The Model Staging Platform is a unique resource for the community that is fully hosted in the Cloud. Found at https://swx-trec.com, it enables researchers to run their models anywhere and keep their data and analysis pipelines all in a consistent ecosystem without having to move data around between locations or computers. We are able to run full-physics HPC codes in the Cloud on-demand and automatically produce output datasets and visualizations by chaining the myriad of Cloud resources together. This enables our Staging Platform to automatically scale without human intervention when new models or capabilities are added. Please feel free to explore some of the currently available models below and contact the lead developer, Greg Lucas (greg.lucas@lasp.colorado.edu), if you would like to have your model hosted within our platform.
Live Dst
Live Dst is a model for real-time predictions of the Dst Geomagnetic index. Live Dst predicts Dst values, with associated probabilities, from 1 to 6 hours ahead of the values issued by the World Data Center for Geomagnetism in Kyoto. The model is based on multi-fidelity boosted neural networks (Hu, Camporeale, Swiger, 2022), that ingest real-time solar wind data observed by ACE at the 1st Lagrangian point (https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/ace-real-time-solar-wind).
MSIS2 Visualizer
NRLMSIS is an empirical model of the atmosphere written in the Fortran programming language. SWx TREC is making this model accessible to the public through a modern interactive website where the user can easily change the input parameters to see how the density or temperature change in response. The team has created a Python wrapper around the Fortran code, pymsis, to make it easier to work with the model by researchers directly in Python and the backend API is built with AWS Lambda serverless resources in the public cloud. This unique workflow for bringing Fortran models to the web demonstrates a new way to bring scientific findings to the public and other researchers.
Geoelectric Field Model
SWx TREC's Space Weather Model Staging Platform is used to produce images of the geomagnetic field, geoelectric field, and transmission line voltages that can be used to investigate geomagnetically induced currents (GICs) in power transmission networks. GICs are produced by magnetic field disturbances interacting with the conductive solid Earth to produce geoelectric fields that generate quasi-DC voltages in power transmission lines. These quasi-DC voltages create GICs within the AC power transmission networks that were not designed to handle DC currents. This can lead to operational instabilities and, in extreme cases, catastrophic failures.
SWx TREC's Geoelectric Field Model was used to produce a 100-year hazard analysis for the U.S. High-Voltage Power Grid in a Space Weather paper: https://doi.org/10.1029/2019SW002329 . It is run in both real-time and for specific historical storm requests from the community and data is available through SWx TREC's Space Weather Data Portal.
Vehicle Environment Coupling and Trajectory Response (VECTOR)
VECTOR provides tools to enable the computation of satellite drag forces by incorporating research in low-Earth orbit (LEO) molecular scattering dynamics. Presently, the calculator allows the user to compute drag and moment coefficients on a variety of satellite shapes given the atmospheric conditions or orbital parameters specified by the user.
AtModWeb (MSIS)
AtModWeb is a simple graphical user interface (GUI) to display output from the Naval Research Laboratory Mass Spectrometer and Incoherent Scatter 2000 (NRLMSIS00) neutral-density semi-empirical model. The GUI lets anyone investigate primary features of the upper neutral atmosphere. AtModWeb provides intuitive ways to specify the time and location arguments and displays the output selected by the user as:
- A contour plot over a map projection;
- A cross-section pseudo-color plot, visualizing a model output parameter in a 2-D cross-section format at a particular longitude, latitude, or altitude;
- A simple line plot of one coordinate variable (latitude, longitude, or altitude) versus one or many model output variables.
Model drivers that quantify activity (solar, geomagnetic, etc.) are either sourced from historical data for the user-chosen date or set manually, allowing both individual case studies from real data and 'what-if' experiments.
TIE-GCM Upper Atmosphere Model
SWx TREC's Space Weather Model Staging Platform hosts several physical models of the coupled thermosphere ionosphere system. One such model is the Thermosphere-Ionosphere-Electrodynamics General Circulation Model (TIE-GCM) developed over the past 4 decades at the National Center for Atmospheric Research’s (NCAR) High Altitude Observatory (HAO). The model discretizes and solves the fluid equations of motion on a sphere including physical and chemical processes appropriate to the thermosphere and ionosphere, i.e., between the approximate altitudes of 97 km and 400–700 km. The TIE-GCM is currently considered a light-weight model in terms of computational requirements and therefore it is easy to design ensemble data assimilation (DA) frameworks around it. Once these DA methods are proven, they can be applied to more capable models, such as the Whole Atmosphere Model/Ionosphere Plasmasphere Electrodynamics (WAM-IPE) that connects to the GFS lower atmosphere weather forecasting system, to run further validation and testing.