Download Draft 2016 National Research Infrastructure Roadmap

Name of Submitter: Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society
Draft 2016 National Research Infrastructure Roadmap
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Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society (AMOS)
Submission
About AMOS
AMOS is an independent Australian society that supports and fosters interest in
meteorology, oceanography and other related sciences ......... and represents the views of its
members to Government, institutes and the public.
AMOS aims to advance the scientific understanding of the atmosphere, oceans and climate
system, and their socioeconomic and ecological impacts, and promote applications of this
understanding for the benefit of all Australians.
This submission is made on behalf of BOTH the research and operational services
communities within our disciplines, both of whom require ongoing high quality and wideranging observing systems, advanced data management systems and state-of-the-art
modelling systems to deliver knowledge, applications and services.
AMOS wishes to address the following area:
2. Key National Research Infrastructure, 2.6 Environmental Systems.
(1) ACCESS (modelling system)
AMOS strongly supports the inclusion of the ACCESS modelling system as a core research
infrastructure for our disciplines and for continuous improvement in environment and
natural resource management.
The 2016 Review of the Value, Impact and Lessons Learned from The Australian Climate
Change Science Programme (ACCSP), FINAL REPORT November 2016,
http://www.cawcr.gov.au/projects/Climatechange/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Scientell-ACCSP-report-
strongly endorsed the re-engineering of ACCESS to broaden its usability:
“Improve the mechanisms to make ACCESS a true community model for Australia, by
developing a user-services framework for a community model.” “Develop a funded,
targeted, service oriented module for ACCESS community model support”.
Nov2016.pdf,
The vision of Australia’s weather forecasting, atmospheric analysis, earth systems, climate
and climate change research communities is to transform the investment-to-date on
ACCESS into a national research platform/system that significantly enhances research
collaboration, broadens services capability, facilitates global leverage, and delivers national
benefit. This requires re-engineering of the ACCESS total system and systems flow, noting
that:
 A weather, climate and environmental prediction system comprises: i) high performance supercomputers
(HPC) to run model simulations; ii) high performance data management systems to curate and mine the
large volumes of input and output data; iii) the software, i.e. the computer code, which comprises the
model itself as well as the complex software that allows its execution in a variety of configurations, from
high-resolution atmospheric models for weather research to Earth System models for climate simulation.
Therefore, we commend the inclusion of ACCESS as a critical research infrastructure.
(2) OBSERVATION AND DATA INFRASTRUCTURE
The current imbalance, in the draft roadmap document, between infrastructure needs for
ocean and atmosphere (including climate) is most noticeable. In parallel with the
marine/ocean needs, there is a need for observational and data infrastructure to support
atmospheric research, beyond the routine meteorological observing networks:
(a) observing platforms: aircraft, FluxTower network
(b) observations for calibration and quality control of Earth observations (particularly
remote sensing observations used widely by others, eg in agriculture)
(c) atmospheric chemistry and composition (for which, beyond the Cape Grim Baseline
Air Pollution Station, there is no research infrastructure investment that is nationally
coordinated).
Therefore, for clarity, completeness and appropriate balance, AMOS requests that the
following paragraph be included at the start of Section 2.6:
Australia’s participation in the environmental observing infrastructure for atmosphere,
ocean, cryosphere and land surface (The Global Observing System [GOS] comprising, inter
alia, the WWW, GCOS, GAW and GOOS1) simultaneously support our national economic
1
WWW – World Weather Watch, GCOS – Global Climate Observing System, GAW – Global Atmosphere Watch
and GOOS – Global ocean Observing System
activity and bring considerably enhanced benefits due to the relative geographic isolation
of our continent. This participation and its infrastructure are endorsed and supported
nationally to underpin Australia’s ongoing safety, services and research programs, and
hence those operated under institutional infrastructure are not included in this roadmap.
Rather they are considered to underpin the Future Directions, Needs and Priority Areas
identified below. Some gaps in ongoing monitoring infrastructure relating to atmospheric
composition, chemistry and radiative fluxes remain.
(3) REMOTE SENSING INFRASTRUCTURE
AMOS also supports:

Remotely sensed Earth observations:
o Enhance capability in remotely sensed data infrastructure, including sensors
and sensor networks, and calibration sites across Australia.
o Enhance capability to serve a wide range of new and innovative remotely
sensed products to the research community, business and industry in near
real time.
AMOS notes that remote sensing systems deliver data for multiple needs, and we wish to
emphasise the benefits of the proposed calibration systems and integrated systems
recommended in this item.
On behalf of AMOS:
Mary Voice FAMOS (President AMOS)
16 January 2017