Grantee Research Project Results
2000 Progress Report: An Object-Oriented Integrating Framework for Multi-discipline Ecosystem Modeling
EPA Grant Number: R827959Title: An Object-Oriented Integrating Framework for Multi-discipline Ecosystem Modeling
Investigators: Stotts, David , Prins, Jan F. , Galluppi, Kenneth J. , Coats, Carly
Current Investigators: Stotts, David
Institution: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
EPA Project Officer: Packard, Benjamin H
Project Period: October 1, 1999 through September 30, 2002 (Extended to July 20, 2005)
Project Period Covered by this Report: October 1, 1999 through September 30, 2000
Project Amount: $863,049
RFA: Computing Technology for Ecosystem Modeling (1999) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Environmental Statistics
Objective:
The objectives of this research project are to: (1) develop an object-oriented framework for interconnection of environmental models into a collective meta-model of the larger environment; (2) develop methods and/or advise for converting or adapting existing FORTRAN models to Java; (3) develop a notation for expressing the larger model that a user wishes to assemble from components; (4) provide a comprehensive system for collection and publication of model components for general community use; and (5) integrate/coordinate our efforts with the MIMS team at EPA.Progress Summary:
We are researching methods for interconnecting and interoperating environmental models that operate in different time frames, space frames, and mathematical frames. We have outlined the system to be built as a semiexecutable specification in Haskell (a high-level functional programming language), and we have outlined approaches to converting FORTRAN models into Java to fit the framework.We supported four students who worked on several groundwork projects for the object-oriented architecture of the system that will provide interconnection functions for environmental models. We also began investigations on how to provide automated rewriting of FORTRAN scientific models into Java to fit the framework.
- Rewriting Scientific Models from FORTRAN into Java. Several experiments are underway to determine how FORTRAN models can be adapted or rewritten to fit into a Java framework. For a base case, we took an entire FORTRAN code as native method wrapped in Java and treated this as the best possible performance. As a level one abstraction, we have created Java I/O abstractions for integration adapters, with a FORTRAN functional nucleus for scientific algorithms. As a level three abstraction, we have developed a version of the model in which each COMMON is a class, and we altered accesses to variables in common into object data field accesses; we still are measuring the relative performance of this approach to the base case. The goal is to decide how to automate this. Currently, we think that a small performance hit will be acceptable if it comes from a conversion process that does not require human rewriting of a model, but can be offered as a compiler service.
- Individual Integrations. Several individual experiments are underway
to investigate the details of how models are to be integrated. One is the
integration of a Neuse River water model (Leuttich and Bowen) with a sediment
model (Alperin). The goal of each effort is to create connection procedures that
can be generalized and automated.
We are integrating meterological models at varying time and space scales to solve a 36-hour weather forecast problem in real-time (e.g., preparing, in a few hours, a forecast for the next day and a half). This system is functioning and will be extended; it was hand-generated (before our project began) as 100,000 lines of script to run multiple processes on multiple machines.
- Model Interconnection Calculus (MIC). Specifications for MIC?the model interconnection system?are being written in Haskell to serve as a first-level check on the consistency and completeness of our specifications. From here we will implement our specifications, using an appropriate platform (see item 4).
- Base Technology. Rather than produce all of the codes we need, we wish to build our methods on existing systems?if possible. To this end, we are evaluating two systems: (1) an integration of GRAS, Postgres, and visualization tools from Germany; and (2) a system developed that runs as "NCWeatherScope," solving a real-time weather forecasting problem for a local TV news station. We are most interested in the NCWeatherScope system, because it seems to be a hand-generated example of the exact composite model we need to create automatically.
- Interactions with MIMS Team at EPA. With funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), we attended MIMS team meetings at EPA through the fall of 2000. With EPA funds, we attended these meetings in the spring of 2001. We are in the process of deciding how to integrate our efforts with the MIMS effort so that our results will be reflected directly in that system as it goes into production.
Future Activities:
We will continue efforts to achieve the five objectives of the project?development of an object-oriented framework for interconnection of environmental models into a collective meta-model of the larger environment, development of methods and/or advise for converting or adapting existing FORTRAN models to Java, development of a notation for expressing the larger model that a user wishes to assemble from components, provision of a comprehensive system for collection and publication of model components for general community use; and integration/coordination of our efforts with the MIMS team at EPA.Journal Articles:
No journal articles submitted with this report: View all 2 publications for this projectSupplemental Keywords:
multimedia, interdisciplinary, water quality, modeling., RFA, Scientific Discipline, Ecosystem Protection/Environmental Exposure & Risk, Ecosystem/Assessment/Indicators, Ecosystem Protection, Ecological Effects - Environmental Exposure & Risk, computing technology, Ecological Risk Assessment, Ecology and Ecosystems, air quality modeling, ecosystem modeling, interoperable software components, ecological exposure, HPCC, ecological modeling, computer science, geographical information systems, interface description language, object-oriented integrated framework, GISRelevant Websites:
http://stottspc-cs.cs.unc.edu/![Exit EPA icon](https://www.epa.gov/ncer/images/exit.gif)
Progress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.