Nordic Center of Excellence: eSTICC (eScience Tools for Investigating Climate Change at High Northern Latitudes) (2014-2018)

The Nordic Center of Excellence (NCoE) eSTICC (eScience Tools for Investigating Climate Change at High Northern Latitudes) has gathered 13 top research groups from all the Nordic countries working in the fields of climate research and/or eScience, including the most prolific groups from the existing Nordic Centers of Excellence CRAICC, DEFROST and SVALI. It addresses NordForsk's call on "eScience in Climate and Environmental Research" by having an Arctic focus, by bringing together climate researchers and scientific computing experts, by developing eScience tools needed for more efficient use of experimental and model data, and by improving the computational efficiency and coding standards of Earth System Models and of the tools used for inverse modeling of emission fluxes.
eSTICC's overarching goal is a more accurate description of the high-latitude feedback processes in the climate system via further development of the eScience tools of the climate research community. Its major objectives are to:

  • integrate the data and computational tools from the existing NCoEs CRAICC, SVALI and DE-FROST to further strengthen the leading Nordic position in climate data hosting.
  • facilitate the information flows between experimentalists and modelers.
  • improve the handling and processing of the large measurement and model data sets available from several relevant data bases.
  • enhance inverse modeling tools that are used to determine emission fluxes.
  • integrate Nordic Earth System Modeling by exploiting the multi-model approach.
  • develop more efficient process parameterizations for Earth System Models.
  • challenge the competing demands of model complexity versus spatial resolution by experimenting with model resolution vs. complexity in the present Nordic Earth System Models, with a focus on Arctic phenomena.
  • improve the efficiency in the utilization of computing resources, by porting and optimizing code to new and emerging platforms, as well as by utilizing novel algorithms to increase scalability of modeling software, thereby enabling larger and more accurate models.
  • develop workflow schemes to integrate different data, to make them more accessible to scientists.

eSTICC's work will be done in four specific science work packages: 1) Data and data analysis tools, 2) Inverse modeling, 3) Effective process parameterizations, 4) Integrating Nordic Earth System Modeling; two horizontal activities: 5) High-performance computing, 6) eScience training and education; and 7) a Coordination work package.

New Project webpage

The University of Iceland's team is led by Helmut Neukirchen and focuses on work package 5 (High-performance computing, in particular workflows) and contributes also to work package 6 (eScience training and education). Shahbaz Memon works as PhD students on these topics. The project is funded by NordForsk as a Nordic Center of Excellence (NCoE). The University of Iceland receives a funding of approximately 26.5 million ISK.

Breakout Session at Arctic Circle Assembly 2017.

Publications

Shahbaz Memon, Gabriele Cavallaro, Morris Riedel, Helmut Neukirchen.
Facilitating efficient data analysis of remotely sensed images using standards-based Parameter Sweep models.
Short paper at 2017 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS), July 23–28, 2017, Fort Worth, Texas, USA. DOI: 10.1109/IGARSS.2017.8127797 IEEE, 2017.
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Shahbaz Memon, Dorothee Vallot, Thomas Zwinger, Helmut Neukirchen.
Coupling of a continuum ice sheet model and a discrete element calving model using a scientific workflow system.
Abstract and talk at European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly 2017 (session IE1.1/CR1.14/AS4.21/BG9.66 Atmosphere – Cryosphere interaction in the Arctic, high latitudes and mountains: Transport and deposition of aerosols, eScience and ensemble methods), Vienna, Austria, 23–28 April 2017. Geophysical Research Abstracts
Vol. 19, EGU2017-8499, Copernicus Publications, 2017.
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