A number of communities in the US have been expressing interest in the OpenMI. Several now have hands on experience, while others are already investigating how it might be further developed. To take this to the next stage, the US National Science Foundation recently funded seven US scientists to attend an OpenMI workshop hosted by the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Wallingford Software, DHI and Deltares at Wallingford in the UK. Dr Rick Hooper, the President of CUAHSI (the Consortium of (120) Universties for Advancement of Hydrologic Science) led the US group. It comprised scientists from the universities of California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, South Carolina and Utah and NCAR.
Back row: Scot Peckham, Dave Tarboton, Jasmeet Judge, David Fortune, Larry Winter, Hazel Murphy, Roger Moore, Bert Jagers and Adrian Harper
Front row: Jon Goodall, Jay Famiglietti, Peter Gijsbers, Rick Hooper, Michael Butts and Peter Sinding.
The purpose of the meeting was not only to exchange information but also to explore the opportunities for and, ideally, initiate collaboration. To this end, the meeting was organised around the headings of information exchange, identifying shared interests and initiating collaboration.
An interesting facet of integrated modelling is the number of levels on which people consider they have solved the model integration problem. Often, it takes a little while before the parties realise that they are actually talking at entirely different levels. To illustrate the point, the authors of a modelling framework, a model interface standard such as the OpenMI and a language such as C#, might all make such a claim. The reality is that C# is used to define the OpenMI interface standard and write its SDK; and the OpenMI might be used within a modelling framework system to enable the models to exchange data. The situation is analogous to the builder, architect and owner all claiming to have built a house.
Thus it was at the start of this meeting and another meeting with the US EPA. In these meetings, we usefully clarified the difference between CCA, a low level mechanism for linking models in the high performance computing environment, the OpenMI, a high level interface standard for the run time exchange of data between modelling components, and FRAMES, an entire integrated modelling system.
Coming back to the EU-NSF meeting, the discussion focussed primarily on the technical issues surrounding model linking. Topics of particular interest were linking models running on different platforms - .Net, Java, the high performance computing environment, etc. - and remote linking - linking models running on different machines. Also of interest was the development of modelling platforms, such as CUAHSI's CHyMP and OpenWeb. These provide the academic the community with the opportunity to link and run a wide range of models for teaching and research purposes. They also provide the academic community with a route to market for their models.
The purpose of linking models is to facilitate integrated modelling and in turn make integrated management feasible. While the benefits of integrated modelling are self-evident to some, this is far from being a universal view. In a separate meeting, part of the group discussed how more people could be persuaded of the benefits and a new cadre of scientists, engineers and IT people, skilled in the art, could be created.
The outcome of the meeting was the following series of initiatives:
- The delivery of the first public US OpenMi training course and a two week integrated modelling workshop in 2009.
- Their announcement at a special session in the December 2008, AGU meeting in San Francisco. The session title will be Methods of Integrated Water Cycle Modelling.
- CHyMP and the Grand Challenge - the development of a continental scale water balance model using the CUAHSI Hydrological Modelling Platform.
- CUAHSI to join the OpenMI Association and take an active part in the OpenMI's future development.
- The implementation of the OpenMI in CCA and an investigation as to whether this will allow the linking of models to others running in the high performance environment.
An equally important outcome was that the two teams got on together. It was a very lively week and that hopefully bodes well for a productive future.
Presentations, Monday 7th April 2008
- Meeting Introduction
- Demonstration of the OpenMI, by Peter Sinding
- Technical Developments, by Peter Gijsbers
- Current Status, by Peter Gijsbers
- OpenMI Association Organisation Vision, Mission, Strategy, by Peter Gijsbers
- Integrated Water Modelling Consultant's Experience, by David Fortune
- Bringing the OpenMI to life, by David Fortune & Roger V. Moore
- OpenWEB, The UK Water Environment The UK Water Environment Modeling Platform, by Ian Townend
- What is the OpenMI?, by Roger Moore & David Fortune
- Download Monday's presentations zipped
Presentations, Tuesday 8th April 2008
- The OpenMI and MapWindows, by Dan Ames
- NCAR/UCAR Overview, by Larry Winter
- CUAHSI's Community Hydrological Modelling Platform (CHyMP), by Jay Famigiletti
- CUAHSI Florida Test Bed Sites, by Jasmeet Judge
- The CUAHSI HIS, by David Tarboton
- CUAHSI HIS and OpenMI, by Jon Goodall
- Download Tuesday's presentations zipped
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