DOE Invests $70M to Improve Earth Systems Modeling for Supercomputers

The Department of Energy has awarded $70 million to efforts that could improve an Earth system modeling and simulation project.

DOE said it will award the funding to seven projects to accelerate the development of the Energy Exascale Earth System Model, an ultra-high-resolution model of Earth systems that run on code optimized for the department’s high-performance computers.

The department announced similar investments in E3SM in November 2021 to maximize the utility of its supercomputers.

The new awards are expected to improve climate prediction and promote collaboration among climate scientists, computer scientists and mathematicians, DOE said Tuesday.

Researchers from the Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the University of New Mexico will lead the projects.

Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said that the investment will give researchers a better understanding of Earth systems and how emissions impact the world.

“Being able to understand and predict what is happening in a system as complex as planet Earth is crucial to finding solutions to climate change,” Granholm added.

DOE issued the awards under the Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing funding opportunity announcement.

The funding is good for five years. DOE earmarked $14 million for fiscal year 2022, with outyear funding dependent on congressional appropriations.