WP4 (NA3): Networking on Models, Tools and efficient use of HPC

For the climate research community in Europe, models and tools make up the main research infrastructure for pushing forward the boundaries of climate science. This networking work-package is required to ensure that the partners develop those models and tools in a sustainable way for the benefit of as wide a community as possible based on user requirements. This IS-ENES3 Networking Activity differs compared with the objectives of ISENES2 both through a new work-package structure and through a greater emphasis on Networking Activities supporting the Joint Research Activities.

WP4/NA3 will look to find new ways to exploit available hardware and software technologies, not only for HPC applications, but also in new areas such as machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI). Another new opportunity is to provide networking support to develop a new community infrastructure for modelling sea ice that will be adopted by the members of the NEMO consortium. For the NEMO ocean model, the consortium will be strengthened through investment in an improved testing infrastructure to encourage wider adoption.

The challenges of achieving good computational performance in complex coupled Earth Systems Models (ESMs) are stretching the community and the work-package will coordinate approaches and knowledge across this community. Workshops are another important opportunity for community building around our significant technical challenges. We will continue with the highly successful international workshops on coupling technologies and HPC as well as new workshops.

A specific task around innovation is included to ensure that we are bringing climate science knowledge and information to the attention of industry. The requirements from users and developers of the HPC applications used by our community will be collected through this task, creating a common understanding about future needs from HPC vendors. Moreover, interacting with industry on AI and machine learning could provide new services based on available data. Lastly, solution providers in the HPC market, such as Altair, will be encouraged to exploit opportunities around complex workflow management by interaction with our Cylc activities in WP8/JRA1.