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of Energy to Provide Supercomputing Time to Run NOAA's Climate
Change Models
Department of Energy to Provide Supercomputing
Time to Run NOAA's Climate Change Models
September 8, 2008
The
U.S.
Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Science will
make available more than 10 million hours of computing time
for the U.S. Commerce Department’s National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to explore advanced
climate change models at three of DOE’s national laboratories
as part of a three-year memorandum of understanding on collaborative
climate research signed today by the two agencies.
NOAA
will work with climate change models as well as perform near
real-time high-impact (non-production) weather prediction
research using computing time on DOE Office of Science resources
including two of the world’s top five most powerful
computers – the Argonne National Laboratory’s
557 TF IBM Blue Gene/P and Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s
263 TF Cray XT4. NOAA researchers will also receive time on
DOE’s National Energy Research Scientific Computing
Center at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
Advanced,
high-resolution climate models from NOAA’s
Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) will be prototyped
and compared to other models like the NSF-DOE sponsored Community
Climate System Model. This partnership is also consistent
with the goals of the U.S. Climate Change Science Program,
which is responsible for facilitating the creation and application
of knowledge of Earth’s global environment through research,
observations, decision support, and communication. NOAA and
DOE scientists play key roles in national and international
assessments, for example, the Nobel Prize winning Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change.
Under
the agreement, the Office of Science and NOAA will work together
to “improve the quality of and quantify the uncertainty
of climate and weather prediction, including improving the
prediction of high-impact weather events to provide the best
science-based climate and weather information for management
and policy decisions.”
“The
Energy Department computers will provide a unique platform
for studying the efficiency, scalability, and throughput characteristics
of our NOAA climate models. We can systematically compare
it to other climate models and evaluate its simulations against
data collected by atmospheric radiation measurements,”
said retired Navy Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr.,
Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and
NOAA Administrator.
“The
collaboration under this MOU will enable our country to take
leadership in both regional and global climate change prediction,
enhancing our ability to develop national policy,” said
DOE Under Secretary for Science Dr. Raymond L. Orbach. “This
will also improve weather prediction to help protect lives
and property, as well as the nation’s energy infrastructure.”
DOE’s
Office of Science supports research, including climate modeling
to: improve understanding of factors affecting the Earth's
radiant-energy balance; predict accurately any global and
regional climate change induced by increasing atmospheric
concentrations of aerosols and greenhouse gases;
quantify sources and sinks of energy-related greenhouse gases;
and improve the scientific basis for assessing both the potential
consequences of climatic changes and the benefits and costs
of alternative response options.
NOAA
looks forward to working with DOE’s technical staff
and applying advanced, computationally expensive climate models
prototyped on DOE systems to address crucial climate change
problems such as drought, water resources, and a rapidly changing
Arctic.
“Such
high-resolution simulations will give us a better understanding
of the impact of cloud feedbacks on the sensitivity of climate
to increased greenhouse gases and improve understanding of
future trends in high-impact weather events,” said Lautenbacher.
There
is no transfer of funds under the agreement.
NOAA
understands and predicts changes in the Earth's environment,
from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and
conserves and manages our coastal and marine resources.
The
Department of Energy’s Office of Science is the single
largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences
in the nation and helps ensure U.S. world leadership across
a broad range of scientific disciplines. The Office of Science
supports a diverse portfolio of research at more than 300
colleges and universities nationwide, manages 10 world-class
national laboratories with unmatched capabilities for solving
complex interdisciplinary scientific problems, and builds
and operates the world’s finest suite of scientific
facilities and instruments used annually by more than 21,000
researchers to extend the frontiers of all areas of science.
More information on the Office of Science is availalbe on
their Web site.
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