Arctic System Modeling Workshop II: Science Planning (2008)

May 19-21, 2008
NCAR Center Green
Boulder, Colorado

Overview

Meeting Summary

The University of Alaska Fairbanks International Arctic Research Center held a community workshop on the implementation of a community limited area Arctic System Model or Portfolio of Models in Boulder, Colorado, May 19-21, 2008. This workshop addressed a growing need for numerical tools to downscale information from global models to the temporal and spatial resolution of in-situ and satellite measurements and scales appropriate for planning for economic and social change in the Arctic. The workshop was announced in two issues of EOS (PDF), the CliC Newsletter (PDF) and ArcticInfo following an initial announcement (PDF) of the meeting at the 2007 American Geophysical Union Fall meeting. A list of workshop participants is available below.

The aim of the workshop was to discuss viable approaches for development of a limited area Community Arctic System Model. Presentations and working documents from the meeting can be downloaded below. Meeting outcomes, downloads and links to other ASM meetings are also available below. For further information on the science content of the meeting, please email Andrew Roberts (arobertsarsc [dot] edu). Also see websites for the ASM I and ASM III meetings.

Organizing Committee

  • Prof. Larry Hinzman, International Arctic Research Center
  • Prof. John E. Walsh, International Arctic Research Center
  • Dr. Andrew Roberts, International Arctic Research Center & Arctic Region Supercomputing Center
  • Dr. Marika Holland, National Center for Atmospheric Research
  • Dr. John Cassano, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences
  • Dr. Ralf Döscher, Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute
  • Dr. Humio Mitsudera, Institute of Low Temperature Science, Hokkaido University

Sponsor

International Arctic Research Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks

 

Materials and Outcomes

Lead-up to this workshop


Agenda, presentations and discussions at this workshop

Presentations and breakout summaries can be seen in the context of the meeting agenda.


Outcomes from this workshop

Two publications have arisen from the ASM workshop series. These include documentation of the outcomes of ASM II:

  • Roberts, A. and coauthors 2010. A Science Plan for Regional Arctic System Modeling (PDF 46MB), A report to the National Science Foundation from the International Arctic Science Community. International Arctic Research Center Technical Papers 10-0001. International Arctic Research Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks.
  • Roberts, A., J. Cherry, R. Döscher, S. Elliott, L. Sushama, 2011. Exploring the Potential for Arctic System Modeling, Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 92(2), DOI: 10.1175/2010BAMS2959.1

In addition, several presentations have communicated ASM II outcomes with the Arctic research community:

Supplemental material for workshop participants is available here:

Subsequent meetings

Arctic System Modeling Workshop III (2009)

Participants

Attendees

Axford, Yarrow University of Colorado, USA yaxfordbuffalo [dot] edu
Bailey, DavidNCAR, USA dbaileyucar [dot] edu
Bromwich, DavidOhio State University, USA bromwichpolarmet1 [dot] mps [dot] ohio-state [dot] edu
Cassano, JohnCIRES, USA cassanocires [dot] colorado [dot] edu
Cherry, JessicaUAF, USA jcherryiarc [dot] uaf [dot] edu
Curchitser, EnriqueRutgers University enriquemarine [dot] rutgers [dot] edu
DeLuca, Cecelia NCAR, USA cdelucaucar [dot] edu
Doescher, RalfSMHI, Sweden ralf [dot] doeschersmhi [dot] se
Dong, ChangmingUCLA, USA cdongatmos [dot] ucla [dot] edu
Elliott, ScottLANL, USA smelanl [dot] gov
Euskirchen, EugenieUAF, USA ffeseuaf [dot] edu
Gutowski, BillIowa State University, USA gutowskiiastate [dot] edu
Haidvogel, DaleRutgers University, USA dalemarine [dot] rutgers [dot] edu
He, JuanxiongUAF, USA jheiarc [dot] uaf [dot] edu
Hill, ChrisMIT, USA cnhmit [dot] edu
Hinzman, LarryUAF, USA ffldhuaf [dot] edu
Holland, MarikaNCAR, USA mhollandcgd [dot] ucar [dot] edu
Hunke, ElizabethLANL, USA eclarelanl [dot] gov
Ivanov, Valeriy University of Michigan, USA ivanovumich [dot] edu
Ivey, MarkDOE Climate Research Facility, USA mdiveysandia [dot] gov
Lawrence, DavidNCAR, USA dlawrenucar [dot] edu
Lettenmaier, DennisUniversity of Washington, USA dennislu [dot] washington [dot] edu
Leung, Lai-YungPNNL, USA Ruby [dot] Leungpnl [dot] gov
Liston, GlenColorado State University, USA Listoncira [dot] colostate [dot] edu
Maslowski, Wieslaw Naval Postgraduate School, USA maslowsknps [dot] edu
Mitsudera, FumioHokkaido University, Japan humiomlowtem [dot] hokudai [dot] ac [dot] jp
Newby, GregUAF, USA newbyarsc [dot] edu
Overeem, IrinaUniversity of Colorado, USA Irina [dot] OvereemColorado [dot] EDU
Park, HotaekJAMSTEC, Japan parkjamstec [dot] go [dot] jp
Persson, OlaNOAA/CIRES, USA operssoncires [dot] colorado [dot] edu
Proshutinsky, AndreyWHOI, USA aproshutinskywhoi [dot] edu
Roberts, AndrewUAF, USA arobertsiarc [dot] uaf [dot] edu
Romanovsky, VladimirUAF, USA ffveruaf [dot] edu
Saito, KazuyukiUAF, USA ksaitoiarc [dot] uaf [dot] edu
Seefeldt, MarkCIRES, USA mark [dot] seefeldtcolorado [dot] edu
Serreze, MarkNSIDC, USA serrezekryos [dot] colorado [dot] edu
Slater, DrewCIRES, USA aslatercires [dot] colorado [dot] edu
Solomon, Amy NOAA/CIRES, USA amy [dot] solomonnoaa [dot] gov
Stark, Don UCAR, USA starkucar [dot] edu
Sushama, LaxmiUniversity of Quebec, Canada sushamasca [dot] uqam [dot] ca
Uotila, Petteri Monash University, Australia Petteri [dot] Uotilaarts [dot] monash [dot] edu [dot] au
Vavrus, SteveUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison, USA sjvavruswisc [dot] edu
Walsh, JohnUAF, USA jwalshiarc [dot] uaf [dot] edu
Weatherly, JohnCRREL, USA John [dot] W [dot] Weatherlyusace [dot] army [dot] mil
Werner, SandraExxon Mobil Research sandra [dot] r [dot] wernerexxonmobil [dot] com
Zhang, TingjunCIRES, USA tzhangkryos [dot] colorado [dot] edu

 

Contributors

Bitz, Cecilia University of Washington, USA bitzatmos [dot] washington [dot] edu
Budgell, Paul Memorial University, Canada Paul [dot] Budgellimr [dot] no
Hutchings, Jennifer UAF, USA jennyiarc [dot] uaf [dot] edu

 

Agenda

The meeting will be held in the CG-1 Auditorium, NCAR Center Green, Boulder, Colorado, May 19-21, 2008.
Monday May 19 Current status and future directions
   
1. Introduction
 
8:30-8:45 Welcome – Hinzman and Gent
8:45-9:00 Purpose - Walsh
9:00-9:15 Recommendations from the first ASM workshop - Roberts
   
2. Regional Arctic Modeling Projects
 
9:15-9:30 Lessons learned from ARCSyM - Bailey/Cassano
9:30-9:45 ROMS - Budgell/Dong/Haidvogel/Curchitser
9:45-10:00 PolarWRF - Bromwich/Solomon/Persson/Seefeldt
10:00-10:30 Break
10:30-10:45 RACM - Maslowski/Cassano/Gutowski/Lettenmaier
10:45-11:00 ECCO - Hill
11:00-11:15 SMHI model - Doescher
11:15-11:30 CICE - Hunke
   
3. Key science questions best answered with regional coupled Arctic models
 
11:30-12:00 How can regional coupled Arctic modeling efforts best interact with the global climate modeling community? - Holland/Bitz (15 min talk, 15 min discussion)

(outcome  added to a working report)
12:00-12:30 Organization of Breakout Sessions - Hinzman
12:30-13:30 Lunch
13:30-15:00 Five breakout sessions, two leaders for each (one coordinator, one scribe)
  1. Atmosphere - Cassano/Bromwich (CG Right Bay)
  2. Ocean-Ice-Atmosphere Boundary - Hunke/Serreze (CG Middle Bay)
  3. Ocean - Proshutinsky/Haidvogel (CG Left Bay)
  4. Terrestrial-Atmosphere Boundary - Liston/Lawrence (CG1 Room 3131)
  5. Terrestrial - Romanovsky/Euskirchen (CG1 Room 2655)
Questions to be addressed by each breakout session:
  1. What science questions exist for the Arctic that are best answered with coupled regional models?
  2. What are the existing modeling and model validation efforts aimed towards answering these questions?
  3. What model and model validation projects are on the horizon aimed towards answering these questions?
  4. What Arctic science questions cannot be answered with limited area regional coupled Arctic models?
  5. What science questions are missing from existing efforts?
  6. What human systems are relevant to the physical systems being addressed?  Are there existing models for these human systems?
  7. What are reasonable boundaries on the ‘Arctic System’ for your area of research?
These questions should address physical, biogeochemical and biological systems

(outcome added to a working report)
15:00-15:30 Presentations from breakout sessions
15:30-16:00 Break
   
4. Community compass
   
16:00-16:30 Lessons learned from building community models - Vavrus/Lawrence/Hunke/Bailey/Holland (15 min talk, 15 min discussion)
16:30-17:30 Forum: Future direction - Hinzman To the floor to answer these questions:
  1. Would Arctic system science benefit from existing and planned efforts aligning into a cohesive community Arctic system modeling effort?
  2. If not a single community end-to-end coupled model, is a coordinated, multi-model portfolio a good way to proceed with a network of individually maintained component models using the same coupling and archiving protocols?
  3. Are there questions not being addressed at present that can be addressed by either of these frameworks?
  4. Could a community effort benefit model inter-comparison?

(outcome added to a working report)
18:00-20:00 Light meal and informal reception
   
   
Tuesday May 20 Infrastructure, validation, inter-comparison and collaboration
   
8:30-8:45 Aim of today - Hinzman
   
5. Infrastructure
   
8:45-9:15 Software: ESMF - Stark/Hill
9:15-9:30 Hardware: ARSC - Newby
   
6. Model validation
   
9:30-9:45 Atmospheric observational needs for model validation (Perrson full slide set) - Bromwich/Perrson/Cassano
9:45-10:00 Oceanic observational needs for model validation (Hutchings full slide set) - Proshutinsky/Dong/Hutchings
10:00-10:30 Break
10:30-10:45 Terrestrial observational needs for model validation - Romanovsky/Slater
10:45-11:00 Human dimension needs - Cherry
11:00-11:30 What type of data facility is most useful in the development and validation of coupled regional models? - Serreze (15 min talk, 15 min discussion)

(outcome added to a working report)
   
7. Exploration of future community collaboration
   
11:30-12:30 Forum: Potential for a community project - Walsh To the floor to answer these questions:
  1. What are the most effective strategies for funding Arctic system modeling activities to answer key science questions listed yesterday?
  2. Is a community pilot project a good way to proceed as a proof of concept for future coordinated regional coupled modeling, inter-comparison and validation?

    If so:

    • What subset of science questions from yesterday could a pilot-project easily address for early success?
    • What component models and resources might be available for such a project?
    • Should we proceed with a portfolio-of-models approach or an end-to-end model approach?

    If not:

    What other ways can the community coordinate regional coupled modeling efforts?
    • What domains and boundaries should we define as the ‘Arctic System’ for community projects in light of yesterday’s breakout sessions?

(outcome added to a working report) Organize after-lunch breakout sessions in light of the outcome of this discussion.
12:30-13:30 Lunch
13:30-15:00 Four breakout sessions, two leaders for each (one coordinator, one scribe)
  1. Coordination Strategy and Project management of a community effort:
    • What is the best way to coordinate community work?
    • Is it appropriate to establish a coordination committee?
    • Are CCSM-like working groups the best model to follow? - Walsh/Cassano (CG Left Bay)
  2. Gauging model performance:
    • Should a validation standard be established?
    • If so, what measurements might be part of the standard?
    • Can we suggest inter-comparison protocols? - Bromwich/Proshutinsky (CG Center Bay)
  3. Coupling protocols – software and strategy
    • Is it useful to create a coupling standard?
    • Is the best approach to make a single coupler available for community collaboration? - Maslowski/Stark (CG Right Bay)
  4. Community biogeochemical/ecological/economic system modules (Human dimension benchmarks)
    • Can a few ecological/economic modules be made available to get quick success for community biological and economic modeling of the Arctic?
    • Would any of these modules feed back to the system? - Elliott/Cherry (CG1 room 3131)

(outcome added to a working report)
15:00-15:30 Break
15:30-16:00 Presentations from breakout sessions
16:00-17:00 Forum: IARC's role in future community efforts - Walsh/Hinzman To the floor to address these questions:
  1. What role should and can IARC play in community Arctic System Model development?
  2. How can IARC best facilitate development in the community?

(outcome added to a working report)
   
Wednesday May 21 Recommending the way forward for community collaboration
   
8. Conclusion and plan
   
8:30-9:30 Forum: Charting the way forward and possible coordination mechanisms (Greg Newby contributions) - Walsh/Doescher

(outcome added to a working report)
9:30-10:00 Forum: Recap and refinement of recommendations to NSF - Hinzman/Cassano

(outcome added to a working report)
10:00-10:30 Break
10:30-12:00 Forum: Action items - Hinzman/Walsh

(outcome added to a working report)
Last updated 05.04.2012