
effective way to influence the direction taken by WGs.

### Scientific Steering Committee

The CCSM Scientific Steering Committee (SSC) provides scientific
leadership for the CCSM project, including oversight of activities of
working groups, coordination of model experiments, decision making on
model definition and development, and encouragement of external
participation in the project. The SSC determines what working groups
should be organized and oversees the activities of these working groups.
The co-chairs for each working group are appointed by the SSC. The major
scientific responsibility of the SSC is to decide which components
and/or parameterizations should be included in future versions of CCSM.
Proposals for new components and/or parameterizations should come from
the appropriate working groups, together with appropriate reasons for
the recommended changes and documentation of the results.

The CCSM SSC members consist of the Director of NCAR\'s Climate and
Global Dynamics (CGD) Division plus eight additional scientists. The
present membership of the SSC is given in Table 3.

  ---------------------------- ------------------------------------------
  Jeff Kiehl, Chair            NCAR

  Chris Bretherton             University of Washington

  Ping Chang                   Texas A&M University

  Jim Hack                     NCAR

  Peter Gent                   NCAR

  Maurice Blackmon             NCAR

  Cecilia Bitz                 University of Washington

  Daniel McKenna               NCAR

  Scott Doney                  Woods Hole
  ---------------------------- ------------------------------------------

Table 3. Membership of the CCSM Scientific Steering Committee.

It is worth noting that most SciDAC scientists have no access to the SSC
as a unit, so the only mechanism that presently exists for communication
between SciDAC and the SSC is conversations with individual members of
the SSC. That seems sufficient for now.

### CCSM Advisory Board

In addition to the SSC, CCSM has an Advisory Board (CAB) that meets
twice annually to review the progress and status of the CCSM program.
The CAB then writes a report (letter) to the President of UCAR, the
Director of NCAR, and the Leader of the Climate and Global Dynamics
Division. In January, 2002, John Drake became a member of CAB, taking
over from Bob Malone, who served a three-year term starting in 1998.

## Coordination with CCPP

In its present form, the CCPP comprises numerous university grants plus
three major projects: the Parallel Climate Model (PCM) project at NCAR
(Warren Washington, PI); the Program for Climate Model Diagnosis and
Intercomparison (PCMDI) at LLNL (Doug Rotman, Acting Director); and the
Climate, Ocean and Sea Ice Modeling (COSIM) project at LANL (Bob Malone,
PI). PCM is merging with CCSM2 in 2002, while the COSIM project supplies
the ocean component model (POP) and much of the sea ice component model
(CICE) to the CCSM2. PCMDI is playing an important role in evaluation
and validation of CCSM2. Thus strong ties already exist between CCPP,
CCSM, and the SciDAC CCSM Consortium.

## Coordination with SciDAC Program Elements

The full SciDAC program within DOE spans a wide range of applications,
of which climate modeling is the largest. Cross-cutting activities in
numerical methods, adaptive grids, mathematical libraries, data
management, and computational performance optimization are supported by
seven Integrated Software Infrastructure Centers (ISICs). Software tools
that support multi-site interactions of various types are supported by
ten National Collaboratory (NC) projects. Collaborations between the
SciDAC CCSM Consortium and several of the SciDAC ISICs and
Collaboratories have been established. Table 4 lists those most
pertinent to the SciDAC CCSM Consortium project, along with the lead
investigators at each institution; the Principal Investigator of each
ISIC or NC is in bold. Tasks in collaboration with other SciDAC projects
are tracked along with other project tasks. Note that the Geodesic
Climate Model project led by David Randall (CSU) is another SciDAC
Climate project, not an ISIC or NC. The Earth System Grid is an NC.

  ------------- ----------- ------------ ------------- ------------- --------------- ----------- -------------
  **ISIC/NC**   **NCAR**    **ANL**      **LANL**      **LBNL**      **LLNL**        **ORNL**    **Other**

  Earth Sys     Middleton   **Foster**                               Williams        White       
  Grid                                                                                           

  Geodesic CM                            Baumgardner                                             **Randall**
                                                                                                 (CSU)

  PERC ISIC                                            **Bailey**                    Worley      

  CCA ISIC                  Freitag      Rasmussen                   **Armstrong**   Bernholdt   

  TSTT ISIC                 Freitag                                  Brown                       **Glimm**
                                                                                                 (BNL)

  TOPS ISIC                                                          **Keyes**                   

  APDEC ISIC                                           **Colella**   Brown                       
  ------------- ----------- ------------ ------------- ------------- --------------- ----------- -------------

Table 4. SciDAC projects pertinent to CCSM Consortium. PI names in
**bold**.

## Coordination with ESMF

The Earth System Modeling Framework (ESMF) project is a three-year,
multi-institutional effort to develop a modeling framework that can be
adopted by all of the major weather and climate modeling institutions in
the US. It is funded by NASA as the third phase of its HPCC program.
NCAR is the lead organization, and the fact that the lead PI is Tim
Killeen, director of NCAR, indicates the strong commitment that NCAR has
to make this project successful and to adopt ESMF in a future version of
CCSM.

The ESMF will establish standards for interfaces between component
models by means of a universal "coupler", interfaces to subcomponent
models, grid types, field types, underlying utility and
machine-dependent layers, and a control layer at the top. The objective
is to greatly simplify the interchangeability of component models and
subcomponent parameterizations while maintaining high performance and
transparent portability across a range of computer architectures. Work
funded by DOE can play an important role in ESMF. The Model Coupling
Toolkit (MCT) developed at ANL under the Accelerated Climate Prediction
Initiative (ACPI) "Avante Garde" pilot project and the present SciDAC
CCSM Consortium, provides many of the foundational concepts for ESMF.
The Spherical Coordinate Remapping and Interpolation Package (SCRIP)
developed at LANL will also be adopted in modified form as part of
ESMF's "toolkit". MCT is the basis for the newest coupler, CPL6, which
will appear in a later version of CCSM2. CPL6 is also a prototype for
the ESMF coupler.

Because the SciDAC Consortium project is focused exclusively on CCSM and
its long-term development, and because NCAR has a strong commitment to
adopt ESMF -- if it meets its performance goals -- SciDAC has an implied
commitment to ESMF. While SciDAC funds will not be used to support ESMF
directly, improvements in MCT and SCRIP under SciDAC will ultimately
benefit ESMF. Also, Phil Jones (LANL), Jay Larson and Rob Jacob (ANL)
are co-investigators on the ESMF proposal to NASA, and therefore stand
to receive NASA funding to explicitly support their work on ESMF.

Communications with the ESMF project occurs directly through the ANL and
LANL co-investigators named above, and frequent emails and telephone
conversations with Cecilia DeLuca (NCAR Co-PI on ESMF and Co-chair of
the CCSM Software Engineering WG).

A Memorandum of Understanding between the NCAR-based ESMF project, the
ANL-based MCT project, and SciDAC Consortium management has been written
and signed. The full text appears in Appendix C.

# Appendices {#appendices .Style-Heading-1-+-Before:--0\"-First-line:--0\" .unnumbered}

## A. Acronyms {#a.-acronyms .Style-Heading-2-+-Before:--0\"-First-line:--0\" .unnumbered}

ANL Argonne National Laboratory

CCSM Community Climate System Model (NCAR and other institutions)

CICE Sea ice model (LANL)

DAO Data Assimilation Office (NASA)

DOE Department of Energy

ESMF Earth System Modeling Framework (NCAR and other institutions)

HPCC High Performance Computing and Communications (multi-agency

program)

ISIC Integrated Software Infrastructure Center (SciDAC)

LANL Los Alamos National Laboratory

LBNL Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

LLNL Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

MCT Model Coupling Toolkit (ANL)

NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NC National Collaboratory (SciDAC)

NCAR National Center for Atmospheric Research

NSF National Science Foundation

ORNL Oak Ridge National Laboratory

PCMDI Program for Climate Model Diagnosis and Intercomparison (LLNL)

POP Parallel Ocean Program (LANL)

PNNL Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

SciDAC Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing (DOE program)

SCRIP Spherical Coordinate Remapping and Interpolation Package (LANL)

SSC CCSM Scientific Steering Committee

## B. Names, affiliations, and primary interests {#b.-names-affiliations-and-primary-interests .Style-Heading-2-+-Before:--0\"-First-line:--0\" .unnumbered}

The following table contains the full names, affiliations, primary
interests and roles (in the context of this management plan) of
individuals referred to in this document. Names in italics identify
people *not* funded under the SciDAC CCSM Consortium project.

  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  **Last name**  **First     **Laboratory**   **Primary          **Primary role**
                 name**                       Interest**         
  -------------- ----------- ---------------- ------------------ -------------------
  *Armstrong*    *Rob*       SNL              Common Comp. Arch. PI: CCA ISIC

  *Bailey*       *David*     LBNL             Model performance  PI: PERC ISIC

  Baumgardner    John        LANL             Ocean model        Co-I: Geodesic CM

  *Bernholdt*    *David*     ORNL             SW Engineering     CCA ISIC

  Bettge         Tom         NCAR             Coupled model      Coupler lead

  *Bonan*        *Gordon*    NCAR             Land-surface model Co-Ch: Land WG

  *Brown*        *David*     LLNL             Applied math       Co-I: two ISICs

  *Bryan*        *Frank*     *NCAR*           Ocean model        Co-I: Consortium

  *Bryan*        *Kirk*      Princeton        Ocean model        PI: SciDAC grant

  *Collela*      *Phil*      *LBNL*           Applied math       PI: PDEs ISIC

  Craig          Tony        NCAR             SW Engineering     Ldr: NCAR SWE Grp

  *DeLuca*       *Cecilia*   *NCAR*           SW Engineering     Co-PI: ESMF

  Ding           Chris       LBNL             SW Engineering     Co-I: Consortium

  *Doney*        *Scott*     NCAR             Biogeochemistry    Co-Ch: Biogeo WG

  Drake          John        ORNL             Atmospheric model  Co-PI: Consortium

  Duffy          Phil        LLNL             Hi-res atmosphere  Co-I: Consortium

  Erickson       David       ORNL             Biogeochemistry    DOE lead: Biogeo

  *Foster*       *Ian*       ANL              Earth system grid  PI: Earth Sys Grid
                                                                 NC

  *Freitag*      *Laurie*    ANL              SW Engineering     Co-I: two ISICs

  *Gent*         *Peter*     NCAR             Ocean model        Co-Ch: Ocean WG

  Ghan           Steve       PNNL             Atmospheric model  Co-I: Consortium

  *Glimm*        *Jim*       BNL              Applied math       PI: TSTT ISIC

  Hoffman        Forrest     ORNL             Land-surface model DOE lead: Land

  Hunke          Elizabeth   LANL             Sea-ice model      Co-Ch: Polar Cli WG

  Jacob          Rob         ANL              Coupler, SWE       Co-I: Consortium

  *Keyes*        *David*     Old Dominion     Applied math       PI: TOPS ISIC

  Kiehl          Jeff        NCAR             Coupled model      Ldr: CCSM Project

  Larson         Jay         ANL              Coupler, SWE       Co-I: Consortium

  Lin            S. J.       NASA/DAO         Lin-Rood dycore    Co-I: Consortium

  Malone         Robert      LANL             Project            Co-PI: Consortium
                                              coordination       

  Maltrud        Mat         NCAR             Ocean analysis     Co-I: Consortium

  *McKenna*      *Daniel*    NCAR             Atmos chemistry    Ldr: Atm Chem Div

  *Middleton*    *Don*       *NCAR*           Earth system grid  Co-I: Earth Sys
                                                                 Grid

  Mirin          Art         LLNL             Atmospheric model  Co-I: Consortium

  *Randall*      *David*     *CSU*            Coupled model      PI: Geodesic Grid
                                                                 CM

  *Rasmussen*    *Craig*     LANL             Common Comp. Arch. Co-I: CCA ISIC

  *Rood*         *Ricky*     NASA/DAO         Lin-Rood dycore    Co-Ch: SWE WG

  *Rothstein*    *Louis*     *URI*            Biogeochemistry    PI: NOPP Biogeochem

  Rotman         Doug        LLNL             Atmos chemistry    Co-I: Consortium

  Sawyer         Will        NASA/DAO         SW Engineering     Co-I: Consortium

  Smith          Rick        LANL             Ocean model        Co-Ch: Ocean WG

  Taylor         John        ANL              Biogeochemistry    Co-I: Consortium

  Washington     Warren      NCAR             Coupled model      Co-I: Consortium

  *Williams*     *Dean*      LLNL             Diagnostic tools   Co-PI: ESG

  *Williamson*   *David*     NCAR             Atmospheric model  Co-I: Consortium

  Worley         Pat         ORNL             Model performance  Co-I: PERF ISIC
  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

## C. SciDAC-ESMF Memorandum Of Understanding {#c.-scidac-esmf-memorandum-of-understanding .Style-Heading-2-+-Before:--0\"-First-line:--0\" .unnumbered}

In order to clarify the relationship between ESMF and the SciDAC
Consortium, a Memorandum of Understanding has been drafted and
co-signed. The text follows.

> [Subject:]{.underline} Proposed Interaction of the DOE-funded SciDAC
> CCSM Consortium project with the NASA-funded Earth System Modeling
> Framework project
>
> [Background:]{.underline} The SciDAC CCSM Consortium project and the
> Earth System Modeling Framework (ESMF) project are two closely allied
> efforts involving improvements to the Community Climate System Model
> (CCSM). The five-year SciDAC project, funded by DOE in October 2001,
> will improve both the computational and scientific capabilities of the
> CCSM. The three-year Earth System Modeling Framework (ESMF) project,
> funded by NASA in March 2002, will create a common modeling
> infrastructure that the Earth science community can leverage to solve
> common computational problems. The CCSM is an ESMF testbed
> application.
>
> These two projects intersect primarily in the coupling system for the
> CCSM. The precursor to the SciDAC project, the eighteen-month DOE
> Accelerated Climate Prediction Initiative (ACPI) \"Avant Garde\"
> effort, had as one of its focus areas the development of a new CCSM
> coupler, CPL6. The current CCSM coupler, CPL5, is not distributed and
> would become a performance bottleneck for the CCSM as the modeling
> effort grows. CPL6 development began under ACPI and continues under
> SciDAC. One of the important outgrowths of this effort is the creation
> of the Model Coupling Toolkit (MCT) by Jay Larson and Rob Jacob of
> Argonne National Laboratory (ANL). The concepts and implementation of
> MCT are of great potential benefit to the ESMF effort, which is also
> charged with developing flexible coupling tools to increase
> interoperability and reuse across a large set of climate and weather
> models and data assimilation systems. Another important contribution
> to ESMF will be the Spherical Coordinate Remapping and Interpolation
> Package (SCRIP) developed by Phil Jones of Los Alamos National
> Laboratory (LANL). SCRIP is used in CPL5 and will be used, in modified
> form, in CPL6 and ESMF.
>
> [Participation of DOE scientists in ESMF]{.underline} It is critical
> that a computationally improved CCSM, including a coupler with both
> performance and flexibility enhancements, be delivered in a timely
> manner to meet the needs of both CCSM scientists and DOE climate
> program objectives. The DOE SciDAC CCSM Consortium project has a
> commitment to support CCSM development. The CCSM project, in turn, is
> committed to evaluating the ESMF software, including ESMF coupling
> services, and to adopting the software if it meets project
> requirements for performance, robustness, ease of use, and
> flexibility. To maximize the benefit to ESMF of DOE work on the CCSM,
> specifically MCT and SCRIP, it is important to involve DOE scientists
> in the definition of requirements for and early prototyping of ESMF.
> In order that such contributions to ESMF do not adversely impact the
> progress of DOE-funded SciDAC activities, participation of DOE
> scientists in ESMF must be supported by NASA funding.
>
> [Current Status and Plans]{.underline} In addition to developing MCT,
> which includes tools for representing and transferring gridded data
> and its associated metadata, Larson and Jacob advised an NCAR CGD
> team, led by Tom Bettge, on the development of higher-level objects
> such as bundles of fields and distributed grids. A unit tester of
> CPL6, called YAK, has been implemented, and it successfully transfers
> data between models and the coupler. The prototype coupler is
> distributed, has shown some performance enhancement over CPL5, and
> greatly increases flexibility in modifying the fields sent between
> models. CPL6 requires some functional enhancement, performance
> optimization, and improvements in robustness before it becomes viable
> as a replacement for CPL5.
>
> The functionality represented by MCT will be necessary for ESMF, and,
> like other coupling software such as the Flexible Modeling System from
> GFDL and the Goddard Earth Modeling System, will likely come close to
> satisfying ESMF requirements. As such it is an excellent prototype for
> ESMF coupling services. Like Larson, Phil Jones is a joint SciDAC/ESMF
> investigator, whose SCRIP software will be optimized and extended
> under ESMF funding for use in the framework. Will Sawyer of the NASA
> Goddard Data Assimilation Office is also working on both the SciDAC
> and ESMF project, contributing his experience in developing the
> PILGRIM (Parallel Integrated Library for GRId Manipulation)
> communication library. However, the scope of ESMF also encompasses
> extension and optimization of data types for time-variant, ungridded
> observations; introduction into the coupler of on-line generation of
> grid-interpolation weights; additional high-level features such as a
> component registry; sets of utilities unrelated to coupling; and,
> perhaps most importantly, the collective standardization of interfaces
> so that the modeling community can more easily interchange models and
> reuse coupling and other infrastructure software.
>
> Currently the ESMF team is beginning a requirements collection process
> that will extend through early summer 2002. A specification and
> prototype implementation are scheduled for summer 2003. A production
> version of the ESMF is anticipated in summer 2004. If ESMF meets the
> requirements of the CCSM, it will be adopted in the production version
> of CCSM as scheduling permits.
>
> Although currently unfunded by NASA, Larson is an investigator on the
> ESMF project and has been active in meetings and teleconferences since
> the ESMF collaboration formed in early 2000. One of the critical roles
> that the Argonne team has played is as a liaison to the broader
> computer science community for both the CCSM and ESMF. Larson is a
> collaborator on the Common Component Architecture (CCA) project, a DOE
> effort that seeks to enhance interoperability of scientific
> applications through CORBA-like standardization of components and data
> transfer services. He has been conducting research into alternative
> programming languages for coupling tools and into language
> interoperability tools. These areas are of central importance to the
> ESMF, which has committed to providing multiple language bindings.
> Through Larson, the ESMF and CCSM have been informed of new computer
> science opportunities and results, and the ESMF and CCSM have been
> represented to the computer science community.
>
> [Continued development of MCT]{.underline} Because the purpose of the
> SciDAC CCSM Consortium is to support development of CCSM, the
> Consortium management position is to endorse ESMF to the extent that
> it is approved by the Scientific Steering Committee, the ultimate
> decision-making body of the CCSM. It is hoped and expected that the
> expertise and experience acquired by DOE scientists during the
> development of MCT and SCRIP inform ESMF. Continued development of MCT
> in the near term (\~1-2 years) is necessary to meet SciDAC goals, and
> should not be construed as competing with ESMF. This is consistent
> with CCSM plans to incorporate a completed and proven CPL6 into the
> CCSM during 2002. In the longer term, SciDAC support for MCT may
> continue under the following conditions:

-   If an enhanced MCT is required for improvements to CPL6 while it
    serves as the CCSM coupler.

-   If a good case can be made that MCT is a more appropriate testbed
    for prototyping some new capability than is ESMF itself. However, it
    is expected that this new capability will be rapidly transferred to
    ESMF.

-   In the unlikely event that ESMF does not reach its milestones and is
    not completed or adopted.

> Of course, MCT development will continue, regardless of the
> \"Consortium\", if MCT has another (paying) customer whose needs are
> best met by MCT.
>
> [Conclusions]{.underline} It is essential for the alignment of these
> projects and a smooth transition of the CCSM from MCT-based couplers
> to ESMF-based couplers that Larson and Jacob participate in the
> earliest stages of ESMF requirements definition, interface
> specification, and prototyping. To maintain strong ties with the
> computer science activities at Argonne and elsewhere in the DOE, it is
> also critical for Larson to maintain a continuing role as a computer
> science liaison to the ESMF and CCSM software efforts. Therefore,
> Larson and Jacob will continue developing, extending, and optimizing
> coupling services for the CCSM throughout the 5-year course of the
> SciDAC project. The focus of their efforts will shift from a MCT-based
> coupler to an ESMF-based coupler once ESMF is installed in a
> production version of the CCSM. In order that such contributions to
> ESMF do not adversely impact the progress of DOE-funded SciDAC
> activities, participation of DOE scientists in ESMF must be supported
> by NASA funding.
>
> [Endorsed for SciDAC by:]{.underline}
>
> David Bader, DOE, SciDAC Program Manager
>
> Robert Malone, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Co-PI SciDAC Consortium
>
> John Drake, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Co-PI SciDAC Consortium
>
> John Taylor, Argonne National Laboratory, Co-I SciDAC Consortium
>
> [Endorsed for ESMF by:]{.underline}
>
> James Fischer, NASA ESTO/Computational Technologies Project Manager
>
> Tim Killeen , National Center for Atmospheric Research, Co-PI ESMF
>
> Arlindo da Silva, NASA Data Assimilation Office, Co-PI ESMF
>
> John Marshall, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Co-PI ESMF
>
> Cecelia DeLuca, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Co-I ESMF

[^1]: ^†^ A complete list of acronyms is given in Appendix A.

[^2]: ^\*^ Full names, affiliations, and primary interests and roles of
    individuals referred to in this document are listed in Appendix B.