10.6084/m9.figshare.11966706.v1
Jonny Williams
Jonny
Williams
Olaf Morgenstern
Olaf
Morgenstern
Erik Behrens
Erik
Behrens
Mike Williams
Mike
Williams
Earth system modelling in New Zealand: Turning big data in big science
eResearch NZ
2020
eResearch
eResearch NZ
eResearch NZ 2020
NeSI
2020-03-11 04:38:00
Presentation
https://eresearchnz.figshare.com/articles/presentation/Earth_system_modelling_in_New_Zealand_Turning_big_data_in_big_science/11966706
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<p>After several years of development, the first results and papers showcasing the output from
New Zealand’s earth system modelling community are now available. This represents a large
body of behind-the-scenes work from multiple NIWA and NeSI staff, not to mention our
international collaborators in the Unified Model partnership.
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<p>This is all very well, but how are we going about turning approximately 0.5PB of raw model
output into science which enables New Zealanders to ‘anticipate, adapt, manage risk, and
thrive in a changing climate.’ This is the mission statement of the Deep South National
Science Challenge, through which this work is funded.
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<p>We are simulating three greenhouse gas emissions scenarios representative of an unknown
future. From the model output, we can estimate how the world will warm. However, earth
system models enable us to do a lot more than this. We can also examine changes to
chemical processes in the atmosphere, biogeochemical processes in the ocean, as well as
changes to the terrestrial biosphere.
</p><p><br></p>
<p>I will discuss the theory and practice of turning this raw data into useful science in an HPC
context. I will also present some early findings from our model, which differs from its parent
model – the UKESM – in its ability to simulate the ocean circulation around Aotearoa New
Zealand at high, ‘eddy permitting’ resolution.
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<p><b><u>ABOUT THE AUTHORS</u></b><br><br>
</p><p>Jonny Williams moved to New Zealand in 2015 after a postdoc in physical geography at
Bristol University studying extreme warm paleoclimates of the Cretaceous and Jurassic
periods. Before this he worked in private practice as a junior consultant at Eunomia
Research and Consulting and as a climate scientist at the UK Met Office. Jonny has a PhD in
molecular electronics from the University of Bath and a degree in physics from Imperial
College London.</p><p><br></p>
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<p>Erik Behrens leads the ocean modelling project, to further improve NZESM, in the second
phase of the Deep South. He has a PhD and degree in physical oceanography from the
Christian-Albrechts University of Kiel, Germany. His main interest is to understand how
oceans around New Zealand and around Antarctica change due to climate change.
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<p>Olaf Morgenstern is leading climate modelling at NIWA and for the Deep South National
Science Challenge. Prior to joining NIWA worked for Cambridge University in the UK and the
Max-Planck-Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg, Germany. His main research interest is in
the linkages between physical climate change and atmospheric composition. He holds a PhD
in meteorology from ETH Zurich, Switzerland, and a physics degree from Freiburg University,
Germany.
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</div><p><br></p><p>Mike Williams has been the director of the Deep South National Science Challenge since
2016. He obtained his PhD in polar oceanography from the University of Tasmania in 1999
and was an assistant professor at the Niels Bohr Institute for Physics in Copenhagen,
Denmark for three. He joined in NIWA in 2001 and has had various roles, including leading
the climate observations programme and Antarctic research programmes. </p>
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