THE EARTH SYSTEM MODELING FRAMEWORK (ESMF) CORE DEVELOPMENT TEAM PLANS TO SUBMIT A PROPOSAL FOR CONTINUED DEVELOPMENT OF THE FRAMEWORK IN SUPPORT OF NASA APPLICATIONS. THE PROPOSING TEAM WILL INCLUDE ESMF STAFF ASSOCIATED WITH NOAA AND NASA CENTERS. DEVELOPMENT WILL FOCUS ON CAPABILITIES REQUIRED FOR NASA RESEARCH AND PRODUCTS INCLUDING FEATURE ADDITIONS TO UTILITIES AND COUPLING SERVICES FOR THE GEOS-5 AND MODELE MODELS AND BETTER SUPPORT FOR ENSEMBLES AUTOMATED WORKFLOWS AND THE INTEGRATION OF DATAASSIMILATION INTO MODELING SYSTEMS. THE ESMF DEVELOPMENT METHODOLOGY WILL EMPHASIZE BROAD COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT AND THE PROMOTION OF INTERFACE USAGE AND METADATA STANDARDS. A CENTRAL GOAL WILL BE CONSISTENT IMPLEMENTATION OF ESMF ACROSS FEDERAL CENTERS IN ORDER TO ENHANCE INTEROPERABILITY AND PROMOTE INTERAGENCY COLLABORATIONS. THE SCOPE OF WORK IS EXPECTED TO INCLUDE: IMPROVED ESMF SUPPORT FOR HIGH RESOLUTION RUNS INCLUDING EXTENSIONS TO A HIGH PERFORMANCE PARALLEL I/O LIBRARY; FRAMEWORK OPTIMIZATIONS FOR NEW FEATURES AND COMPUTING ARCHITECTURES; IMPROVED SUPPORT FOR CONCURRENT ENSEMBLES; EXTENSION OF ESMF TO USE MULTIPLE GRID CONVERSION LIBRARIES AND ADDITIONAL REMAPPING TECHNIQUES; INCORPORATION OF EMERGING METADATA AND USAGE CONVENTIONS TO PROMOTE INTEROPERABILITY OF COMPONENTS; ONGOING MAINTENANCE OF THE ESMF SOFTWARE INCLUDING PORTING TESTING DOCUMENTATION AND TRAINING; AND CUSTOMER SUPPORT FOR ESMF USERS AT NASA.