The Earth is a complex system of interactions between the atmosphere, oceans, land and ice. Simulating the dynamics of these systems has proven to be just as complex. Now, Earth system models are able to simulate variations in Earth systems and anticipate decade-scale changes.
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory have developed Version 2 of the Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SMv2). The model runs more than two times faster than its predecessor (E3SMv1).
The E3SM project reliably simulates aspects of Earth system variability, including regional air/water temperatures, which can strain energy grids; water availability, which affects power plant operations; extreme water-cycle events such as floods and droughts, which impact infrastructure and bioenergy; and sea level rise and coastal flooding, which threaten coastal infrastructure.
“E3SMv2 allows us to more realistically simulate the present, which gives us more confidence to simulate the future,” said David Bader, a DOE scientist.
Other improvements of the new model include its more accurate representation of precipitation and clouds, as well as a significantly improved representation of dust aerosols.
“Dust generation from dry soils is closely linked to drought events and land use and land cover changes,” said Argonne principal scientist Yan Feng. “Airborne dust particles play an important role in modulating the Earth’s energy balance, acting as a nuclei for cloud formation.”
In addition, the team added to the model the ability to refine the resolution over particular areas of the globe, resulting in two configurations: a 100 kilometer globally uniform resolution atmosphere model and a regionally refined model (RRM) with a resolution of 25 km over North America and 100 km elsewhere.
“E3SMv2 uses a new input/output (I/O) library, called SCORPIO, that incorporates enhanced data caching and rearranges algorithms, allowing simulations to write data at approximately an order of magnitude faster than E3SM version 1,” said Argonne scientist Jayesh Krishna. “In E3SMv2, I/O only occupies about 1 to 2 percent of the model execution time for production simulations. The model users can focus on writing out all the simulation data required for scientific analysis without worrying about I/O performance.”
The team is now conducting simulations of climate change using the new model. They have completed simulations that look several thousand years into the future, and they are planning to run for several thousand more.
https://phys.org/news/2022-01-exascale-earth-simulations.html