Workshop: Modeling Research in the Cloud; Boulder Colorado; Spring 2017

该项目将计划、组织和主持一个社区研讨会，以探索推进“云建模研究”的潜力。该研讨会将于2017年春季在科罗拉多州博尔德市的UCAR设施举行，将汇集学术界、政府和私营部门（包括主要云计算供应商）的研究人员、教育工作者、学生、预报员和信息技术（IT）专业人士。具体而言，与会者将讨论在云计算环境中进行建模研究的机遇、挑战和好处，以及在天气和气候预测和过程研究中实现范式转变的方法和潜力。为达致工作坊的目标，我们将邀请约30名来自上述组别的参加者参加工作坊。智力优势：云计算代表了IT服务开发、部署、运营和付费方式的根本性变化，将科学界，特别是天气和气候预测界置于重大范式转变的中心。对于研究人员来说，云似乎是一个潜在的途径，可以让他们在传统的超级计算中心之外访问重要的计算资源，进行端到端建模研究，使访问高性能计算资源、大量存储和前所未有的大量数据的民主化。历史上，建模社区主要依赖于高性能计算设施（例如，NCAR-Wyoming超级计算设施和XSEDE）和本地计算集群来执行他们的预测。随着云计算的成熟和显著进步，它最近成为在Internet上托管和交付广泛服务的另一种新范式。研讨会的目的是促进对无数方面的深入讨论，并制定将云计算能力整合到天气和气候预测领域的方法，根据其使用模式、需求和资源确定谁将最受益和利用它，并讨论这种整合对推进发现的意义。更广泛的影响：该研讨会将帮助业界努力实现大气预测研究的转型，使研究人员和教育工作者能够以更创新、更有效和更富有成效的方式开展工作，并超越现有知识和方法的界限。除了使计算机的使用民主化之外，该研讨会还有可能改变大气预测研究的进行方式。云计算提供了更多的机会，通过实现真实的数据和网络查询，提高学生的数据、网络和地理空间素养，并在此过程中培养下一代劳动力。学生迫切需要理解和利用快速发展和演变的网络基础设施、数据相关技术和数据支持的科学探究模式。该研讨会将吸引研究生参加，为他们提供提高数据科学、大数据、云计算和专业发展技能的机会。讲习班的成果也将通过联合数据通讯广泛传播，并在科学和计算会议上，包括自动数据系统会议和全球数据联盟会议上作报告。

This project is to plan, organize and host a community workshop to explore the potential for advancing "Modeling Research in the Cloud." The workshop, to be held in Spring 2017 at UCAR's facilities in Boulder, CO, will assemble researchers, educators, students, forecasters, and information technology (IT) professionals in academia, government and the private sector (including major cloud computing vendors). Specifically, the workshop participants will discuss the opportunities, challenges, and benefits of performing modeling research in a cloud computing environment and the means to and potential for enabling a paradigm shift in the conduct of weather and climate prediction and process studies. To achieve the workshop goals, about 30 participants from the aforementioned segments will be invited to the workshop.Intellectual Merit:Cloud computing represents a fundamental change in the way IT services are developed, deployed, operated, and paid for, placing science communities in general and weather and climate prediction community in particular in the middle of a major paradigm shift. The cloud appears to be a potential avenue for researchers to gain access to significant computing resources beyond the traditional supercomputing center for end-to-end modeling studies, democratizing access to high performance computing resources, vast amounts of storage, and unprecedented access to large volumes of data.Historically, the modeling community has relied mostly on high performance computing facilities (e.g., NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing facility and XSEDE) and local computing clusters to perform their predictions. With the maturity of and significant advances in cloud computing, it has recently emerged as an alternative new paradigm for hosting and delivering a broad array of services over the Internet. The purpose of the workshop is to facilitate an in-depth discussion of the myriad aspects and formulate approaches for integrating cloud computing capabilities into the weather and climate prediction landscape, to identify atmospheric sciences communities, based on their usage patterns, needs, and resources, who would best benefit and utilize it, and discuss the significance of such integration for advancing discoveries.Broader Impacts:The workshop will help the community to work toward a transformation in the conduct of atmospheric prediction studies, enabling researchers and educators to carry out their work in more innovative, efficient, and productive ways and push beyond the boundaries of their current knowledge and approaches. In addition to democratizing access to computing, the workshop has the potential for transforming the conduct of atmospheric prediction studies. Cloud computing affords additional opportunities to advance data, cyber and geospatial literacy of students, and in the process the development of the next generation workforce, by enabling authentic data- and cyber-enabled inquiries.There is a compelling need for students to understand and take advantage of rapidly developing and evolving cyberinfrastructure, data-related technologies, and data-enabled modes of scientific inquiry. The workshop will engage graduate students, offering opportunities for enhancing their skills in data science, big data, cloud computing, and professional development. The results of the workshop will also be disseminated broadly through Unidata newsletters and presentations at scientific and computing conferences, including the AMS and AGU meetings.