July 21, 2003 — The NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory in Princeton, N.J., is one of the world's leading environmental research laboratories. GFDL encompasses a variety of disciplines (e.g., meteorology, oceanography, hydrology, classical physics, fluid dynamics, chemistry, applied mathematics and numerical analysis) and focuses on many topics of great practical value (i.e., weather and hurricane forecasts, El Niño prediction, stratospheric ozone depletion and global warming). GFDL's research goal is to expand the scientific understanding of the physical, chemical and biological processes that govern the behavior of the atmosphere and oceans as complex fluid systems — with a special focus on the development and utilization of computer simulations. (Click NOAA image above for larger view of NOAA GFDL Staff).

GFDL was formed in 1955 as the research branch of the U.S. Weather Bureau in Washington, D.C. Its creation resulted from the historical first numerical weather prediction experiments carried out in the late 1940s and early 1950s at the Institute of Advanced Study at Princeton (led by John Von Neumann and Jule Charney). One member of this scientific team was Joe Smagorinsky, who later became GFDL’s first director. Smagorinsky, and the group that he gathered at GFDL, extended these early efforts to global scale simulations of the atmosphere, the oceans and the Earth climate system. Subsequently the history of GFDL was intimately linked to having world class computational capabilities.

GFDL moved to Princeton, N.J., in 1968, beginning a long and productive partnership (that still continues today) with Princeton University. More than 10 GFDL scientists serve as lecturers with tenure-equivalent academic status in the university's Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Program and serve as advisors to the program's graduate students. The interaction of GFDL and Princeton University scientists, together with a constant stream of top-quality graduate students and post-doctoral scientists, provides for an invigorating intellectual environment that has helped train many of the world's leaders in atmospheric, oceanic and climate sciences.

GFDL Research
GFDL's research can be divided into the following areas:

• Climate Dynamics and Prediction:GFDL’s CDP research strives to understand the mechanisms of climate variability and change utilizing numerical models of the Earth's climate system, assessing the predictability of climate on seasonal and decadal timescales, and reducing uncertainties in future climate projections.
• Weather and Atmospheric Dynamics: GFDL’s WAD activities seek to understand and model the general (atmospheric) circulation using both idealized and general circulation models and performs high resolution modeling of weather (including hurricanes and extratropical storms) with an emphasis on the interplay of extreme events and climate.
• Oceans and Climate: GFDL’s OC work has provided a fundamental understanding of the ocean's role in the Earth's climate and global biogeochemical cycles through the use of numerical and theoretical models based upon both physical and biological processes.
• Atmospheric Physics and Chemistry: GFDL’s APC research focuses on understanding the interactive dynamical-convective-radiative-chemical structure of atmospheric processes in climate, using models and improved mathematical formulations.
• Climate Diagnostics: GFDL’s CD activities diagnose the mean and time-varying states of the climate system using data and model simulations, which are then compared to observations in an effort to evaluate and improve models.
• Earth System Applications: GFDL’s ESA uses models to assess and report on the regional impacts and effects of the interactions of the coupled carbon-water-biogeochemical cycles with climate variability and changes.

Earth Modeling Systems
The challenges of building increasingly interdisciplinary Earth system models and the need to maximize the performance of the models on a variety of computer architectures (especially those utilizing upwards of thousands of processors) necessitates a new and highly advanced program structure. This structure allows the physical, chemical and biological scientists to focus on implementing their specific model components. Software engineers then design and implement the associated infrastructure and superstructure allowing for a seamless linkage of the various scientific components. The GFDL version of this programming structure is the Flexible Modeling System. Models utilizing FMS are used for GFDL’s climate projection studies. Examples include models used for simulating the atmosphere employing different computational methods, a global ocean climate model, land surface and hydrology models, ocean and biosphere and chemical models, and a sea ice model. Additional FMS models include a very high-resolution atmospheric model for hurricane research and process studies, a density coordinate ocean model for high-resolution process studies of the ocean, and an ocean data assimulation system for use in studying and predicting El Niño and other seasonal to interannual climate variations. After extensive testing, documentation and refinement, GFDL scientists and engineers also freely support and release their software products to the international research and forecast communities. In particular, versions of the GFDL Modular Ocean Model have been used for more than two decades by thousands of researchers worldwide.

Research Partnerships
GFDL has approximately 85 federal employees, 15 contractors and about 25 postdoctoral fellows, graduate students and other Princeton research staff. In addition to this, GFDL has partnered with about 200 colleagues at universities and laboratories around the U.S. and the world (including other NOAA Research laboratories, the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Prediction, Columbia, Rutgers, University of Rhode Island and others).

GFDL has also entered into a new working relationship with the National Center for Atmospheric Research, the university community, NASA and the NOAA Weather Service to develop the next generation community-wide version of FMS. This new software system is called the Earth System Modeling Framework and is being developed in collaboration with scientists and engineers throughout Europe, who are working toward similar goals. When mature, these frameworks will greatly facilitate the scientific interactions between modelers worldwide, and will lead to great improvements in the tools used to attack the profoundly difficult and important questions of climate research. In conjunction with this effort, GFDL scientists will conduct collaborative studies with GFDL models and the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research's Community Climate System Model to better understand the differences between these two major climate models. Finally, GFDL scientists have also had a close working relationship with the United Kingdom's Hadley Centre for climate prediction and related research.

Computer Systems
Because GFDL’s research targets a select group of difficult, but important weather and climate problems, the lab’s research typically requires years or decades of sustained research effort, using state-of-the-art supercomputing resources.

GFDL maintains a state-of-the art high-performance computing system in order to support its central mission in leading-edge climate and weather research. The system was designed specifically to provide a balance between very large scalable computing, analysis capability, visualization and storage. Each of these facets of high-end computing is required to run comprehensive coupled Earth System models and high resolution models of the ocean and atmosphere and to thoroughly analyze the model results. The HPCS contains more than 1,500 processors distributed between nine computers ranging in size from 64 to 256 processors per computer that are used to run model experiments and analyze their output. Specialized graphics engines are used to construct three-dimensional visualizations for this analysis. The automatic tape retrieval system also provides access to as much as 1,500,000 GB of data created by these experiments.

Major GFDL Accomplishments
Throughout its history, GFDL has been recognized worldwide for its research in weather and climate. Major GFDL accomplishments include:

• The first global numerical simulations of the atmosphere — defining the basic structure of the numerical weather prediction and climate models that are still in use today throughout the world.
  • The first numerical simulation of the world ocean.
  • The initial definition and further elaborations of many of the central issues in global warming research, including water vapor feedback, polar amplification of temperature change, summer mid-continental dryness and cloud feedback.
  • The first coupled atmosphere-ocean climate models and the first simulations of global warming using these models (including the above feedback processes and the potential weakening of the Atlantic overturning circulation).
  • The development of a state-of-art hurricane model and its transfer to operations in the NOAA National Weather Service and the Navy.

Relevant Web Sites
GFDL Gallery

NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory

NOAA Hurricane Page

NOAA El Niño Page

NOAA Stratospheric Ozone Research

What is Global Warming?

GFDL Research

GFDL Climate Dynamics and Prediction

GFDL Weather and Atmospheric Dynamics

GFDL Oceans and Climate

GFDL Atmospheric Physics and Chemistry

GFDL Climate Diagnostics

GFDL'S Flexible Modeling System

GFDL's Modular Ocean Model

NOAA Research laboratories

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Prediction

NOAA Weather Service

GFDL's Earth System Modeling Framework

GFDL's Computer Systems

Media Contact:
Jana Goldman, NOAA Research, (301) 713-2483