Abstract: ESMF training course

May 17, 1:00-5:00 PM

Earth System Modeling Framework Capabilities
NCAR Mesa Lab, SCD Visualization Laboratory

Participants should bring a laptop to this training course, since there will be hands-on exercises.

The Earth System Modeling Framework (ESMF) is a software package for building scalable, portable, modular modeling and data assimilation applications. It consists of an "infrastructure" of data structures and utilities for building modeling components, and a "superstructure" that includes regridding tools and
drivers for assembling modeling components into applications. The ESMF promotes an organized, hierarchical application architecture that makes complex applications easier to maintain and extend, and allows individual components to be exchanged and used in multiple contexts.

The objectives of this half day course are:

• To give future ESMF users an understanding of the background, goals, and scope of the ESMF project
• To review the status of the ESMF software implementation and current application adoption efforts
• To outline the overall design and principles underlying the ESMF software
• To describe the major classes and functions of ESMF in sufficient detail to give future users an understanding of how ESMF could be utilitized in their own codes
• To describe in steps how a user code prepares for using ESMF, incorporates ESMF, and runs under ESMF to identify ESMF resources available to users such as documentation, mailing lists, and support staff

Specific topics that will be covered include standard behaviors and interfaces across ESMF; bottom-up and top-down approaches to adoption; what it means to become an ESMF component; defining hierarchical applications with gridded components and coupler components; creating and manipulating state, field, and grid classes; and setting up applications for sequential or concurrent execution.

For more information on ESMF: http://www.esmf.ucar.edu