HR: 0800h
AN: C41C-0210    [Abstracts]
TI: A Simple Object-Oriented Framework For Making Sea-Ice Models ``Plug-and-Play''
AU: * Lin, J W
EM: jlin@geosci.uchicago.edu
AF: Computation Institute, University of Chicago, Department of the Geophysical Sciences 5734 S. Ellis Ave., Chicago, IL 60637 United States
AB: Historically, sea-ice models have developed incrementally and in a decentralized manner, with changes and improvements authored by research groups all over the world. Models tend to be ``one-of-a-kind,'' limiting their modularity. Current efforts in making models more modular have focused upon establishing comprehensive programming standards. Comprehensive interface standards, however, tend to be quite complex. Given most climate scientists are not computer scientists, there is a need for approaches that are simple and intuitive, while also being powerful enough to include many different levels of model sophistication. In this presentation we describe efforts in using the Python language to develop such a framework for sea-ice models. Python is an open-source, object-oriented, interpreted language that is also able to interface tightly with compiled libraries. This results in programs that are easier to develop, more maintainable, and less fragile, while simultaneously reaping the performance benefits of compiled code. The framework is applied to Semtner's (1976) simple thermodynamic model as well as the NCAR CSIM (Schramm et al.\ 2004). We describe the framework, its advantages, and how the incorporation of such ideas in future sea-ice models can result in a suite of ``plug-and-play'' models.
UR: http://www.johnny-lin.com/presn.html
DE: 3337 Numerical modeling and data assimilation
DE: 4255 Numerical modeling
DE: 4540 Ice mechanics and air/sea/ice exchange processes
DE: 1863 Snow and ice (1827)
SC: Cryosphere [C]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting