2002 — 2005 |
Zender, Charles |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Collaborative Research: Using Measurements From the Columbia Plateau Eolian System to Improve Global-Scale Models of Mineral-Dust Aerosols @ University of California-Irvine
This award is to study a paired sand-silt eolian system on the Columbia Plateau, in order to better understand the sensitivity of mineral-dust aerosol emissions to changes in vegetation, soil moisture and topography. This information will be used to improve global dust model routines in general circulation models (GCM).
Field work will be undertaken to characterize the history and variability of mineral-aerosol sources and chronology of dune and loess formation for the Columbia Plateau since the last glacial maximum (LGM). Information will be obtained on vegetation area and type, soil texture, soil moisture and topographic features that resulted in the observed downwind accumulations. Modeling will be used to improve the sensitivity of a global transport model used in general circulation models (GCM) of the Earth climate system.
Atmospheric mineral aerosols are increasingly recognized as playing an important role in radiative and biogeochemical forcing of climate. The broader impacts of this proposed research center on documenting the evolution of an important eolian sequence within a well-constrained chronologic framework to better understand the processes responsible for and factors that effect mineral-aerosol emissions.
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0.915 |
2003 — 2006 |
Moore, Jefferson (co-PI) [⬀] Zender, Charles Magnusdottir, Gudrun (co-PI) [⬀] Prather, Michael (co-PI) [⬀] Famiglietti, James |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Acquisition of An Earth System Modeling Facility For Coupled Climate, Chemistry, and Biogeochemistry Studies @ University of California-Irvine
This Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) grant supports the purchase of a high-performance computer and storage system as the centerpiece for the University of California-Irvine (UCI) Earth System Modeling Facility (ESMF). The UCI ESMF will be devoted to the integration, synthesis, and analysis of large models and datasets required to advance fundamental understanding of the coupled physical climate, chemistry, and biogeochemical cycles of the Earth system. It is tailored for the merging of ESM components (e.g., atmosphere, oceans, chemistry, biology, land hydrology) that normally consume the available computing resources of individual research projects. Although primarily a development facility for faculty and graduate researchers, the ESMF will produce the decade-long simulations of the coupled system that are needed for basic scientific studies. In terms of computing power, the ESMF fits between individual PI and school-based resources and national modeling facilities but in terms of development it is unique. The UCI ESMF fills a niche, allowing faculty, post-graduates, and students to work with high-performance computing in an environment where they control the computer and the code development.
The system being purchased is an IBM 64 processor p655 Power4 system, similar to, but (much) smaller than, the fastest production systems at the National Center for Atmospheric Research
Broader impacts include use of results from Earth system models to better inform environmental and energy policy decision-making and education and training of students in Earth system modeling, including students from a nearby Minority Serving Institution, California State University at Bakersfield (CSUB).
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0.915 |
2004 — 2007 |
Zender, Charles Jenks, Stephen Kuester, Falko [⬀] Sorooshian, Soroosh (co-PI) [⬀] Gaudiot, Jean-Luc (co-PI) [⬀] |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Mri: Hiperwall: Development of a High-Performance Visualization System For Collaborative Earth System Sciences @ University of California-Irvine
This project, developing a Highly Interactive Parallelized Display Wall (HIPerWall) new visualization facility, aims at advancing the state of Earth Science modeling and visualization. HIPerWall is a high performance visualization system with a wall-sized ultra high-density tiled display that operates at the perception threshold of the human eye, allowing researchers to view and manipulate their data sets at resolutions commensurate with large-scale grids or dense sensor network data. The facility will be able to display extremely high-resolution datasets that will drive and provide focus for on-going research into management, transfer, and visualization of terabyte-scale data. By rapid, visual comparison of theory with experimental data, scientists should be able to swiftly validate and comprehend theory and practice. Although the proposed research is focused on Earth System Sciences, other research areas will benefit, including, Computational Fluid Dynamics Direct numerical simulation of turbulent chemically reacting and dispersed 2-phase flows, Engineering Mechanics System identification using 3D video tracking; o Microwave imaging for damage visualization; o Remote system monitoring, Structural and Earthquake Engineering o Advanced scientific visualization of dynamics of systems; o Model-based simulation of experimental data from large and medium scale earthquake testing; o Analysis of large-scale earthquake field data, Materials and Devices o Molecular modeling and visualization; o Synthesis of structural materials and composites; o Mathematical modeling of advanced materials and processes; o Material characterization, Embodied Interaction in Immersive Systems o Novel sensor technologies and modes of interaction for cultural and technical applications, Scientific Computing, o Large scale data visualization; o Storage, compression and access of stored real time simulation data; o Image based rendering; o 3D data reconstruction, and Biomedical Engineering o Computer simulation and tissue engineering; o Imaging and image understanding.
Broader Impact: The facility, to be set in a large classroom, directly contributes to education through courses and recruiting efforts. The display wall benefits collaborations that have impact on areas such as homeland security and emergency response.
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0.915 |
2004 — 2008 |
Zender, Charles |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Sei(Geo): Scientific Data Operators Optimized For Efficient Distributed Interactive and Batch Analysis of Tera-Scale Geophysical Data @ University of California-Irvine
Many geophysical simulations and nearly all climate models archive their results in hundreds to thousands of files spanning gigabytes to terabytes of storage. Before the geophysicist can interpret these data, it must be reduced to a manageable size (e.g., by averaging it) and/or transported to a specified location (e.g., the desktop computer). Currently researchers often copy raw data over the Internet from multiple locations to commence their data analysis. This project is developing the Scientific Data Operators (SDO): efficient software that lets researchers perform typical data reduction and analysis in parallel, remotely, without wasting time and network bandwidth.
The SDO software combines distributed and shared memory programming, client-server architecture, and Open Source development techniques. As proof-of-concept, a distributed analysis of multiple NCAR CCSM IPCC climate assessment simulations (each is about a terabyte) within and across national boundaries will be performed. This project also provides support for a graduate student to carry out dissertation research in distributed climate analysis. Outside climate modeling and analysis, SDO will have three main impacts: (1) increase the value of large geophysical datasets by decreasing the time to analyze, discover, and publish new results; (2) reveal any critical bandwidth, I/O, and client/server bottlenecks in processing distributed geophysical data; and (3) improve analysis of growing bioinformatics data sets, especially gene expression data, in ways similar to the geophysics domain. SDO is free software based on the internationally successful netCDF Operator (NCO) software. The project results including this software will be accessible via the project web site.
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0.915 |
2005 — 2009 |
Moore, Jefferson [⬀] Zender, Charles |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Global Atmospheric Nutrient Deposition and Ocean Biogeochemistry @ University of California-Irvine
ABSTRACT
OCE-0452972
The biogeochemical cycles of silicon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and iron involve substantial transfer of materials from the continents to the oceans through atmospheric transport of natural and anthropogenic aerosols. To date, these important land-ocean links and their influence on ocean ecosystems and biogeochemical cycling have only been studied for individual elements. In this study, investigators from the University of California at Irvine will couple models of atmospheric chemistry and aerosol transport to a global ocean biogeochemical model. They will simulate the atmospheric deposition and dissolution in the oceans of the nutrients silicate, nitrate, ammonium, phosphate, and iron, and the crustal tracer aluminum. These key nutrients regulate phytoplankton growth rates, community structure, and primary production in the oceans and hence are intimately linked with carbon cycling and air-sea CO2 exchange. The ocean model includes key phytoplankton functional groups and explicit treatment of the biogeochemical cycling of C, O, N, P, Si, and Fe. Mineralogy of both natural and anthropogenic aerosols will vary by source region and particle size, and the nutrient solubility upon deposition will vary dependent on aerosol heterogeneous chemistry, chemical weathering and aging during transport, and whether the deposition is wet or dry. The scientists will produce and disseminate global maps of deposition to the oceans for each of these nutrients. In addition, they will estimate the impact of each nutrient on phytoplankton community structure, spatio-temporal patterns of nutrient limitation, carbon export from surface waters, and air-sea CO2 flux at regional to global scales. Their studies will be among the first to estimate the ocean sensitivity to these patterns globally and to quantify their roles in driving the ocean carbon cycle in a coupled Earth System model framework.
In terms of broader impacts, a better understanding of the links between the biogeochemical cycling of Si, Fe, N, P, and C will improve our understanding of how the Earth system works today and enhance our ability to predict future climate change under different emission and nutrient loading scenarios. The model tools developed and the results will be valuable to a wide array of public and private entities interested in the effects of nutrient loading (from atmospheric sources) on water quality, and for those interested in secondary production, fisheries and marine resource management, and ocean ecosystem dynamics. In addition to the scientific merit, two graduate students will be trained in the latest modeling techniques.
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0.915 |
2005 — 2006 |
Zender, Charles |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Sger: Improving Community Climate System Model (Ccsm) Snow/Ice Radiative and Heating Processes and Asssessing the Importance of the Soot Albedo Effect @ University of California-Irvine
The goal of this research is to improve representation of snow albedo and heating in the Community Climate System Model (CCSM) and to understand climate impacts of snow and ice albedo perturbation via implantation of soot and other particulates. Specific objectives are as follows:
- Improve the accuracy, realism, and flexibility of snow and ice reflectance and heating in CCSM so as to reduce model biases and expand the range of scientific questions CCSM may address. - Link the CCSM Atmospheric Model (CAM) aerosol deposition to surface albedo to examine the time-dependent direct and indirect radiative effects of soot, mineral dust, and volcanic aerosols in the cryosphere. - Quantify the extent to which more realistic snow albedo influences CCSM mid- and high- latitude winter temperature biases, spring melt phasing, and ice-albedo feedback.
Broader Impacts: It is anticipated that this research will result in improvements in CCSM snow-ice-aerosol interactions and will increase climate scientists' ability to quantitatively assess the snow-ice-albedo feedback mechanism. Such improvements have the potential to substantially enhance the applicability of the CCSM model and the science related to climate and climate change.
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0.915 |
2006 — 2011 |
Randerson, James [⬀] Zender, Charles |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Collaborative Research: Fire At the Intersection of Global Carbon and Water Cycles @ University of California-Irvine
Available estimates of the contribution of forest and wildfires on atmospheric carbon emission budgets may be as high as 40% of the global annual fossil fuel carbon emissions. Climate change scenarios, for example in fire prone regions such as the western continental United States, suggest elevated spring and summertime temperatures, reduced moisture through shorter snowpack melt duration which may lead to longer wildfire seasons acting over increasingly large areas. The premise advanced in this work to be conducted by a multi-disciplinary team of investigators is that fire may mediate several important feedbacks between the terrestrial carbon and water cycles, yet has not yet been seriously considered in coupled carbon-climate models. As well as the direct modulation of fire effects by precipitation, drought, soil moisture, together with a host of human activities ranging from land use changes, deforestation, pasture maintenance and agricultural practice, a range of biogeochemical and ecosystem feedbacks centered on the carbon and water cycles will be examined.
The approach of this effort is to improve the representation of fire and fire-related processes within the specific framework of the Community Climate System Model (CCSM) Common Land Model Carbon and Nitrogen (CLM-CN) model, maintained and developed at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). As well as progress towards achieving several modeling objectives, this effort will combine a number of educational activities, programs and workshops with an explicit intent of contributing to future IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) assessments.
This work is supported under the NSF Carbon and Water in the Earth System solicitation, an interdisciplinary funding opportunity from the Directorate of Geosciences.
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0.915 |
2007 — 2011 |
Zender, Charles |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Snow Process Studies and Modeling to Improve Arctic Climate Prediction @ University of California-Irvine
Bright surfaces (snow, glaciers, sea-ice, and clouds) make the Arctic uniquely susceptible to the radiatively-induced effects of surface light absorbing carbon (LAC, sometimes referred to as black carbon) and dust, such as ice-albedo feedback amplification. Such feedbacks may make dirty snow more efficacious than greenhouse gases in driving atmospheric temperature change in the Arctic. Dirty snow feedbacks change throughout the aerosol lifecycle in the complex Arctic environment of snowfall, snowpack aging, snow-melt, drainage, and analogous sea-ice processes. The goal of this project is to assess light absorbing aerosol interactions in the coupled Arctic climate system using models which represent the complex surface lifecycles of Arctic snow, LAC, and dust, and which have been evaluated against satellite, in-situ, and laboratory measurements.
Funds are provided to use International Polar Year (IPY) field and laboratory measurements to improve the representation of snowpack microphysical processes; to implement and/or refine these processes in arctic land, atmosphere, and sea-ice components of an Earth System Model (ESM); and to use the ESM to upscale and improve quantification of the efficacy of and response to arctic climate forcing in the 20th and 21st centuries.
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0.915 |
2020 — 2023 |
Zender, Charles |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Elements: Advanced Lossless and Lossy Compression Algorithms For Netcdf Datasets in Earth and Engineering Sciences (Candee) @ University of California-Irvine
Data compression is used to store and transmit digital data such as music, television, and satellite measurements more efficiently by reducing storage space and download times. The compression software broker that this project provides will facilitate the adoption of modern compression techniques in many branches of science. Compressors come in two flavors: lossless, those that perfectly preserve the original information; and lossy, those that irretrievably discard parts of the "signal" to further improve compression. Modern lossless and lossy compression improvements in efficiency, speed, and fidelity, are striking and will benefit critical research areas by permitting researchers to simulate, store, and analyze phenomena such as stellar evolution, chemical reactions, and hurricane formation at finer detail than before, with no extra storage costs. Since digital storage consumes power, better compression also reduces power consumption and associated greenhouse gas emissions. This project will develop the software infrastructure necessary for scientific researchers to seamlessly shift their applications to produce and use data stored with state-of-the-art lossless techniques, and by new lossy techniques that are more accurate than any others.
The two most widely-used self-describing dataset storage formats, HDF5 and netCDF4, support by default only one patent unencumbered lossless compression format, the venerable DEFLATE algorithm standardized in the 1990s. Our project will develop a dynamic and extensible software library of modern COmpressors and DECompressors (codecs) for scientific data called the Community Codec Repository (CCR). We will populate the CCR with cutting-edge open-source compression technology, including the LZ4, Facebook's Zstandard, and Google's Snappy codecs, and will implement default netCDF support for the CCR. Sequential lossy-then-lossless compression improves both the size and speed of compression/decompression yet is currently tedious to perform. We will implement a user-friendly method to "chain" codecs into sequential operations in memory (no intermediate files required) in our widely used netCDF Operators software package. We will also produce a new precision-preserving lossy codec, Granular Bit Grooming, that has unsurpassed compression ratio and statistical accuracy. Technical success will be evaluated by the size and speed improvements of compressing a prototypical geoscience/engineering "big data" project, the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project version 6 (CMIP6).
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
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0.915 |