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Evans, Katherine J

Publications and source records attributed to Evans, Katherine J.

At least 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2015

On the Use of Finite Difference Matrix-Vector Products in Newton-Krylov Solvers for Implicit Climate Dynamics with Spectral Elements

Efficient solution of global climate models requires effectively handling disparate length and time scales. Implicit solution approaches allow time integration of the physical system with a time step dictated by accuracy of the processes of interest rather than by stability governed by the fastest of the time scales present. Implicit approaches, however, require the solution of nonlinear systems within each time step. Usually, a Newton s method is applied for these systems. Each iteration of the Newton s method, in turn, requires the solution of a linear model of the nonlinear system. This model employs the Jacobian of the problem-defining nonlinear residual, but this Jacobian can be costly to form. If a Krylov linear solver is used for the solution of the linear system, the action of the Jacobian matrix on a given vector is required. In the case of spectral element methods, the Jacobian is not calculated but only implemented through matrix-vector products. The matrix-vector multiply can also be approximated by a finite-difference which may show a loss of accuracy in the overall nonlinear solver. In this paper, we review the advantages and disadvantages of finite-difference approximations of these matrix-vector products for climate dynamics within the spectral-element based shallow-water dynamical-core of the Community Atmosphere Model (CAM).

climate modeling↗
DOE OSTI2015

Progress in Fast, Accurate Multi-scale Climate Simulations

We present a survey of physical and computational techniques that have the potential to con- tribute to the next generation of high-fidelity, multi-scale climate simulations. Examples of the climate science problems that can be investigated with more depth include the capture of remote forcings of localized hydrological extreme events, an accurate representation of cloud features over a range of spatial and temporal scales, and parallel, large ensembles of simulations to more effectively explore model sensitivities and uncertainties. Numerical techniques, such as adaptive mesh refinement, implicit time integration, and separate treatment of fast physical time scales are enabling improved accuracy and fidelity in simulation of dynamics and allow more complete representations of climate features at the global scale. At the same time, part- nerships with computer science teams have focused on taking advantage of evolving computer architectures, such as many-core processors and GPUs, so that these approaches which were previously considered prohibitively costly have become both more efficient and scalable. In combination, progress in these three critical areas is poised to transform climate modeling in the coming decades.

climate modeling↗
DOE OSTI2014

A spectral transform dynamical core option within the Community Atmosphere Model (CAM4)

A spectral transform dynamical core with an 85 spectral truncation resolution (T85) within the Community Atmosphere Model (CAM), version 4, is evaluated within the recently released Community Earth System Model, version 1.0 (CESM) global climate model. The spectral dynamical core option provides a well-known base within the climate model community from which to assess climate behavior and statistics, and its relative computational efficiency for smaller computing platforms allows it to be extended to perform climate length simulations using high-resolution configurations in the near term. To establish the characteristics of the CAM4 T85, an ensemble of simulations covering the present day observational period using forced sea surface temperatures and prescribed sea-ice extent are evaluated. Overall, the T85 ensemble attributes and biases are similar to a companion ensemble of simulations using the one degree finite volume (FV1) dynamical core, relative to observed and model derived datasets. Notable improvements with T85 compared to FV1 include the representation of wintertime Arctic sea level pressure and summer precipitation over the Western Indian subcontinent. The mean and spatial patterns of the land surface temperature trends over the AMIP period are generally well simulated with the T85 ensemble relative to observations, however the model is not able to capture the extent nor magnitude of changes in temperature extremes over the boreal summer, where the changes are most dramatic. Biases in the wintertime Arctic surface temperature and annual mean surface stress fields persist with T85 as with the CAM3 version of T85.

atmosphere model analysis↗
DOE OSTI2014

ntermediate frequency atmospheric disturbances: A dynamical bridge connecting western U.S. extreme precipitation with East Asian cold surges

In this study, an atmospheric river (AR) detection algorithm is developed to investigate the downstream modulation of the eastern North Pacific ARs by another weather extreme, known as the East Asian cold surge (EACS), in both reanalysis data and high-resolution global model simulations. It is shown that following the peak of an EACS, atmospheric disturbances of intermediate frequency (IF; 10 30 day period) are excited downstream. This leads to the formation of a persistent cyclonic circulation anomaly over the eastern North Pacific that dramatically enhances the AR occurrence probability and the surface precipitation over the western U.S. between 30 N and 50 N. A diagnosis of the local geopotential height tendency further confirms the essential role of IF disturbances in establishing the observed persistent anomaly. This downstream modulation effect is then examined in the two simulations of the National Center for Atmospheric Research Community Climate System Model version 4 with different horizontal resolutions (T85 and T341) for the same period (1979 2005). The connection between EACS and AR is much better captured by the T341 version of the model, mainly due to a better representation of the scale interaction and the characteristics of IF atmospheric disturbances in the higher-resolution model. The findings here suggest that faithful representations of scale interaction in a global model are critical for modeling and predicting the occurrences of hydrological extremes in the western U.S. and for understanding their potential future changes.

atmospheric river↗
DOE OSTI2014

Web-based Visual Analytics for Extreme Scale Climate Science

In this paper, we introduce a Web-based visual analytics framework for democratizing advanced visualization and analysis capabilities pertinent to large-scale earth system simulations. We address significant limitations of present climate data analysis tools such as tightly coupled dependencies, ineffi- cient data movements, complex user interfaces, and static visualizations. Our Web-based visual analytics framework removes critical barriers to the widespread accessibility and adoption of advanced scientific techniques. Using distributed connections to back-end diagnostics, we minimize data movements and leverage HPC platforms. We also mitigate system dependency issues by employing a RESTful interface. Our framework embraces the visual analytics paradigm via new visual navigation techniques for hierarchical parameter spaces, multi-scale representations, and interactive spatio-temporal data mining methods that retain details. Although generalizable to other science domains, the current work focuses on improving exploratory analysis of large-scale Community Land Model (CLM) and Community Atmosphere Model (CAM) simulations.

climate science↗
DOE OSTI2013

Multiphysics Simulations: Challenges and Opportunities

We consider multiphysics applications from algorithmic and architectural perspectives, where ‘‘algorithmic’’ includes both mathematical analysis and computational complexity, and ‘‘architectural’’ includes both software and hardware environments. Many diverse multiphysics applications can be reduced, en route to their computational simulation, to a common algebraic coupling paradigm. Mathematical analysis of multiphysics coupling in this form is not always practical for realistic applications, but model problems representative of applications discussed herein can provide insight. A variety of software frameworks for multiphysics applications have been constructed and refined within disciplinary communities and executed on leading-edge computer systems. We examine several of these, expose some commonalities among them, and attempt to extrapolate best practices to future systems. From our study, we summarize challenges and forecast opportunities.

Keyes, David↗
DOE OSTI2013

AMIP Simulation with the CAM4 Spectral Element Dynamical Core

We evaluate the climate produced by the Community Earth System Model, version 1, running with the new spectral-element atmospheric dynamical core option. The spectral-element method is congured to use a cubed-sphere grid, providing quasi-uniform resolution over the sphere, increased parallel scalability and removing the need for polar filters. It uses a fourth order accurate spatial discretization which locally conserves mass and moist total energy. Using the Atmosphere Model Intercomparison Project protocol, we compare the results from the spectral-element dy- namical core with those produced by the default nite-volume dynamical core and with observations.

CAM-SE↗
DOE OSTI2012

A modern solver framework to manage solution algorithms in the Community Earth System Model

Global Earth-system models (ESM) can now produce simulations that resolve ~50 km features and include finer-scale, interacting physical processes. In order to achieve these scale-length solutions, ESMs require smaller time steps, which limits parallel performance. Solution methods that overcome these bottlenecks can be quite intricate, and there is no single set of algorithms that perform well across the range of problems of interest. This creates significant implementation challenges, which is further compounded by complexity of ESMs. Therefore, prototyping and evaluating new algorithms in these models requires a software framework that is flexible, extensible, and easily introduced into the existing software. We describe our efforts to create a parallel solver framework that links the Trilinos library of solvers to Glimmer-CISM, a continental ice sheet model used in the Community Earth System Model (CESM). We demonstrate this framework within both current and developmental versions of Glimmer-CISM and provide strategies for its integration into the rest of the CESM.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2012

Inter-annual Tropospheric Aerosol Variability in Late Twentieth Century and its Impact on Tropical Atlantic and West African Climate by Direct and Semi-direct Effects

A new high-resolution (0.9$^{\circ}$x1.25$^{\circ}$ in the horizontal) global tropospheric aerosol dataset with monthly resolution is generated using the finite-volume configuration of Community Atmosphere Model (CAM4) coupled to a bulk aerosol model and forced with recent estimates of surface emissions for the latter part of twentieth century. The surface emissions dataset is constructed from Coupled Model Inter-comparison Project (CMIP5) decadal-resolution surface emissions dataset to include REanalysis of TROpospheric chemical composition (RETRO) wildfire monthly emissions dataset. Experiments forced with the new tropospheric aerosol dataset and conducted using the spectral configuration of CAM4 with a T85 truncation (1.4$^{\circ}$x1.4$^{\circ}$) with prescribed twentieth century observed sea surface temperature, sea-ice and greenhouse gases reveal that variations in tropospheric aerosol levels can induce significant regional climate variability on the inter-annual timescales. Regression analyses over tropical Atlantic and Africa reveal that increasing dust aerosols can cool the North African landmass and shift convection southwards from West Africa into the Gulf of Guinea in the spring season in the simulations. Further, we find that increasing carbonaceous aerosols emanating from the southwestern African savannas can cool the region significantly and increase the marine stratocumulus cloud cover over the southeast tropical Atlantic ocean by aerosol-induced diabatic heating of the free troposphere above the low clouds. Experiments conducted with CAM4 coupled to a slab ocean model suggest that present day aerosols can shift the ITCZ southwards over the tropical Atlantic and can reduce the ocean mixed layer temperature beneath the increased marine stratocumulus clouds in the southeastern tropical Atlantic.

Evans, Katherine J↗
DOE OSTI2011

Multiwavelet Discontinuous Galerkin Accelerated ELP Method for the Shallow Water Equations on the Cubed Sphere

In this paper we present a new approach to increase the time-step size for an explicit discontinuous Galerkin numerical method. The attributes of this approach are demonstrated on standard tests for the shallow-water equations on the sphere. The addition of multiwavelets to discontinuous Galerkin method, which has the benefit of being scalable, flexible, and conservative, provides a hierarchical scale structure that can be exploited to improve computational efficiency in both the spatial and temporal dimensions. This paper explains how combining a multiwavelet discontinuous Galerkin method with exact linear part time-evolution schemes, which can remain stable for implicit-sized time steps, can help increase the time-step size for shallow water equations on the sphere.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2011

Implementation of the Jacobian-free Newton-Krylov method for solving the for solving the first-order ice sheet momentum balance

We have implemented the Jacobian-free Newton-Krylov (JFNK) method for solving the rst-order ice sheet momentum equation in order to improve the numerical performance of the Community Ice Sheet Model (CISM), the land ice component of the Community Earth System Model (CESM). Our JFNK implementation is based on signicant re-use of existing code. For example, our physics-based preconditioner uses the original Picard linear solver in CISM. For several test cases spanning a range of geometries and boundary conditions, our JFNK implementation is 1.84-3.62 times more efficient than the standard Picard solver in CISM. Importantly, this computational gain of JFNK over the Picard solver increases when rening the grid. Global convergence of the JFNK solver has been signicantly improved by rescaling the equation for the basal boundary condition and through the use of an inexact Newton method. While a diverse set of test cases show that our JFNK implementation is usually robust, for some problems it may fail to converge with increasing resolution (as does the Picard solver). Globalization through parameter continuation did not remedy this problem and future work to improve robustness will explore a combination of Picard and JFNK and the use of homotopy methods.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2011

Recent Progress in Nonlinear and Linear Solvers

We discuss two approaches for tackling algebraic systems, one is based on block preconditioning and the other is based on multifrontal and hierarchical matrix methods. First we consider a new preconditioner framework for supporting implicit time integration within an atmospheric climate model. We give an overview of the computational infrastructure used in atmospheric climate studies, address specific challenges of weak-scalability of numerical methods used in these codes, outline a strategy for addressing these challenges, and provide details about the software infrastructure being developed to implement these ideas. In the second part, we present our recent results of employing hierarchically semiseparable low-rank structure in a multifrontal factorization framework. This leads to superfast linear solvers for elliptic PDEs and effective preconditioners for a wider class of sparse linear systems.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗