[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 1 (Tuesday, January 2, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 102-104]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-33443]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

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.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

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 
[email protected] 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: [email protected]. 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

[[Page 104]]

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