This is a collection of ideas for future projects to improve EdGCM. This page is being created now in response to Google's Summer of Code. Most of these ideas are related to projects we already have, however we're open to new and interesting ideas.
Google Earth Integration
A natural extension of EdGCM would be to work with Google Earth. This can be done at an extremely minimal level via an export menu item from EVA, but much better/tighter integration would be good. This could be done at any level from the post-processed final product to a model modification that allowed near-real-time viewing of the GCM state in memory via GE
Open Source & Linux Front-End
The GCM is in the public domain. There has been multiple requests on the forums for an open source front-end. A re-write away from the 4D language to a language that supports Linux is a possibility.
Newer Models
There are many good reasons not to go to newer models (slower, less stable), but this is still worth doing as a newer model option would not stop model II from being used if desired.
Boundary Condition Creator
EdGCM would benefit greatly from a program to allow users to create boundary condition files. We proposed this to the University of Colorado CS4308 class, but were not selected.
Global climate models (GCMs) use a complex set of input files to describe the initial and boundary conditions for climate simulations. These files describe all manner of geographic and physical characteristics of the climate system and include values for each cell (grid point) in the 2D and 3D arrays used by the GCMs. Examples include descriptions of topography, vegetation, land cover (vs. ocean or lake), ocean temperatures, sea ice, soil moisture, ice sheet extent, etc.
In addition to the 5 to 10 files containing 50 or so input parameters, there are rule bindings on the parameters. Examples are: a) the 8 different possible vegetation types in a single cell must total 100% and b) limits on soil moisture content are a function of the combined vegetation types. There are many such rules that are applied to ensure consistency among the boundary and initial condition states at a numerical, natural, physical, and logical level.
Columbia University and the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) are interested in a GUI that can help automate the creation and editing of input files for the NASA/GISS GCM. The software would need to read and write input file formats, as well as certain graphic image formats. It would display data to the user and let users make modifications, both graphically as in a paint program and numerically. The software will need to provide both macro views and editing (global views of multiple arrays), and micro views and editing (setting the value of some data or percentages of datas in a single cell). Most importantly, it will have to perform consistency checks on the rulesets as the data are modified.
The target audience includes both scientists and public who are running climate models via a GUI rather than via a scientific programmer. Asthetics and usability will be a primary design factor. The main development platform at NASA/GISS is OS X but students are free to use whichever OS they prefer for software creation. The final software products must be cross-platform (Win, Mac (& Linux optional)) and students will need to use all platforms during the test and debug phase. The languages used will be C++ and some minimal FORTRAN, although knowledge of FORTRAN is not a requirement. The desired window toolkit is Qt but students may propose others (wxWidgets, FLTK, etc.). Students should have an interest in user interfaces and usability and scientific computing. The project sponsor is located in NYC and students should be comfortable working in a physically distributed environment, using wikis and other online collaboration tools to complete the project.
