Global Modeling Initiative

The Advanced Software Technology Group (ASTG) within SIVO provides significant computational and software support to the Global Modeling Initiative (GMI). The GMI project brings together researchers from multiple government, academic, and corporate institutions to assess the impact of various natural and anthropogenic perturbations on atmospheric composition and chemistry. The primary means of
investigation is through the use of the state-of-the-art GMI chemistry and transport model.

One of the most important roles of the ASTG team within the GMI project is that of software stewardship for the GMI model. In addition to routine maintenance and porting, the ASTG is responsible for extending the capabilities of the model. Such extensions range from the introduction of new model diagnostics which enable researchers to ask novel questions, to the integration of new software components contributed from the GMI community.

Whenever GMI investigators require new simulations of the Earth's atmosphere to study a particular set of phenomena, ASTG team members perform the appropriate production runs and/or sensitivity experiments. All model outputs are archived and made available to GMI researchers.

Perhaps one of the most significant contributions that ASTG has brought to the GMI project is detailed documentation of the model. Such documentation includes a tutorial which for the first time enables GMI members outside to the core team to perform their own smaller computational runs on desktop workstations.