INTEGRATION OF EARTH AND SPACE FRAMEWORKS

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The space science and Earth science communities are engaged in a dialogue on how to develop interfaces that will allow emerging community frameworks - the Space Weather Modeling Framework (SWMF), the tools being used by the Center for Integrated Space Weather Modeling (CISM), and ESMF - to interoperate. This page includes materials from two initiatives.

Publications and Talks

Killeen, T., C. DeLuca, T. Gombosi, G. Toth, Q. Stout, C. Goodrich, A. Sussman, and M. Hesse, 2006: Integrated Frameworks for Earth and Space Weather Simulation. Preprint presented at the American Meteorological Society Meeting, Atlanta, GA, January 29-February 2, 2006. (Download PowerPoint file)

SWMF and ESMF

Sponsor: NSF

Abstract: We will integrate SWMF with ESMF and will make it possible to run SWMF as a stand-alone tool or as an ESMF component that provides input for Earth system models (such as cloud formation), or simply can be run through ESMF. We will provide a modest extension to the ESMF system that will simplify the SWMF/ESMF coupling, and will help to define a paradigm for future collaboration between the two projects.

The specific tasks are the following:

• We will provide templates to use the ESMF superstructure and access the full functionality of SWMF. Here the primary work involves modifying the control structure of SWMF so that it is ESMF compliant and can be run as a single integrated unit within ESMF.
• We will demonstrate that SWMF and ESMF can exchange field information on a uniform grid. We will add modules that run within SWMF to show that SWMF can produce useful field data on a uniform grid which is passed to an ESMF component. The entire exchange process will be under the control of ESMF. We will also demonstrate that grid information can be passed in the other direction as well. Here the primary difficulty is that ESMF and SWMF use significantly different mechanisms for coupling components and exchanging gridded information. A module running under SWMF and communicating with ESMF components must incorporate both coupling mechanisms.
• We will provide ESMF with the capability to represent and create a static three dimensional grid and regrid data from that grid. This capability is a step towards the functionality required by the space community, and will simplify the process of transferring SWMF data into the ESMF system. Insofar as possible the code developed will be shared intact by both SWMF and ESMF systems, thus setting a precedent for collaborative development.

Developer files

• SWMF_v2.2_2005Oct31_1852.tar.gz
• README.txt

CISM and ESMF

Sponsor: NASA

Abstract: We will explore the addition of a multiple executable, put/get data transfer paradigm to the ESMF framework using the CISM InterComm tool. The goals will be to create coupling interface for ESMF and CISM components, and to add flexibility to the ESMF framework. We plan to use InterComm to execute the inter-component data transfers, but to allow ESMF components to do this through interfaces that are ESMF-defined, and accept ESMF_State data structures.

Currently the ESMF framework is limited to coupling components by passing ESMF_State types through component argument lists. There are a number of situations in which this approach poses problems. The first case occurs when the changes made to a component version to run within a framework must be kept to an absolute minimum. The put/get paradigm generally involves changing fewer lines of code within the component version itself. The second case occurs when a coupling must be executed without returning control from the components involved.

In this demonstration, the specific tasks are:

• We will create ESMF_StatePut() and ESMF_StateGet() commands that will perform a data transformation between ESMF_based components, utilizing the InterComm package to execute the transfer. We will demonstrate the use of these commands in a simple model.
• We will demonstrate in a simple model the ability to execute a data transformation between an ESMF component and a CISM component using InterComm, with the ESMF component using ESMF interfaces and the CISM component using native InterComm interfaces.