Home > PC >

Originally appeared in Tuesday, September 12, 2006 Oak Ridger
URL: http://www.oakridger.com/stories/091206/new_96896125.shtml

Precision climate modeling forecast by ORNL researchers

By: From Staff Reports

Climate modeling of tomorrow will feature precision and scale only imagined just a few years ago, say researchers David Erickson and John Drake of Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Computer Science and Mathematics Division.

Tremendous computational capabilities at ORNL’s Leadership Computing Facility combined with other software tools now make it possible for researchers to create models that take into account the complete carbon cycle, terrestrial biology, El Ninos and hundreds of other factors. The goal is to provide what scientists call a fully integrated Earth system model that can be simulated every 15 minutes for centuries.

“Before, we had to make compromises that ultimately limited the resolution and scope of our models and subsequent predictions,” said Drake, who noted that climate modeling is an enormous multi-agency effort. “Now, using what we have learned and with computing power exceeding 50 teraflops, we can make our models far more sophisticated.”

Drake, Erickson and other researchers from ORNL are working with colleagues at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, NASA, Duke University, Georgia Tech and national labs across the country to develop a climate end station. The primary objective of the station will be to upgrade and maintain the Community Climate Systems Model, which has already been used to generate almost 12,000 climate simulations. This information is aimed at helping scientists assess the risk of human-induced climate change.

ORNL scientists are especially excited about a five-year $1.2 million project with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center involving a satellite that will allow them to track carbon dioxide emissions down to 75-kilometer grids around the world.

The work by Drake and Erickson, who was recently appointed to serve as a member of the National Research Council study on the potential impact of high-end computing on illustrative fields of science and engineering, is funded by DOE’s Office of Science, NASA and ORNL’s Laboratory Directed Research and Development program.

All Contents ©Copyright The Oak Ridger
Mirrored with permission