scholarly journals ESM-Tools Version 4.0: A modular infrastructure for stand-alone and coupled Earth System Modelling (ESM)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dirk Barbi ◽  
Nadine Wieters ◽  
Paul Gierz ◽  
Fatemeh Chegini ◽  
Sara Khosravi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Surface ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Surface Model ◽  
System Modelling ◽  
Climate Modelling ◽  
Earth System ◽  
Coupled Models ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Runtime Infrastructure ◽  
Earth System Modelling

Abstract. Earth system and climate modelling involves the simulation of processes on a wide range of scales and within and across various components of the Earth system. In practice, component models are often developed independently by different research groups and then combined using a dedicated coupling software. This procedure not only leads to a strongly growing number of available versions of model components and coupled setups but also to model- and system-dependent ways of obtaining and operating them. Therefore, implementing these Earth System Models (ESMs) can be challenging and extremely time-consuming, especially for less experienced modellers, or scientists aiming to use different ESMs as in the case of inter-comparison projects. To assist researchers and modellers by reducing avoidable complexity, we developed the ESM-Tools software, which provides a standard way for downloading, configuring, compiling, running and monitoring different models - coupled ESMs and stand-alone models alike - on a variety of High-Performance Computing (HPC) systems. (The ESM-Tools are equally applicable and helpful for stand-alone as for coupled models. In fact, the ESM-Tools are used as standard compile and runtime infrastructure for FESOM2, and currently also applied for ECHAM and ICON standalone simulations. As coupled ESMs are technically the more challenging tasks, we will focus on coupled setups, always implying that stand-alone models can benefit in the same way.) With the ESM-Tools, the user is only required to provide a short script consisting of only the experiment specific definitions, while the software executes all the phases of a simulation in the correct order. The software, which is well documented and easy to install and use, currently supports four ocean models, three atmosphere models, two biogeochemistry models, an ice sheet model, an isostatic adjustment model, a hydrology model and a land-surface model. ESM-Tools has been entirely re-coded in a high-level programming language (Python) and provides researchers with an even more user-friendly interface for Earth system modelling lately. The ESM-Tools were developed within the framework of the project Advanced Earth System Model Capacity, supported by the Helmholtz Association.

scholarly journals ESM-Tools version 5.0: a modular infrastructure for stand-alone and coupled Earth system modelling (ESM)

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 4051-4067
Author(s):  
Dirk Barbi ◽  
Nadine Wieters ◽  
Paul Gierz ◽  
Miguel Andrés-Martínez ◽  
Deniz Ural ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Surface ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Land Surface Model ◽  
Management Tool ◽  
Surface Model ◽  
System Modelling ◽  
Climate Modelling ◽  
Earth System ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Earth System Modelling

Abstract. Earth system and climate modelling involves the simulation of processes on a wide range of scales and within and across various compartments of the Earth system. In practice, component models are often developed independently by different research groups, adapted by others to their special interests and then combined using a dedicated coupling software. This procedure not only leads to a strongly growing number of available versions of model components and coupled setups but also to model- and high-performance computing (HPC)-system-dependent ways of obtaining, configuring, building and operating them. Therefore, implementing these Earth system models (ESMs) can be challenging and extremely time consuming, especially for less experienced modellers or scientists aiming to use different ESMs as in the case of intercomparison projects. To assist researchers and modellers by reducing avoidable complexity, we developed the ESM-Tools software, which provides a standard way for downloading, configuring, compiling, running and monitoring different models on a variety of HPC systems. It should be noted that ESM-Tools is not a coupling software itself but a workflow and infrastructure management tool to provide access to increase usability of already existing components and coupled setups. As coupled ESMs are technically the more challenging tasks, we will focus on coupled setups, always implying that stand-alone models can benefit in the same way. With ESM-Tools, the user is only required to provide a short script consisting of only the experiment-specific definitions, while the software executes all the phases of a simulation in the correct order. The software, which is well documented and easy to install and use, currently supports four ocean models, three atmosphere models, two biogeochemistry models, an ice sheet model, an isostatic adjustment model, a hydrology model and a land-surface model. Compared to previous versions, ESM-Tools has lately been entirely recoded in a high-level programming language (Python) and provides researchers with an even more user-friendly interface for Earth system modelling. ESM-Tools was developed within the framework of the Advanced Earth System Model Capacity project, supported by the Helmholtz Association.

scholarly journals ESM-Tools Version 5.0: A modular infrastructure for stand-alone and coupled Earth System Modelling (ESM)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dirk Barbi ◽  
Miguel Andrés-Martínez ◽  
Deniz Ural ◽  
Luisa Cristini ◽  
Paul Gierz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Surface ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Multiple Models ◽  
System Modelling ◽  
Specific Information ◽  
Climate Modelling ◽  
Earth System ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Ocean Atmosphere ◽  
Earth System Modelling

<p>During the last two decades, modern societies have gradually understood the urge to tackle the climate change challenge, and consequently, a growing number of national and international initiatives have been launched with the aim of better understanding the Earth System. In this context, Earth System Modelling (ESM) has rapidly expanded, leading to a large number of research groups targeting the many components of the system at different scales and with different levels of interactions between components. This has led to the development of increasing number of models, couplings, versions tuned to address different scales or scenarios, and model-specific compilation and operating procedures. This operational complexity makes the implementation of multiple models excessively time consuming especially for less experienced modellers.</p><p>ESM-Tools is an open-source modular software written in Python, aimed to overcome many of the difficulties associated to the operation of ESMs. ESM-Tools allows for downloading, compiling and running a wide range of ESM models and coupled setups in the most important HPC facilities available in Germany. It currently supports multiple models for ocean, atmosphere, biochemistry, ice sheet, isostatic adjustment, hydrology, and land-surface, and six ocean-atmosphere and two ice-sheet-ocean-atmosphere coupled setups, through two couplers (included modularly through ESM-Interface). The tools are coded in Python while all the component and coupling information is contained in easy-to-read YAML files. The front-end user is required to provide only a short script written in YAML format, containing the experiment specific definitions. This user-friendly interface makes ESM-Tools a convenient software for training and educational purposes. Simultaneously, its modularity and the separation between the component-specific information and tool scripts facilitates the implementation and maintenance of new components, couplings and versions. ESM-Tools team of scientific programmers provides also user support, workshops and detailed documentation. The ESM-Tools were developed within the framework of the project Advance Earth System Model Capacity, supported by Helmholtz Association and has become one of the main pillars of the German infrastructure for Climate Modelling.</p>

scholarly journals A multi-layer land surface energy budget model for implicit coupling with global atmospheric simulations

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 8649-8701 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Ryder ◽  
J. Polcher ◽  
P. Peylin ◽  
C. Ottlé ◽  
Y. Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Stomatal Conductance ◽  
Energy Budget ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Radiation Budget ◽  
Surface Model ◽  
System Modelling ◽  
Detailed Calculation ◽  
Sensible Heat ◽  
Earth System ◽  
Specific Calculation

Abstract. In Earth system modelling, a description of the energy budget of the vegetated surface layer is fundamental as it determines the meteorological conditions in the planetary boundary layer and as such contributes to the atmospheric conditions and its circulation. The energy budget in most Earth system models has long been based on a "big-leaf approach", with averaging schemes that represent in-canopy processes. Such models have difficulties in reproducing consistently the energy balance in field observations. We here outline a newly developed numerical model for energy budget simulation, as a component of the land surface model ORCHIDEE-CAN (Organising Carbon and Hydrology In Dynamic Ecosystems – CANopy). This new model implements techniques from single-site canopy models in a practical way. It includes representation of in-canopy transport, a multilayer longwave radiation budget, height-specific calculation of aerodynamic and stomatal conductance, and interaction with the bare soil flux within the canopy space. Significantly, it avoids iterations over the height of tha canopy and so maintains implicit coupling to the atmospheric model LMDz. As a first test, the model is evaluated against data from both an intensive measurement campaign and longer term eddy covariance measurements for the intensively studied Eucalyptus stand at Tumbarumba, Australia. The model performs well in replicating both diurnal and annual cycles of fluxes, as well as the gradients of sensible heat fluxes. However, the model overestimates sensible heat flux against an underestimate of the radiation budget. Improved performance is expected through the implementation of a more detailed calculation of stand albedo and a more up-to-date stomatal conductance calculation.

scholarly journals Towards a more objective evaluation of modelled land-carbon trends using atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub> and satellite-based vegetation activity observations

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 4189-4210 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Dalmonech ◽  
S. Zaehle
Keyword(s):  
Land Surface ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Evaluation Framework ◽  
Atmospheric Co2 ◽  
Evaluation Methodology ◽  
Surface Model ◽  
System Modelling ◽  
Earth System ◽  
Vegetation Activity

Abstract. Terrestrial ecosystem models used for Earth system modelling show a significant divergence in future patterns of ecosystem processes, in particular the net land–atmosphere carbon exchanges, despite a seemingly common behaviour for the contemporary period. An in-depth evaluation of these models is hence of high importance to better understand the reasons for this disagreement. Here, we develop an extension for existing benchmarking systems by making use of the complementary information contained in the observational records of atmospheric CO2 and remotely sensed vegetation activity to provide a novel set of diagnostics of ecosystem responses to climate variability in the last 30 yr at different temporal and spatial scales. The selection of observational characteristics (traits) specifically considers the robustness of information given that the uncertainty of both data and evaluation methodology is largely unknown or difficult to quantify. Based on these considerations, we introduce a baseline benchmark – a minimum test that any model has to pass – to provide a more objective, quantitative evaluation framework. The benchmarking strategy can be used for any land surface model, either driven by observed meteorology or coupled to a climate model. We apply this framework to evaluate the offline version of the MPI Earth System Model's land surface scheme JSBACH. We demonstrate that the complementary use of atmospheric CO2 and satellite-based vegetation activity data allows pinpointing of specific model deficiencies that would not be possible by the sole use of atmospheric CO2 observations.

scholarly journals Coupling technologies for Earth System Modelling

2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 1987-2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Valcke ◽  
V. Balaji ◽  
A. Craig ◽  
C. DeLuca ◽  
R. Dunlap ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
System Modelling ◽  
Climate Modelling ◽  
Earth System ◽  
Common Features ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Future Challenges ◽  
Computing Platforms ◽  
Design Characteristics ◽  
Earth System Modelling

Abstract. This paper presents a review of the software currently used in climate modelling in general and in CMIP5 in particular to couple the numerical codes representing the different components of the Earth system. The coupling technologies presented show common features, such as the ability to communicate and regrid data, but also offer different functions and implementations. Design characteristics of the different approaches are discussed as well as future challenges arising from the increasing complexity of scientific problems and computing platforms.

scholarly journals Constraints from atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub> and satellite-based vegetation activity observations on current land carbon cycle trends

2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 16087-16138 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Dalmonech ◽  
S. Zaehle
Keyword(s):  
Land Surface ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Evaluation Framework ◽  
Atmospheric Co2 ◽  
Surface Model ◽  
System Modelling ◽  
Earth System ◽  
Activity Data ◽  
Vegetation Activity

Abstract. Terrestrial ecosystem models used for Earth system modelling show a significant divergence in future patterns of ecosystem processes, in particular carbon exchanges, despite a seemingly common behaviour for the contemporary period. An in-depth evaluation of these models is hence of high importance to achieve a better understanding of the reasons for this disagreement. Here, we develop an extension for existing benchmarking systems by making use of the complementary information contained in the observational records of atmospheric CO2 and remotely-sensed vegetation activity to provide a firm set of diagnostics of ecosystem responses to climate variability in the last 30 yr at different temporal and spatial scales. The selection of observational characteristics (traits) specifically considers the robustness of information given the uncertainties in both data and evaluation analysis. In addition, we provide a baseline benchmark, a minimum test that the model under consideration has to pass, to provide a more objective, quantitative evaluation framework. The benchmarking strategy can be used for any land surface model, either driven by observed meteorology or coupled to a climate model. We apply this framework to evaluate the offline version of the MPI-Earth system model's land surface scheme JSBACH. We demonstrate that the complementary use of atmospheric CO2 and satellite based vegetation activity data allows to pinpoint specific model failures that would not be possible by the sole use of atmospheric CO2 observations.

scholarly journals ORCHIDEE MICT-LEAK (r5459), a global model for the production, transport, and transformation of dissolved organic carbon from Arctic permafrost regions – Part 1: Rationale, model description, and simulation protocol

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 3503-3521 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon P. K. Bowring ◽  
Ronny Lauerwald ◽  
Bertrand Guenet ◽  
Dan Zhu ◽  
Matthieu Guimberteau ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Organic Carbon ◽  
Dissolved Organic Carbon ◽  
High Latitude ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
River Network ◽  
Model Description ◽  
Surface Model ◽  
System Modelling ◽  
Earth System ◽  
Simulation Protocol

Abstract. Few Earth system models adequately represent the unique permafrost soil biogeochemistry and its respective processes; this significantly contributes to uncertainty in estimating their responses, and that of the planet at large, to warming. Likewise, the riverine component of what is known as the “boundless carbon cycle” is seldom recognised in Earth system modelling. The hydrological mobilisation of organic material from a ∼1330–1580 PgC carbon stock to the river network results in either sedimentary settling or atmospheric “evasion”, processes widely expected to increase with amplified Arctic climate warming. Here, the production, transport, and atmospheric release of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) from high-latitude permafrost soils into inland waters and the ocean are explicitly represented for the first time in the land surface component (ORCHIDEE) of a CMIP6 global climate model (Institut Pierre Simon Laplace – IPSL). The model, ORCHIDEE MICT-LEAK, which represents the merger of previously described ORCHIDEE versions MICT and LEAK, mechanistically represents (a) vegetation and soil physical processes for high-latitude snow, ice, and soil phenomena and (b) the cycling of DOC and CO2, including atmospheric evasion, along the terrestrial–aquatic continuum from soils through the river network to the coast at 0.5 to 2∘ resolution. This paper, the first in a two-part study, presents the rationale for including these processes in a high-latitude-specific land surface model, then describes the model with a focus on novel process implementations, followed by a summary of the model configuration and simulation protocol. The results of these simulation runs, conducted for the Lena River basin, are evaluated against observational data in the second part of this study.

scholarly journals Understanding the Impacts of Soil Moisture Initial Conditions on NWP in the Context of Land–Atmosphere Coupling

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 793-819 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph A. Santanello Jr. ◽  
Patricia Lawston ◽  
Sujay Kumar ◽  
Eli Dennis
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
High Resolution ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Initial Conditions ◽  
Land Surface Model ◽  
Surface Model ◽  
Coupled Models ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Soil Moisture Initialization

Abstract The role of soil moisture in NWP has gained more attention in recent years, as studies have demonstrated impacts of land surface states on ambient weather from diurnal to seasonal scales. However, soil moisture initialization approaches in coupled models remain quite diverse in terms of their complexity and observational roots, while assessment using bulk forecast statistics can be simplistic and misleading. In this study, a suite of soil moisture initialization approaches is used to generate short-term coupled forecasts over the U.S. Southern Great Plains using NASA’s Land Information System (LIS) and NASA Unified WRF (NU-WRF) modeling systems. This includes a wide range of currently used initialization approaches, including soil moisture derived from “off the shelf” products such as atmospheric models and land data assimilation systems, high-resolution land surface model spinups, and satellite-based soil moisture products from SMAP. Results indicate that the spread across initialization approaches can be quite large in terms of soil moisture conditions and spatial resolution, and that SMAP performs well in terms of heterogeneity and temporal dynamics when compared against high-resolution land surface model and in situ soil moisture estimates. Case studies are analyzed using the local land–atmosphere coupling (LoCo) framework that relies on integrated assessment of soil moisture, surface flux, boundary layer, and ambient weather, with results highlighting the critical role of inherent model background biases. In addition, simultaneous assessment of land versus atmospheric initial conditions in an integrated, process-level fashion can help address the question of whether improvements in traditional NWP verification statistics are achieved for the right reasons.

scholarly journals A multi-layer land surface energy budget model for implicit coupling with global atmospheric simulations

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 223-245 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Ryder ◽  
J. Polcher ◽  
P. Peylin ◽  
C. Ottlé ◽  
Y. Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Surface Layer ◽  
Energy Budget ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Large Time ◽  
Atmospheric Model ◽  
Wave Radiation ◽  
Surface Model ◽  
System Modelling ◽  
Earth System ◽  
Specific Calculation

Abstract. In Earth system modelling, a description of the energy budget of the vegetated surface layer is fundamental as it determines the meteorological conditions in the planetary boundary layer and as such contributes to the atmospheric conditions and its circulation. The energy budget in most Earth system models has been based on a big-leaf approach, with averaging schemes that represent in-canopy processes. Furthermore, to be stable, that is to say, over large time steps and without large iterations, a surface layer model should be capable of implicit coupling to the atmospheric model. Surface models with large time steps, however, have difficulties in reproducing consistently the energy balance in field observations. Here we outline a newly developed numerical model for energy budget simulation, as a component of the land surface model ORCHIDEE-CAN (Organising Carbon and Hydrology In Dynamic Ecosystems – CANopy). This new model implements techniques from single-site canopy models in a practical way. It includes representation of in-canopy transport, a multi-layer long-wave radiation budget, height-specific calculation of aerodynamic and stomatal conductance, and interaction with the bare-soil flux within the canopy space. Significantly, it avoids iterations over the height of the canopy and so maintains implicit coupling to the atmospheric model LMDz (Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique Zoomed model). As a first test, the model is evaluated against data from both an intensive measurement campaign and longer-term eddy-covariance measurements for the intensively studied Eucalyptus stand at Tumbarumba, Australia. The model performs well in replicating both diurnal and annual cycles of energy and water fluxes, as well as the vertical gradients of temperature and of sensible heat fluxes.

Assess the impacts of different land cover datasets on land surface hydrological process in Community Earth System Model (CESM)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaoqiang Ni ◽  
Hui Lu
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Land Cover ◽  
Land Cover Change ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Substantial Effect ◽  
Land Cover Changes ◽  
System Modelling ◽  
Hydrological Process ◽  
Earth System ◽  
Earth System Modelling

&lt;p&gt;By changing matter and energy exchange, biogeochemical process and geophysical process, land use and land cover changes have crucial effects on the earth system modelling. Previous studies have focused on reconstructing the land use and land cover change to be a continuous changing process over time considering human and natural factors. The real land cover change processes have rarely been taken into consideration in the simulation of earth system. Using Gong global land cover mapping products (1985-2015) and the Lawrence land cover dataset (default) in CESM, this study have quantitatively compared the differences in plant function types (PFT) between two products. The results show the land cover changes in default dataset are slowly changing processes with little variation from year to year. In contrast, the Gong global mapping products express a noticeable drastic change tendency between adjacent years. Driving the model with different land cover datasets, our results indicates that globally land evapotranspiration (ET) is dramatically impacted by the land cover changes, especially in areas with distinct tree changes. Also the land cover change can cause a certain proportion variation in soil water (-50%-65%) and runoff (-60%-60%, even &gt;90% in some special grid points) in a global scale. This study estimates the substantial effect land use and land cover changes can have on the land surface hydrological process in earth system modelling.&lt;/p&gt;

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