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Record Search Query:

Climate@Home - Citizen Science for Climate Change
Entry ID: CLIMATE_HOME

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Summary

Abstract: Climate@Home: Creating a Virtual Supercomputer to Model Climate

NASA will be calling on people worldwide to help determine the accuracy of a computer model that scientists use to predict climate change. The initiative, called "Climate@Home," is unprecedented in scope. Never before has NASA attempted to recruit so many people to help perform research vital to forecasting the Earth's climate in the ... 21st century under a wide range of different situations.

NASA's Earth Science Division (ESD) and Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) have strategically partnered to manage the Climate@Home initiative. This effort will include collaborations between the 10 NASA Centers, the 13 Federal agencies of the USGCRP (United States Global Change Research Program) along with several universities and private organizations.

Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)'s Robert Cahalan is serving as the project scientist and has assembled an international team of scientists to help set science goals and determine which parameters to run. GSFC's senior advisor to the CIO, Myra Bambacus, serves as the project manager and will run this initiative.

Participants need no special training to get involved in Climate@Home. All they need is a desktop computer or laptop. Volunteers will be able to download the computer model to run on their computers as a background process whenever the computers are on, but not used to their full capacity.

The climate model that volunteers download is made up of mathematical equations that quantitatively describe how atmospheric temperature, air pressure, winds, water vapor, clouds, precipitation and other factors all respond to the Sun's heating of the Earth's surface and atmosphere. Models help predict how the Earth's climate might respond to small changes in Earth's ability to absorb sunlight or radiate energy into space.

Scientists traditionally have used supercomputers to test the sensitivity and accuracy of climate models. With these powerful machines, they are able to run millions of calculations, each computing a different scenario or combination of circumstances such as varying levels of chlorine or water vapor in the atmosphere.

Instead of using supercomputers in this effort, NASA is creating a virtual supercomputing network that spreads the data-processing chores across thousands of computers. Such a task-sharing initiative eliminates the need to buy additional supercomputers, which consume enormous amounts of energy, and reduces the "carbon footprint" of running these calculations.

[Summary provided by NASA.]

Service Citation

Title: Climate@Home - Citizen Science for Climate Change
Provider: NASA Earth Sciences Division
URL: http://www.nasa.gov/offices/ocio/ittalk/08-2010_climate.html

Service Keywords

DATA MANAGEMENT/DATA HANDLING >CATALOGING

DATA MANAGEMENT/DATA HANDLING >DATA SEARCH AND RETRIEVAL

Science Keywords

ATMOSPHERE >AEROSOLS

ATMOSPHERE >AIR QUALITY

ISO Topic Category

CLIMATOLOGY/METEOROLOGY/ATMOSPHERE
ENVIRONMENT
OCEANS

Ancillary Keywords

Climate
Climate Change

Service Provider

NASA/GSFC/SED/ESD > Earth Sciences Division, Science and Exploration Directorate, Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA

Service Organization URL: http://earthsciences.gsfc.nasa.gov/

Service Provider Personnel
Name: MYRA BAMBACUS Phone: 301-286-3215 Email: myra.j.bambacus at nasa.gov Contact Address: Goddard Space Flight Center Code 610.0 City: Greenbelt Province or State: MD Postal Code: 20771 Country: USA

Distribution Media

Distribution_Media: Online
Fees: No fees

Personnel

MYRA BAMBACUS
Role: TECHNICAL CONTACT
Phone: 301-286-3215
Email: myra.j.bambacus at nasa.gov
Contact Address:
Goddard Space Flight Center
Code 610.0
City: Greenbelt
Province or State: MD
Postal Code: 20771
Country: USA

Creation and Review Dates

SERF Creation Date: 2011-08-03
SERF Last Revision Date: 2012-03-02

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