The Evolution of an Open, Interdisciplinary Earth System Modeling Framework

The Earth System Modeling Framework (ESMF) is open source software for building and coupling model components. ESMF was created by a consortium of U.S. federal agencies to support the transfer of knowledge among modeling centers and universities. It has grown into an established national resource, used in various forms by modelers at NASA centers, the National Weather Service, the National Center for Atmospheric Research, the Navy, and thousands of smaller groups and individuals. In the decade since it began, the challenges of community development and deployment have combined technical, scientific, and social aspects. In this talk, we examine the progression of these challenges, and look to the future. Current ESMF focus areas are examined, including the development of an interdisciplinary, unified forecast system for the National Weather Service that includes multiple "apps" for different types of prediction; automated resource mapping to address the growing complexity of computing architectures and coupled models; and the "post-interoperabilty" challenge of distributed component code management.