مدیریت داده های مدل سیستم زمین جامعه: خط مشی ها و چالش ها

The data management plan of the Community Earth System Model (CESM)[1] from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) is given historical context and its policies, definitions, and features are detailed. The drivers of CESM data management are discussed, including the upcoming Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 5 (CMIP5), the ongoing Earth System Grid (ESG) project, and the strategies to address these drivers are mentioned. Future plans and strategies to address CESM data management needs and requirements are noted. The significant challenges resulting from the use of CESM output in the areas of metadata, preservation, curation, provenance, and other aspects of data management are considered.

The Community Earth System Model (CESM)[2, 3] from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) is a state-of-the-art Earth system model. It comprises components representing various processes important in the climate system, such as atmospheric chemistry, radiation and dynamics, ocean biogeochemistry and dynamics, sea and land ice, dynamic vegetation, the carbon/nitrogen cycle, and others. CESM is a true community model; its development is the result of close collaboration between NCAR scientists and universities worldwide, as well as scientists from other US national laboratories and its source code is freely available. CESM and its predecessors have been used by thousands of climate researchers worldwide for their scientific analyses of the many aspects of the global climate system. CESM has also participated in national and international assessments and has been used by other scientific communities, university researchers, policymakers, government agencies, and private citizens (see Figure 1). NCAR has always strived to make the output from the simulations as publicly available as practical and as a result they have been widely used. The requirements from scientists, assessments, and this broad and global user community of CESM output present significant challenges in all areas of data management: access,distribution, metadata (information about the data), data standards, curation (who owns data and is responsible for maintenance and support), provenance (how the data were created), and more. These extensive requirements have contributed to the development of CESM through the careful consideration and application of standards,conventions, and best practices. This paper uses the terms “output” and “data” interchangeably, even if in a technical sense climate model output are not “data” because they are not measurements of observed phenomena.

The NCAR CESM continues to be a leader in making access to output publicly and widely available. Its data management plan has enabled the project to be a major contributor to the progress of climate science. By requiring and enforcing good data management practices, the CESM data management and distribution plan enables thousands of users worldwide to effectively use CESM data for their scientific research, potential policy-making decisions, and other research activities.