Meeting minutes
Date: March 11th, 2025
@Jhan , @cbull , @clairecarouge , @harshula , @manodeep , @RachelLaw , @MartinDix , @tiloz , @arnoldsu , @spencerwong , @pearseb , @paulleopardi , @rbeucher , @inh599 , @ben , @Aidan , @dougiesquire , @tammasloughran
OneAPI new executable
- Manodeep discussed the move to OneAPI and whether to apply the change in one go or incrementally.
- Martin expressed developers don’t need access to intermediate steps and switching to OneAPI in one go would be fine.
- Aidan and Harshula mentioned the pre-release infrastructure allows for several executables to be created within a single PR. We should take advantage of this so that, during the development phase of the OneAPI support, changes to the compiler can be done incrementally and tested.
- Dougie mentioned changes to the configuration might be needed in step with changes to the compiler. Currently, ACCESS-OM2 executable using OneAPI crashes the model. More investigation is needed to understand where it comes from.
- Manodeep asks if there are tools to compare results of 2 configurations. Dougie said there are and will discuss this further with Manodeep.
Software update for ESM1.6 build
- Harshula mentioned Dougie has a software update PR for the ESM1.6 build that we should finish first and use as a base for the OneAPI work.
- Ian: there is a blocker here as there might not be a UM version everyone would be happy with. The latest version shows questionable results in a test run. A previous version is problematic as well because it does not have restart reproducibility. This needs a scientific discussion at CSIRO to decide how to fix the issue. [INH edit: All previous ESM1.6 versions do not have run-to-run reproducibility, ESM1.6 will never have restart reproducibility. It is the run-to-run reproducibility that is necessary.]
- Tilo agreed we need to solve the question of the executable for the spin up quickly and it will need a meeting of the parties involved.
- Rachel said we might be able to create an updated ESM1.6 build that is compatible with the configuration to enable the compiler work to move forward. And work on solving the issue with the UM version for the spin up separately.
Sharing experiments with the community
- Chris said he has a meeting with Pearse, Spencer and Dougie to explain the workflow on how to share ESM1.6 experiments on the community repository. Anyone interested is welcome to attend.
Ocean grid update
- Dougie asked whether we should update the ocean grid to avoid supporting a decade-old grid. This could simplify the support for the cmorisation. However, it would require changes to a number of tools and the remapping weights between the atmosphere and ocean grids.
- Rachel had a concern about the land mask. Dougie and Martin assured the land mask would not change sufficiently (rounding errors) to be a concern.
- Paul said the change will have an impact on the preparation of the CMIP7 forcings for the ocean.
- Martin and Aidan agreed it would be good to update the ocean and sea-ice grids. Using an old grid format will make it much more difficult for Model Evaluation to support.
Action Items
- Ian and Tilo to initiate meeting on solving the issues with the latest UM7 version with interested parties
- Dougie to continue work on updated ESM1.6 build if possible
- Dougie to initiate work on updating the ocean and sea ice grids.
Next Meeting
Tuesday, March 18th. @clairecarouge is hosting next week (@cbull is an apology).