Earth System Grid for IPCC AR5 Data Distribution

Overview

The NASA Center for Climate Simulation (NCCS) provides computing and data services to NASA's climate research community. Since early 2011, NASA's Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) and Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) have been contributing simulated data to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 5th Assessment Report (AR5) through the NCCS Earth System Grid (ESG) Data Node.

Project Details

The ESG uses grid technology to deal with the massive IPCC AR5 datasets that are produced and stored in geographically diverse locations. The architecture uses the peer-to-peer paradigm to ensure modularity and configurability, and to allow each node service provider to choose its role in the ESG Federation, such as data node (publishing and serving data), IdP node (authentication/authorization), index node (index and metadata service), or computing node (server-side analysis). ESG also employs a highly controlled data standard to ensure easy and accurate access for climate researchers.

To enhance its ESG Data Node capabilities, NCCS will be implementing server side analysis tools such as Live Access Server and Ultrascale Visualization Climate Data Analysis Tools (UV-CDAT) to support a wide range of thin clients.

Results and Impact

Two GISS model runs were published in August 2011. Although they generated roughly 8 terabytes of data (41,000 files), they only represent a small fraction of the total planned GISS contribution. Monthly mean data from GMAO's Modern Era Retrospective-Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA) project along with selected data from the Cloud and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) project have also been published.

From February to September 2011, the NCCS ESG Data Node delivered over 570,000 files, totaling over 12.7 terabytes of data, to climate researchers in over 30 countries. Ultimately, approximately 120 terabytes of climate model and reanalysis data will be available on the NCCS ESG Data Node.

Role of High-End Computing Resources

The IPCC datasets published on the ESG Data Node are produced on the NCCS Discover supercomputer, which enables large model runs to be completed quickly. The simulated datasets are then made available on the ESG Data Node for publication to the ESG Federation. Providing an ESG Data Node at NCCS allows international climate scientists to gain fast access to NASA's extensive climate data, and eliminates the need for the transfer, storage, and maintenance of the data at an external facility.