Deep Time Paleoclimate Liaison Position to Support Community Use of the Paleoclimate CCSM

University Corporation For Atmospheric Res, Boulder CO

Investigators

Abstract

Climates of deep time, i.e. tens to hundreds of millions of years ago provide a unique opportunity to understand Earth's climate processes in an integrated fashion. The climates of these time periods include warm hothouse and cold icehouse climate regimes. Climate models are currently being applied to study how these climates are maintained and how the climate system changes through geologic time. A unique challenge for integrating the climate deep time simulations is that many geoscientists, interested in these simulations, are not climate modelers. This grant supports a deep time liaison position at the National Center for Atmospheric Research to aid the deep time community in simulating climates of the deep past. The liaison will work with university faculty who need support to carry out pre-quaternary climate simulations with the Community Climate System Model (CCSM). The specific tasks of the liaison will include: collaborations with university investigators to develop tools and documentation to facilitate the setting up of deep time CCSM climate simulations, the carrying out of deep time CCSM simulations on NCAR supercomputers, the facilitation of archiving model output and supporting a web based system to make output available to the university community, the transfer of deep time model simulation output to the university community, the diagnosis of CCSM deep time climate simulations using diagnostic tools, and the sponsoring of training workshop to the community at large on deep time climate modeling. The availability of the liaison services for the user community will be made known through the CCSM Paleoclimate Working Group, national meetings, and workshops focused on specific deep time events.