[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 1 (Tuesday, January 2, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 102-104]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-33443]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Office of Science; Office of Science Financial Assistance Program
Notice 01-09; Scientific Discovery Through Advanced Computing: Climate
Change Prediction Program
AGENCY: U.S. Department of Energy.
ACTION: Notice inviting grant and cooperative agreement applications.
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SUMMARY: The Office of Biological and Environmental Research (OBER) of
the Office of Science (SC), U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), hereby
announces its interest in receiving applications to support the
development of simulation models for decadal to multi-century climate
prediction in conjunction with the Climate Change Prediction Program
(CCPP), a part of the U.S. Global Change Research Program.
DATES: Applicants are encouraged (but not required) to submit a brief
preapplication for programmatic review. There is no deadline for the
preapplication, but early submission of preapplications is encouraged
to allow time for meaningful discussions.
Formal applications submitted in response to this notice must be
received by 4:30 p.m., E.S.T., March 15, 2001, to be accepted for merit
review and to permit timely consideration for award in Fiscal Year
2001.
ADDRESSES: Preapplications referencing Program Notice 01-09 may be sent
to the program contact, Dr. David C. Bader, via electronic mail at
dave.bader@science.doe.gov or by U. S. Postal Service Mail at the
following address: Office of Biological and Environmental Research,
Environmental Sciences Division, SC-74, U.S. Department of Energy,
19901 Germantown Road, Germantown, MD 20874-1290.
Formal applications referencing Program Notice 01-09 should be
forwarded to: U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Grants and
Contract Division, SC-64, 19901 Germantown Road, Germantown, MD 20874-
1290, ATTN: Program Notice 01-09. This address also must be used when
submitting applications by U.S. Postal Service Express Mail, any
commercial mail delivery service, or when hand-carried by the
applicant. An original and seven copies of the application must be
submitted; however, applicants are requested not to submit multiple
application copies using more than one delivery or mail service.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. David C. Bader, Office of
Biological and Environmental Research, Environmental Sciences Division,
SC-74, U.S. Department of Energy, 19901 Germantown Road, Germantown, MD
20874-1290, telephone (301) 903-5329, fax (301) 903-8519, Internet e-
mail address: dave.bader@science.doe.gov. Program information is
available on the DOE/OBER WWW site using the URL: http://www.sc.doe.gov/production/OBER/GC/model.html.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background: Scientific Discovery Through Advanced Computing and the
Climate Change Prediction Program
Accurate prediction of climate change on decadal and longer time
scales remains a major scientific objective of the Environmental
Sciences Division (ESD). The Climate Change Prediction Program (CCPP)
is the current phase in the evolution of DOE's long-standing climate
modeling and simulation research agenda. The program is focused on
developing, testing and applying climate simulation and prediction
models that stay at the leading edge of scientific knowledge and
computational technology. The program will continue the development of
models based on more definitive theoretical foundations and improved
computational methods that will run efficiently on current and future
generations of high-performance scientific supercomputers. The intent
is to increase dramatically both the accuracy and throughput of
computer model-based predictions of future climate system response to
the increased atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases.
Concurrently, to meet the challenge posed by the new generation of
terascale computers with peak speeds of 10 to 100 trillion Operations
Per Second (teraOPS), SC will fund a set of coordinated investments in
scientific computing, through its Scientific Discovery through Advanced
Computing (SciDAC) Program. It will create a scientific computing
software infrastructure that bridges the gap between the advanced
computing technologies being developed by the computer industry and the
scientific research programs sponsored by the Office of Science. The
CCPP portion of SciDAC, has been labeled the Accelerated Climate
Prediction Initiative.
To ensure that the program meets the broadest needs of the research
community and the specific needs of ESD, the successful applicants will
participate as members of the Climate Change Prediction Program Science
Team along with selected scientists from related ESD and SC programs.
Costs for the participation in Science Team meetings and workshops
should be included in the respondent's application. Yearly estimates
for Science Team travel should be based on one trip of five days to
Washington, DC, one trip of five days to San Francisco, CA, and one
trip of five days to Denver, CO.
Request for Cooperative Agreement Applications
This notice requests applications for cooperative agreements in the
following area:
The development of prototype climate models of the future including
new formulations, numerical methods, algorithms and computational
techniques, that will underpin the construction of production-quality
climate GCMs in the five to ten year time frame.
Successful applicants for cooperative agreements to develop models
of the future will devise a multi-disciplinary research strategy that
addresses both climate science and computational science challenges
facing the development of production-quality climate GCMs in the five
to ten year time frame. These challenges include, but are not limited
to, model formulations that accurately simulate critical climate
processes and efficient algorithms that will execute on future high-end
computer architectures such as multi-threaded and processor-in-memory
designs that are anticipated to have theoretical peak speeds over 100
TeraOPS. Successful applications will convey a strong emphasis on
multi-disciplinary graduate training. Cooperative agreements differ
from grants in that there is continuing substantial involvement by DOE
in the conduct of the research.
[[Page 103]]
Request for Grant Applications
Additionally, this notice requests applications for grants in the
following four areas:
(1) Theoretical limits to global climate prediction over decade to
multi-century time frames with subcontinental and smaller scale spatial
accuracy.
(2) The development of improved representations of key climate
processes (surface processes, convective transport, etc.,) that
accurately simulate these processes on the appropriate scales used in
general circulation model (GCM) based climate models that simulate
decade-to-century climate change.
(3) The development of improved mathematical techniques, model
formulations and computer algorithms for atmosphere, ocean and coupled
atmosphere-ocean GCMs that more accurately and efficiently describe and
predict global climate system behavior on the time and space scales
mentioned above using advanced, parallel-processing scientific
supercomputers.
(4) The development of diagnostic methods and tools to evaluate the
ability of GCM-based climate models to accurately describe and predict
global climate system behavior on the time and space scales mentioned
above.
Successful applicants for grants exploring the theoretical limits
of climate prediction will conduct studies of the climate system to
ascertain the capability for climate simulation models to predict the
aspects of the climate system that influence near-surface temperature,
precipitation and winds, decades to centuries in the future. These
studies may include, but are not limited to, analytical and modeling
investigations of the coupled climate system, or components of the
climate system, to identify climate dynamical mechanisms that influence
long-term variability and predictability over continental and
subcontinental spatial scales.
Successful applicants for grants to develop or improve
representations of climate system processes for inclusion in GCM-based
climate prediction models will conduct research to more accurately
describe these processes and their interaction with other aspects of
the simulated climate system. These studies will explore methods for
incorporating the results of the U.S. Global Change Research Program's
observational and experimental programs into model components that
accurately describe climate system processes at the model resolution
scales typically used for decade-to-multi-century climate prediction.
Applicants in this area must include a plan for the dissemination of
any developed model code, and necessary documentation, to the climate
modeling community.
Successful applicants for grants to develop new mathematical
techniques and numerical algorithms will target their research toward
methods that can be incorporated into models running on highly parallel
scientific supercomputers capable of performing over 10 trillion
operations per second (10 teraOPS). Applicants must demonstrate the
role of their research in improving the accuracy and/or computational
efficiency of GCM-based climate simulation models of the type
envisioned for use in making forecasts of long-term climate change.
These methods may be used in the simulation of any or all of the
climate system processes modeled in a GCM, including, but not limited
to, atmospheric and ocean dynamics and transport, surface energy and
mass exchange, atmospheric radiative transfer, ocean convection, and
sea-ice dynamics and thermodynamics. Applicants in this area must
include a plan for the dissemination of any developed model code, and
necessary documentation, to the climate modeling community.
Successful applicants for grants to develop diagnostic methods and
tools will focus their research on new or greatly improved diagnostic
methodologies to objectively evaluate the ability of GCM-based climate
models to accurately simulate climate dynamics and global climate on
the time and space scales described above. Particularly important are
observation-based diagnostic methods that can be applied consistently
to multiple models to identify sources of predictive uncertainty.
Applicants in this area must be willing to cooperate with other groups
in building the new methodologies into comprehensive diagnostic
packages that will be freely available to the broader climate modeling
community.
Program Funding
It is anticipated that approximately $5,000,000 will be available
for awards in Fiscal Year 2001, contingent upon the availability of
appropriated funds. Multiple year funding of awards is expected, with
out-year funding also contingent upon the availability of appropriated
funds, progress of the research, and programmatic needs. The allocation
of funds within the research areas will depend upon the number and
quality of applications received. SC anticipates that grant awards in
this area will be approximately $200,000 per year, but may range from
$50,000 to $600,000. SC anticipates that cooperative agreement awards
will be approximately $1,000,000 per year.
Collaboration
Applicants are strongly encouraged to collaborate with researchers
in other institutions, such as: universities, industry, non-profit
organizations, federal laboratories and Federally Funded Research and
Development Centers (FFRDCs), including the DOE National Laboratories,
where appropriate, and to include cost sharing wherever feasible.
Additional information on collaboration is available in the Application
Guide for the Office of Science Financial Assistance Program that is
available via the Internet at: http://www.sc.doe.gov/production/grants/Colab.html.
Preapplications
Potential applicants are strongly encouraged to submit a brief
preapplication that consists of two to three pages of narrative
describing the research project objectives and methods of
accomplishment. These will be reviewed relative to the scope and
research needs of the SC's Climate Change Prediction Program. Principal
investigator address, telephone number, fax number and e-mail address
are required parts of the preapplication. A response to each
preapplication discussing the potential program relevance of a formal
application generally will be communicated within 30 days of receipt.
There is no deadline for the submission of preapplications, but
applicants should allow sufficient time in order for formal application
deadlines to be met. SC's preapplication policy can be found on SC's
Grants and Contracts Web Site at: http://www.sc.doe.gov/production/grants/preapp.html.
Merit Review
Applications will be subjected to formal merit review (peer review)
and will be evaluated against the following evaluation criteria which
are listed in descending order of importance codified at 10 CFR
605.10(d):
1. Scientific and/or Technical Merit of the Project;
2. Appropriateness of the Proposed Method or Approach;
3. Competency of Applicant's personnel and Adequacy of Proposed
Resources;
4. Reasonableness and Appropriateness of the Proposed Budget.
The evaluation will include program policy factors, such as the
relevance of the proposed research to the terms of the announcement and
an agency's
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programmatic needs. Note, external peer reviewers are selected with
regard to both their scientific expertise and the absence of conflict-
of-interest issues. Non-federal reviewers will often be used, and
submission of an application constitutes agreement that this is
acceptable to the investigator(s) and the submitting institution.
Submission Information
Information about development and submission of applications,
eligibility, limitations, evaluation, selection process, and other
policies and procedures may be found in 10 CFR Part 605 and in the
Application Guide for the Office of Science Financial Assistance
Program. Electronic access to the Guide and required forms is made
available via the World Wide Web at: http://www.sc.doe.gov/production/grants/grants.html. DOE is under no obligation to pay for any costs
associated with the preparation or submission of applications if an
award is not made. The technical portion of the application should not
exceed twenty-five (25) double-spaced pages and should include detailed
budgets for each year of support requested. Awards are expected to
begin on or about June 1, 2001.
Technical information on CCPP is available on the World Wide Web at
the URL: http://www.sc.doe.gov/production/OBER/GC/model.html or from
the Office of Scientific and Technical Information, P.O. Box 62, Oak
Ridge, TN 37831, telephone (423) 576-8401.
The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number for this program
is 81.049, and the solicitation control number is ERFAP 10 CFR Part
605.
Issued in Washington, DC on December 19, 2000.
John Rodney Clark,
Associate Director of Science for Resource Management.
[FR Doc. 00-33443 Filed 12-29-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P