WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced a plan to provide $7 million for new research aimed at improving the predictive power of Earth system modeling. Emphasis will be on enhancing DOE’s Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM), which uniquely harnesses the power of DOE’s supercomputers to study the earth system.
“DOE’s supercomputers represent a unique, world-leading resource for science generally and for environmental science in particular,” said Sharlene Weatherwax, DOE Associate Director of Science for Biological and Environmental Research. “This new research will help us to take fuller advantage of America’s leading supercomputing capabilities to advance our understanding of atmospheric, oceanic, and terrestrial processes.”
The initiative focuses on three main topics: general improvements to model software, better representation of cloud and aerosol interactions within the models, and improved approaches to model initialization—i.e., the all-important and increasingly complex choice of data with which to start the model out. Applicants are encouraged to use machine learning techniques where effective in support of any of these topics.
Applications will be open to universities and nonprofit research institutions as the lead institution, with the possibility for funded collaborators from other federal agencies and non-DOE government laboratories. Funding is to be awarded competitively, based on peer review.
Total planned funding is $7 million in Fiscal Year 2020 funds for projects of three years in duration, with funding contingent on congressional appropriations.
The DOE Funding Opportunity Announcements, issued by the Office of Biological and Environmental Research within the Department’s Office of Science, is to be found here.