Capacity of U.S. climate modeling to support climate change assessment activities / Climate Research Committee, Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate, Commission on Geosciences, Environment, and Resources, National Research Council.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

National Research Council (U.S.). Climate Research Committee.

Series:

Compass series (Washington, D.C.)

The compass series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Climatic changes--Mathematical models.

Climatic changes.

Climatic changes--Research--United States.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (77 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Other Title:

U.S. climate modeling

Place of Publication:

Washington, D.C. : National Academy Press, 1998.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The U.S. government has pending before it the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, an agreement to limit the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs), which is largely based on the threat GHGs pose to the global climate. Such an agreement would have significant economic and national security implications, and therefore any national policy decisions regarding this issue should rely in part on the best possible suite of scenarios from climate models. The U.S. climate modeling research community is a world leader in intermediate and smaller climate modeling efforts-research that has been instrumental in improving the understanding of specific components of the climate system. Somewhat in contrast, the United States has been less prominent in producing high-end climate modeling results, which have been featured in recent international assessments of the impacts of climate change. The fact that U.S. contributions of these state-of-the-art results have been relatively sparse has prompted a number of prominent climate researchers to question the current organization and support of climate modeling research in the United States, and has led ultimately to this report.

Contents:

Capacity of U.S. Climate Modeling to Support Climate Change Assessment Activities

Copyright

Preface

Acknowledgment of Reviewers

Contents

Executive Summary

Capacity of U.S. Climate Modeling

BACKGROUND

POLICY CONTEXT

CURRENT SMALL AND INTERMEDIATE MODELING CAPABILITIES

CURRENT HIGH-END MODELING CAPABILITIES AND NEEDS

ACCESS TO FOREIGN MODEL OUTPUT

PRIORITY SETTING

COORDINATION

ALLOCATING RESOURCES

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS RELEVANT TO THIS REPORT: COMPUTATIONAL CAPABILITIES AND COORDINATION

CONCLUSIONS

References

Appendix A

1. THE CRISIS IN U.S. CLIMATE MODELING

2. THREE OPTIONS FOR PROGRESS

Option 1: Further increase funding at existing modeling centers

Option II: A new center for climate modeling

Option III: A distributed national climate modeling program

3. A THREE-TIER STRUCTURE FOR THE DISTRIBUTED PROGRAM

Tier 1: The U.S. National Climate Model

Tier 2: Model development research

Tier 3: Research on climate variability

4. IMPLEMENTATION

Appendix B Statement of Task

Appendix C CRC Climate Modeling Workshop Invitation and Agenda

AGENDA OF CLIMATE MODELING WORKSHOP

Executive Session

Public Session

The Quality and Infrastructure of Climate Modeling in the United States

Appendix D Examples of Access Restrictions on Foreign Atmospheric Data

Memorandum

Appendix E

NCAR MEASUREMENTS OF SINGLE PROCESSOR PERFORMANCE

High-end Processors

(64-bit Results)

A SAMPLING OF COMPUTING SYSTEMS IN MAJOR ATMOSPHERIC MODELING CENTERS AROUND THE WORLD

I. Introduction

II. Systems Currently Installed

III. Future Developments Abroad

IV. A Sample of Computing Systems in Universities Abroad

V. Impact on U.S. Atmospheric Science

VI. Summary

COMMENTS FROM UCAR TO THE INTERNATIONAL TRADE COMMISSION HEARING

Members of the Commission:.

Background

A New NCAR Climate Model

The RFP

Performance Expectations in the BAFO Guidelines.

The BAFO from the Federal Computer Corporation (FCC)

The BAFO from Cray Research

Basis for Selection

If An Antidumping Order is Issued

Summary

Bibliography.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

9786610186129

9780309173438

0309173434

9781280186127

1280186127

9780309592796

0309592798

9780585144542

0585144540

OCLC:

44962614