The computational future for climate and Earth system models: on the path to petaflop and beyond

The development of the climate and Earth system models has had a long history, starting with the building of individual atmospheric, ocean, sea ice, land vegetation, biogeochemical, glacial and ecological model components. The early researchers were much aware of the long-term goal of building the E...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences
Main Authors: Washington, Warren M, Buja, Lawrence, Craig, Anthony
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: The Royal Society 2008
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2008.0219
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsta.2008.0219
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rsta.2008.0219
Description
Summary:The development of the climate and Earth system models has had a long history, starting with the building of individual atmospheric, ocean, sea ice, land vegetation, biogeochemical, glacial and ecological model components. The early researchers were much aware of the long-term goal of building the Earth system models that would go beyond what is usually included in the climate models by adding interactive biogeochemical interactions. In the early days, the progress was limited by computer capability, as well as by our knowledge of the physical and chemical processes. Over the last few decades, there has been much improved knowledge, better observations for validation and more powerful supercomputer systems that are increasingly meeting the new challenges of comprehensive models. Some of the climate model history will be presented, along with some of the successes and difficulties encountered with present-day supercomputer systems.