Goddard Space Flight Center's Software Integration and Visualization Office (SIVO) is actively developing tools that will assist the modeling community in communicating about and using Earth System Models.  These tools include: an Earth Science Modeling Framework (ESMF) Component to enable software interoperability, GUI-based workflow tools to assist in the set up and execution of model experiments with selected experiments pre-configured, standards based visualization tools, an active collective learning repository of modeling development knowledge, and traditional and new modes of community communications (web page program overview and wikis).

Earth Science Modeling Framework (ESMF) Component

A component is a software entity that enables software interoperability by encapsulating internal structure of a piece of software and by providing standard interfaces. ESMF is a component-based framework aimed at coupling software representations of physical systems. In ESMF, a component is a unit of software that has a standard calling interface and behavior. Components are suited for the representation of distinct, interfacing physical domains (e.g., land, sea and atmospheric physics). Thus different applications would consist of different groups of components. A component can represent pysical behavior of a system or can couple other components. A high-level view of the componenets that form a part of the NASA GEOS-5 Atmospheric General Circulation Model (AGCM) is shown in the figure below. 

Image above:GEOS-5 model (high-level) showing fvcore (finite volume dynamical core).

SIVO helps MAP PI's componentize their models and helps them couple these with other applications that are composed of components. Dr. Tom Clune and Dr. William Putman have recently created a coupler that permits replacement of the NASA Goddard Institue for Space Studies (GISS) ModelE dynamical core with Goddard Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMSO) fvcore. What makes this work challenging is that the GISS ModelE is not componentized under ESMF. Thus, a custom coupler had to be created in order to make this replacement. One of the advantages of this work is that it permits comparison of different models.

SIVO work planned for later this year includes:

- continuing work on an ESMF implementation of the oceans bio-geochemistry model developed by Dr. Watson Gregg

- working on comiponentizing an atmospheric chemistry model by Dr. David Lary (AeroChem) to use with the GEOS-5 model

- providing ancillary support to the Land Information Systems (LIS) for coupling with the NOAA Global Forecast System and to the Goddard Cumulus Ensemble (GCE) for coupling with GEOS-5

GUI-Based Workflow Tool

Built on top of a popular tool developed by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), SIVO is developing an end-to-end modeling Workflow Tool for NASA scientists and researchers. Tailored to the computing environment, scientific codes, and specific needs of the NASA modeling community, the Workflow Tool is designed to configure, run, monitor, and manage complex model experiments through a user-friendly GUI interface.  The interface eliminates the need for a researcher to log in to a system terminal and execute commands and provides centralized, ready access to experiment set-up and results 

Image above:The images above show two screen views in the Workflow Tool - an annotated example of the Workflow Tool's main interface (LEFT) and the graphical interface for the Workflow Tool's scheduler. + Larger main interface image + Larger scheduler interface

The Workflow Tool coordinates task scheduling such as source check-out, building, execution, post-processing, and visualization and then allows researchers to view results, compare experiments, and share experiments with other members of the community. A prototype of the Workflow Tool is currently in alpha testing. SIVO hopes to continue refining and customizing the Workflow Tool so that anyone wishing to run modeling experiments can run them quickly and efficiently.  An experiment database may be extended, and workflow GUI components may be contributed and integrated.  Scientists and researchers would then be able to spend less time on configuration requirements and more time generating scientific results.

Image left: Two Workflow Tool experiments with configuration differences highlighted.
+ Larger image

Active Self-Organizing Collective Learning Repository

SIVO has introduced Modeling Guru, a web-based research and collaboration resource for the scientific model development community. Modeling Guru is intended as a central repository where users can communicate with each other and find information related to the many aspects of scientific modeling development and NASA’s High-End Computing Systems. 

Image Left: A partial view of the Modeling Guru homepage. + Larger image

Topics range from models, to software tools, to computing systems. Through Modeling Guru, users can search the knowledgebase for answers, post questions to the community, add information that would be helpful to members of the community, and contact SIVO for support.  Modeling Guru offers a variety of features such as customization, discussion forums, blogs, online document collaboration, and searching ­– all with the convenience from a single location on the Internet.  Please note that currently users must have an existing user account with the NASA Center for Computational Sciences (NCCS) to post to Modeling Guru, but browsing is open.  This is currently in beta test and is changing daily.  If you do not have an account or are having difficulty logging in to the system, please go to Modeling Guru Accounts and Registration FAQ for more information.

Web Map Service (WMS)

The WMS tool allows users to interactively visualize Earth science data and model forecasts using any web browser. The visualizations can also be used in other applications such as Google Earth. SIVO has established Web Map Services for MAP05, MAP06, and other projects.

The WMS tool comprises two parts: a Server that actually makes the images, and a web-based Viewer that sends requests to the Server.

Image Left: Sample image showing precipitation from the GEOS-5 model run on 2006-10-31 for MAP 06. Images like this one can easily be generated using the MAP 06 WMS Viewer.