EAR-Climate: An Open-Source Facility for Water-Organic-Rock-Microbe (WORM) Reaction Modeling

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Computer models are widely used to reveal underlying reasons for why water compositions change, how soils develop, how toxic compounds spread through the environment, how microorganisms access energy supplies and nutrients, and how major geologic processes lead to the formation of ore deposits, petroleum reservoirs, volcanoes, and natural disasters. All too often access to such models requires advanced training, major commitments of time, and proprietary software. The Water-Organic-Rock-Microbe (WORM) computational ecosystem provides access to these calculations through an open-source, online platform with built-in software tools and interactive demonstrations accessible to anyone through an internet browser. Students, teachers, researchers, and members of the general public have been actively learning about and performing geochemical calculations on the WORM Portal since the server went live in early 2020. As a facility the WORM Portal will broaden its variety of applications and its user base.This project will create new computational modules, expand engagement throughout the Earth Science community including underrepresented groups and students, and provide multiple new formats for delivering WORM computational tools. This project will extend WORM modeling tools to include mass transfer during weathering and alteration, and chemical power supplies that support microbes in natural fluids and experimental media. In addition, new complementary modules will enhance existing thermodynamic data regression and estimation modules. Engagement will expand through online workshops, tutorials developed from Indigenous perspectives, and in-class student projects, as well as introductory and advanced videos. In addition to maintaining the current WORM Portal and establishing its cloud-based counterpart, access will be diversified though a portable, containerized version of WORM operable out of internet contact.This project is co-funded with contributions from the Geoinformatics Program, the Instrumentation & Facilities Program, and the Geobiology & Low-Temperature Geochemistry Program; and a collaboration between the Directorate for Geosciences and Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure to support AI/ML and open science activities in the geosciences.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.