GEOS-Chem Support Team

This page contains information about the GEOS-Chem Support Team (aka GCST).

Contact information

General Inquiries

Please send all GEOS-Chem inquiries to this email address: geos-chem-support [at] g.harvard.edu.

If you are reporting a GEOS-Chem bug or technical issue, then please also see our Submitting GEOS-Chem support requests wiki page for more detailed instructions.

GCST Members

Name	Title	Focus
Bob Yantosca	Senior Software Engineer	GCST lead for Cloud computing on AWS Fundamental software development Debugging and testing Documentation User support High-performance computing Project management
Melissa Sulprizio	Senior Scientific Programmer	GCST lead for Benchmarking new GC versions Fundamental software development Debugging and testing Documentation User support Project management
Lizzie Lundgren	Senior Scientific Programmer	GCST lead for GCHP Liaison between GCST and GMAO Fundamental software development High performance computing Debugging and testing User support Documentation Project management
William Downs	Scientific Programmer	Fundamental software development Debugging and testing User support Documentation
Jun Meng	Doctoral Candidate	Processing and archiving GMAO met data for input into GC GCHP testing
Liam Bindle	Masters Candidate	GCHP development GCHP user support

Workflow

The GEOS-Chem Support Team now uses issue trackers attached to the relevant Github repositories to manage its workflow. For more information, please see:

• geos-chem/issue tracker
• geoschem/geos-chem-unittest issue tracker
• [https://github.com/geoschem/geoschem/gchp Issues
• [https://github.com/geoschem/geoschem/gchpctm Issues
• [https://github.com/geoschem/geoschem/geos-chem-cloud Issues
• [https://github.com/geoschem/geoschem/gcpy Issues

Mission

The GEOS–Chem Support Team uses robust source code management techniques to facilitate the open-source development of GEOS–Chem, maintain code integrity, ensure proper documentation and traceability, and support users. Its principal activities are as follows:

1. Implementation of new GEOS–Chem developments into the standard model. Most developments of the model are initiated by individual users for their own scientific purposes. Their implementation into the standard model is led by the Support Team in collaboration with the developer. We use the Git software management system (Git, www.git-scm.com) to ensure that each user’s source code revisions can be tracked properly.
2. Fundamental GEOS–Chem development. The Support Team conducts fundamental model development essential for the long term. This includes upgrades to new versions of GEOS meteorological data, acquisition and storage of data, implementation of new coding and data structures, and technical updates.
3. Benchmarking of new versions. The Support Team benchmarks each new version of GEOS–Chem following a standard protocol to ensure the traceability and integrity of the model.
4. Documentation, communication, and education. The Support Team maintains the GEOS–Chem User’s Manual and wiki pages, publishes monthly e-newsletters, welcomes new users, offers programming guidelines and advice, develops standards for coding and documentation (GEOS–Chem Style Guide), instructs users on the use of various software tools, and conducts model clinics at Users’ Meetings.
5. Development of supporting software. The Support Team publishes open-source software for the benefit of the GEOS–Chem and broader modeling community. It maintains GAMAP, a collection of IDL programs that facilitates the analysis and visualization of CTM data. GAMAP is the standard visualization tool for GEOS–Chem and is updated regularly to maintain compatibility with the standard model.

Specific tasks handled by the GEOS-Chem Support Team

The GEOS-Chem Support Team shall be responsible for the following tasks:

1. Managing the "standard" GEOS-Chem model for distribution:
   • Source code
   • Shared data directories
   • Run directories
2. Publishing the relevant documentation for GEOS-Chem using the following media:
   • GEOS-Chem Online User's Guide
   • GEOS-Chem wiki
   • GEOS-Chem website
3. Validating the "standard" simulation by means of:
   • 1-month benchmark simulations for each new GEOS-Chem version.
     (GEOS-Chem Model Scientist Daniel Jacob is responsible for approving the results of each 1-month benchmark.)
   • 1-year benchmark simulations for selected GEOS-Chem versions.
4. Processing the meteorological data products that are used to drive GEOS-Chem simulations
5. Adding updates from GEOS-Chem developers into the "standard" GEOS-Chem code repository
6. Distributing various software packages for visualization and data processing
7. Assisting GEOS-Chem developers and users with technical problems and issues
8. Development of GCHP, which is the MPI implementation of GEOS-Chem

Responsibilities of the GEOS-Chem User Community

Please keep in mind that the GEOS-Chem Support Team primarily works with the GEOS-Chem source code. If your question is more scientific than technical, then the GEOS-Chem Support Team might not possess the expertise to answer your question fully. In these cases we request that you contact the relevant GEOS-Chem Working Group or direct your question to other members of the GEOS-Chem user community who can better assist you.

We expect that the GEOS-Chem user community shall be responsible for the scientific content and validation of the following GEOS-Chem simulations:

1. Aerosol-only simulations
2. Aerosol Microphysics Simulations (e.g. TOMAS, APM)
3. CH4 simulations
4. CO and Tagged CO simulations
5. CO2 and Tagged CO2 simulations
6. Tagged O3 simulations
7. Hg and Tagged Hg simulations
8. Nested-grid simulations
9. ²²²Rn-²¹⁰Pb-⁷Be simulations

If you use one of these types of GEOS-Chem simulations, the GEOS-Chem Support Team will of course be happy to assist you in including your updates into the standard code, or in resolving technical issues.

Regrettably, the GEOS-Chem Support Team cannot assist you with the following:

1. Teaching you how to program in Fortran, Python IDL, Matlab, Perl, etc.
2. Installing libraries or software on your system
   • But see these instructions if you need to do so
3. Installing hardware on your system
4. Setting up web pages for your group

We invite you to read our GEOS-Chem basics wiki page for more information on these topics.

For more information about the expectations and responsibilities of GEOS-Chem users please see the welcome letter for new GEOS-Chem users.