NCAR-NOAA Community Modeling Infrastructure Meeting Report

Leadership from the NCAR and NOAA modeling communities spearheaded an effort to identify collaboration opportunities in effort to advance weather and climate prediction capabilities and to meet the needs of the broader scientific community. A planning team was formed which in turn convened a series of meetings that focused on shared infrastructure; in particular post-processing, coupling, and workflow. The goals of the meetings were to gain a better understanding of what a successful collaboration looks like, and identify potential opportunities for collaboration, and hear from the scientific community. Participation was broad, including subject matter experts as well as members of the academic and private sectors, and there was resounding enthusiasm for collaboration and an understanding that advancements can be made more quickly with joint efforts and cooperation. Three common themes emerged: 1) Collaboration - a clear benefit from intentional, frequent, and open communication focused around areas of common development, 2) Best Practices, and 3) Focused Interoperability - identifying highest priority areas that have greatest potential to facilitate use of many modeling systems. Communication across organizations as well as within each organization was often noted as essential, but needing improvement. This report summarizes the efforts and presents possible next steps.