Evaluating Success

As I had stated in my last post, I intend to fill in the blanks for how this project will proceed.


The first issue to settle, is how the design will be decided. This blog will serve as the point of discussion for all the technical issues. My intent is to evaluate each design decision point by point in this forum (I'm hopeful other's will join me in leading these discussions).


Once each decision is made, the code will be updated in the project. I will be setting up a github repository for the code later this week, along with an initial simple model to demonstrate how the code will be set-up.


The next issue to settle is how the project will be evaluated. I considered trying to implement a direct copy of another GCM (for example GISS's Model E). It would be a much easier undertaking and the project would likely create a running GCM much quicker. I decided against this path for the reason that less would be learnt by doing this, as all the decisions would be to follow a give model. As such, these decisions will consider how other models do this but will not necessarily follow a given model (for the moment, I'll be especially focusing on the GISS Model E and NCAR CESM). 


As an example of the types of decisions to be taken, consider the grid selection of the surface. GISS uses a Cartesian grid (4deg X 5deg and 2deg X2.5deg). While this is a more straightforward grid, it also leads to a bunching of the grid boxes at the poles. There are other grids that could be used and it is one of the issues that I intend to bring up on this blog.


Since GoGCM will not be based off a given model, it does beg the question as to how the model will be evaluated. I want to select a model that will provide a reference for comparison for the work being done on GoGCM. The reference will be GISS's models. Starting with trying to replicate GISS Model II (or EdGCM), this will allow GoGCM to evaluate it's performance and what it's design decisions are achieving. I want to know what others think of this suggestion. Please comment on what you think of this decision.


Finally, you may ask what I hope to achieve with this project? My hope is that this project will demystify GCM's. I want to understand how they function and what type of information they can give us. By understanding this, we can also help to evaluate their results. As I have seen Gavin comment at realclimate, there is a lot of data that is output from GCM's. By better understanding GCM's, maybe this output can be more thoroughly analysed.


Finally, it is my hope that this project will lead to better GCM's. I think there is a long way to go from this point, however having more minds looking at these issues is bound to generate a host of ideas about how to improve current GCM's. I would feel extremely proud if even one of these ideas leads to an improvement in any of the current GCM's or the analysis of their results.