Phase 2 (2018 – 2022)
The E3SM project is a DOE BER Science Focus Area (SFA) project and as such is funded for a 3-year period after a successful proposal. The project refers to each funding period ‘an E3SM Phase’. Phase 2 of the project started in July of 2018 and lasted till the end of 2022.
Phase 2 Operational Paradigm
The phase 1 activities (see Long Term Roadmap) between 7/1/2014 and 6/30/2018 focused on developing E3SM v1 and using it to perform the CMIP6 DECK experiments and the E3SM v1 simulation campaign. Phase 2 will formally begin on July 1, 2018. Nevertheless, many Phase 1 activities will still be in the latter stages of completion on that date. The project plans a smooth transition over a six-month period concluding in December 2018.
In phase 2, E3SM contains aspects of both higher-risk research and more straightforward, but still complex, model development. Accordingly, the project will devote efforts to two main types of subprojects:
- the “Core Activities” encompassing completion of the v2 model and execution of the v2 simulation campaign;
- the “Next Generation Development (NGD) Activities“ that will develop new science and computational capabilities for E3SM versions v3 and v4 with a path for integration into E3SM within 5 years (NGD Sub-Projects)
Closely associated with the two classes of ESSM-supported research efforts are the E3SM “Ecosystem” projects (see Ecosystem Projects). An Ecosystem project is a closely-related, currently-funded BER Earth System Modeling Project that will persist past the start of Phase 2.
The project made substantial changes to the leadership for Phase 2 to support this new organization. Full authority for the project is vested in the Executive Committee, composed of the Council Chair (Principal Investigator), the Chief Scientist, the Chief Computational Scientist, and the Project Engineer (analogous to a Chief Operating Officer). The Council will be composed of five Core Group Leaders and four NGD Subproject leaders. The new Council will assume responsibility for any remaining work that was part of Phase 1 during the transition.
Project Leadership
See Leadership Team in Phase 2 for details of the organizational structure.
Project Structure
The Executive Committee (XC) is comprised the Council Chair (CC, and project Principal Investigator), the Chief Scientist (CS), the Chief Computational Scientist (CCS) and the Project Engineer (PE), who were selected by the PM in consultation with the DOE Earth and Environmental Sciences Division Director. The XC has overall responsibility for achieving project goals and delivering products. Accordingly, in consultation with the PM, it will determine the project team structure, organization, staffing and allocation of resources. The Council Chair as SFA Manager, is ultimately responsible to ensure delivery of Project products and report progress to DOE. The CS will lead Council (described below) and leadership team planning and execution concerning the scientific goals and deliverables for Earth system science. The CCS will lead Council and leadership team planning and execution concerning computational goals and deliverables. The PE functions as the project’s chief operating officer, overseeing the coordination of project elements and the tracking of project performance and deliverables, as well as providing scientific and technical expertise to the project.
Core Activities
Core Activities are organized and distributed across five groups, each with a single leader. Some groups have deputies to assist the leader.
- Water Cycle – Christophe Golaz, leader; Luke van Roekel, deputy
- Cryosphere – Todd Ringler, leader; Wuyin Lin, deputy
- Biogeochemical Cycles – Katherine Calvin, leader; Susannah Burrows, deputy
- Infrastructure and Data Management – Robert Jacob, leader; Chengzhu Zhang, deputy
- Performance – Philip Jones, leader
The science question groups will complete the v1 experimental campaign, which may include additional necessary changes to the model system. They will also complete the integration and testing of new developments for the v2 modeling system, including the completion of the code review process for each configuration, prior to the start of the v2 experimental campaign. The infrastructure has the responsibilities of maintaining and extending the project’s software system, associated scripts, analysis software and management, curation and distribution of production simulation output. The performance group will test and apply optimal model layouts for the simulation campaign configurations and solve problems associated with changes in the software stacks (compilers, libraries, I/O systems, etc.) at the Office of Science computing centers.
Next generation Sub-projects
The “Next Generation Development (NGD) Activities“ are sub-projects that develop new science and computational capabilities for E3SM versions v3 and v4 with a path for integration into E3SM within 5 years.
