Schaefer, Kevin: National Snow and Ice Data Center (Project Lead)
Piper, Mark: Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (Co-Investigator)
Jafarov, Elchin: Woodwell Climate Research Center (Participant)
Schwalm, Christopher: Woodwell Climate Research Center (Participant)
Project Funding:
2015 - 2017
NRA: 2014 NASA: Computational Modeling Algorithms and Cyberinfrastructure
Funded by NASA
Abstract:
The Permafrost Benchmark System (PBS) will evaluate simulated permafrost dynamics against observed permafrost conditions. The project goals are 1) to develop a set of generic benchmarking tools capable of calculating performance statistics in multiple benchmarking efforts, and 2) develop benchmark datasets of permafrost dynamics based on available observations and 3) apply the PBS by evaluating multiple models. The PBS will provide an easily accessible, online tool to quickly evaluate model performance and guide model development without having to invest large resources into data preparation and organization. The chosen benchmark datasets include measurements of active layer thickness, permafrost temperature, and snow conditions. The ideal performance target is to match the observations within uncertainty, so the PBS benchmark datasets and evaluation metrics will account for observation uncertainty. The PBS will be a modular collection of tools built into the Community Surface Dynamics Modeling System (CSDMS) to leverage existing cyberinfrastructure and allow distribution of the benchmarking tools to the modeling community. The PBS fills a basic need of modeling teams to evaluate how well their models simulate permafrost dynamics, without a heavy investment in time and resources to organize the observations. This project will fill a gap in current benchmarking efforts, which currently do not include capabilities or observations to evaluate simulated permafrost dynamics.
Publications:
Clayton, L. K., Schaefer, K., Battaglia, M. J., Bourgeau-Chavez, L., Chen, J., Chen, R. H., Chen, A., Bakian-Dogaheh, K., Grelik, S., Jafarov, E., Liu, L., Michaelides, R. J., Moghaddam, M., Parsekian, A. D., Rocha, A. V., Schaefer, S. R., Sullivan, T., Tabatabaeenejad, A., Wang, K., Wilson, C. J., Zebker, H. A., Zhang, T., Zhao, Y. 2021. Active layer thickness as a function of soil water content. Environmental Research Letters. 16(5), 055028. DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/abfa4c
More details may be found in the following project profile(s):
