GEOS-Chem model development priorities

On this page we list the current priorities for GEOS-Chem development. This list was compiled by the user Working Groups at the last International GEOS-Chem Meeting (IGC6) in May 2013 and has been continuously updated since based on code readiness and input from the Working Groups and the Steering Committee.

We also invite you to view our GEOS-Chem Support Team project management board on Trello.com, which shows the current GCST workflow.

List of priorities as of December 2013

Items "Awaiting release" will be part of the next version release of GEOS-Chem and are actively being incorporated into the standard model and benchmarked. Other items are in different stages of readiness and will be included in future versions of the model.

Awaiting release

Item	Author(s)	Status
Correction for GEOS-5 PBL heights	Sajeev Philip (Dalhousie)	Approved 16 Oct 2012 (v9-02a); awaiting release
New soil NOx emission module	Rynda Hudman (UC Berkeley) Neil Moore (Dalhousie) Bram Maasakkers (Eindhoven)	Approved 29 Oct 2012 (v9-02b); awaiting release
EPA/NEI2005 Hg emissions for US	Lyatt Jaeglé (U. Washington)	Approved 29 Nov 2012 (v9-02c); awaiting release
Streets future Hg emissions	Bess Corbitt (Harvard)	Approved 29 Nov 2012 (v9-02c); awaiting release
Nested-grid Hg simulation	Lyatt Jaeglé (U. Washington)	Approved 29 Nov 2012 (v9-02c); awaiting release
Updated Hg(0) oxidation kinetics	Bess Corbitt (Harvard) Justin Parrella (Harvard)	Approved 29 Nov 2012 (v9-02c); awaiting release
Capability to use GEOS-Chem Br/BrO fields in Hg simulation	Bess Corbitt (Harvard) Justin Parrella (Harvard)	Approved 29 Nov 2012 (v9-02c); awaiting release
POPs simulation: Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons	Carey Friedman (MIT)	Approved 29 Nov 2012 (v9-02c); awaiting release
Inorganic chemistry updates	Mat Evans (York)	Approved 07 Feb 2013 (v9-02f); awaiting release
Methyl peroxy nitrate (MPN) chemistry	Ellie Browne (UC Berkeley)	Approved 07 Feb 2013 (v9-02f); awaiting release
Fix RO2+HO2 rate constant	Fabien Paulot (Harvard)	Approved 22 Mar 2013 (v9-02g); awaiting release
Improvements to isoprene chemistry, standardization of Paulot Scheme	Fabien Paulot (Harvard) Eloise Marais (Harvard) Jingqiu Mao (NOAA/GFDL) Mat Evans (York)	Approved 22 Mar 2013 (v9-02g); awaiting release
Removal of NOx-Ox partitioning	GEOS-Chem Support Team	Approved 15 May 2013 (v9-02h); awaiting release
Inhibition of N2O5 hydrolysis by aerosol nitrate	Lin Zhang (Peking University)	Approved 17 May 2013 (v9-02i); awaiting release
Improved HO2 uptake by aerosol	Jingqiu Mao (NOAA/GFDL)	Approved 28 May 2013 (v9-02j); awaiting release
Grid-independent GEOS-Chem: Chemistry	GEOS-Chem Support Team GMAO	Approved 07 Jun 2013 (v9-02k); awaiting release
Inline the TOMAS aerosol microphysics code into standard code	Sal Farina (CSU)	Approved 07 Jun 2013 (v9-02k); awaiting release
Updated Canadian NH3 inventory	Wai-Ho Lo (Dalhousie)	Approved 26 Jun 2013 (v9-02l); awaiting release
Updated NH3 seasonal scaling factors over the US	Lin Zhang (Peking University)	Approved 26 Jun 2013 (v9-02l); awaiting release
RCP emission scenarios	Chris Holmes (UC Irvine)	Approved 30 Jul 2013 (v9-02m); awaiting release
EDGAR v4.2 emissions for CH4 simulation	Kevin Wecht (Harvard)	Approved 30 Jul 2013 (v9-02m); awaiting release
Update anthropogenic scale factors through 2010	Aaron van Donkelaar (Dalhousie)	Approved 30 Jul 2013 (v9-02m); awaiting release
AEIC aircraft emissions inventory	Sebastian D. Eastham(MIT) Steven Barrett (MIT)	Approved 12 Aug 2013 (v9-02n); awaiting release
Expanded SOA	Havala Pye (EPA/ORD)	Approved 03 Sep 2013 (v9-02o); awaiting release
Cloud water pH for sulfate formation	Becky Alexander (U. Washington)	Approved 13 Sep 2013 (v9-02p); awaiting release
Update jv_spec.dat with better representation of OC growth with RH and correction to sulfate optics	David Ridley (MIT) Randall Martin (Dalhousie)	Approved 17 Sep 2013 (v9-02q); awaiting release
Global simulations with GEOS-FP met data product from GMAO	GEOS-Chem Support Team	To be included in v9-02 NOTE: The GEOS-5 "FP" product (aka GEOS-5.11.0) is what we will use for the 0.25° x 0.3125° nested simulations. To run the nested simulations (the 2 items listed below), we also must be able to run the global simulations with this met data product in order to save out transport boundary conditons. Much of this development work has already been done in advance of the SEAC4RS aircraft mission.
Nested-grid model at 0.25° x 0.3125° resolution	Yuxuan Wang (Tsinghua)	To be included in v9-02 In benchmarking process, awaiting final approval
High-resolution emissions for above nested-grid model	Yuxuan Wang (Tsinghua)	To be included in v9-02 In benchmarking process, awaiting approval
Unit testing	GEOS-Chem Support Team	Available as an external package in GEOS-Chem v9-02o and later versions

--Bob Y. 10:55, 18 December 2013 (EST)

Ready to go in

Item	Author(s)	Status
Structural/programming updates
Grid-independent GEOS-Chem: Packaging ESMF/MAPL	GEOS-Chem Support Team GMAO	Need to synchronize the latest GIGC development back into the existing G-C repository This will be an ongoing process that will occur simultaneously as the following science updates are brought into GEOS-Chem.
Science updates
UCX strat chem mechanism, includes: Stratospheric chemistry Stratospheric aerosols Fast-JX photolysis mechanism	Sebastian Eastham (MIT)	Delivered to GCST (Oct 2013) Slated for inclusion: TBD after v9-02 release
Online GCRT	David Ridley (MIT) Colette Heald (MIT)	Delivered to GCST (Oct 2013) Slated for inclusion: TBD after v9-02 release
NEI 2008 emissions with hourly resolution	Katie Travis (Harvard)	Delivered to GCST (Summer 2013) This has already been added to the research version of GEOS-Chem used to produce the SEAC4RS hindcasts
Update to MEGAN2.1	Dylan Millet (U. Minnesota)	Delivered to GCST (Summer 2013) This has already been added to the research version of GEOS-Chem used to produce the SEAC4RS hindcasts
Update to EDGAR 4.2 anthropogenic emissions	Meng Li and Qiang Zhang (Tsinghua) Sajeev Philip (Dalhousie)	Already implemented in a research version of GEOS-Chem. Code is ready but needs more documentation and evaluation.
PAN / Organics	Emily Fischer (CSU)	Delivered to GCST (May 2013)
CO2 direct effect on isoprene emissions	Amos Tai (City University of Hong Kong)	Delivered to GCST (Nov 2013)
Arctic Hg cycling	Jenny Fisher (Wollongong)	Code is ready
Criegee intermediate	Dylan Millet (U. Minnesota)	This has already been added to the research version of GEOS-Chem used to produce the SEAC4RS hindcasts
Impaction scavenging for hydrophobic BC	Qiaoqiao Wang (Harvard)	Delivered to GCST (Nov 2013)
Homogeneous IN removal	Qiaoqiao Wang (Harvard)	Delivered to GCST (Nov 2013)
MASAGE NH3 inventory	Fabien Paulot (Harvard)	Code is ready, awaiting delivery to GCST
HTAP and hi-res Asian emissions	Qiang Zhang (Tsinghua U.)	Emission files are ready. Could potentially be packaged w/ the new Emissions Component.
Two-way coupling for nested grid simulations	Qiang Zhang (Tsinghua U.)	Could be quickly implemented into G-C
Improve temporal resolution of anthropogenic CO2 sources	Ray Nassar (Environment Canada)
Replace CASA CO2 biosphere climatology with year-specific fluxes	Ray Nassar (Environment Canada) Dylan Jones (U. Toronto)	Ray Nassar wrote: SiB Fluxes are available to replace the old CASA fluxes, courtesy of Janina Messerschmidt et al. New CASA fluxes would also be good, such that the user can select options in the input.geos file.
Acid uptake on dust aerosols	T. Duncan Fairlie (NASA/LARC)	Delivered to GCST, on hold until post v9-02
UNEP 2010 anthropogenic Hg emissions	Shaojie Song (MIT)
Historical anthropogenic atmospheric emissions of Hg	Bess Corbitt (Harvard)
Subsurface ocean Hg concentration update	Anne Soerensen (Harvard)
NEI 2008 Hg emission inventory	Yanxu Zhang (Harvard)
VBS SOA option	Rokjin Park (Seoul Nat'l Univ.)
Tagged sulfate and nitrate simulation	Becky Alexander (U. Washington)
RRTMG radiative transfer code	Fangqun Yu (SUNY Albany)
Interannual lightning	Lee Murray (Harvard)	Available for GEOS-4, but still needs to be implemented in GEOS-5
FINN biomass burning emissions	Jenny Fisher (Wollongong) Min Huang (JPL)	This has already been added to the research version of GEOS-Chem used to produce the SEAC4RS hindcasts

--Bob Y. 10:53, 18 December 2013 (EST)

Almost there (< 6 months)

Item	Author(s)	Status
Coupling to 3D ocean: OFFTRACK	Yanxu Zhang (Harvard)
Dry deposition updates for Hg simulation	Bess Corbitt (Harvard)
New Hg soil emissions standard from offline GTMM	Bess Corbitt (Harvard)
Pre- and online processing of emissions	Qiang Zhang (Tsinghua) Christoph Keller (Harvard)
Benchmark procedure for nested model	Nested Model Working Group
TOMAS parallelization	Sal Farina (CSU) Jeff Pierce (CSU)	Some of this has already been completed and implemented in GEOS-Chem v9-02
Reduced TOMAS (12/15 bins)	Sal Farina (CSU) Jeff Pierce (CSU)	This option has been implemented in GEOS-Chem v9-02.
APM v2, synch with v9-02	Fangqun Yu (SUNY Albany)
Retain native resolution 2D surface winds	David Ridley (MIT) GEOS-Chem Support Team
FLEXCHEM	Mat Evans (York) Mike Long (Harvard)
Develop new coding standards	GEOS-Chem Support Team
Grid-independent GEOS-Chem: Dry deposition	GEOS-Chem Support Team GMAO
Grid-independent GEOS-Chem: Emissions (aka HEMCO)	Christoph Keller (Harvard) GEOS-Chem Support Team GMAO	Nearing maturity (as of Nov 2013) Currently being implemented into the NASA GEOS5-GCM
Grid-independent GEOS-Chem: NetCDF I/O	GEOS-Chem Support Team
CMS CO2 ocean fluxes	Kevin Bowman (JPL)
Dynamic subsurface ocean	Helen Amos (Harvard)
Updates to PAH code	Carey Friedman (MIT) Helen Amos (Harvard)
Fix for CH4 concentrations after 2008	Lee Murray (Harvard)
Sub-domain within the nested-grid domain	Yuxuan Wang (Tsinghua) Jintai Lin (Peking)
Offline satellite simulator tool	Nested Model Working Group
Metal catalyzed oxidation of SO2	Becky Alexander (U. Washington)
Sulfate production on aerosol haze	Yuxuan Wang (Tsinghua) Rokjin Park (Seoul Nat'l Univ.)
Diurnal variation of NH3 emissions	Daven Henze (UC Boulder)
Time-varying Arctic parameterizations	Jenny Fisher (Wollongong)
Future US emissions inventories of Hg	Amanda Giang (MIT)
Coastal inputs of Hg: Rivers and anthropogenic point sources	Helen Amos (Harvard)
Complete revamp of GTMM	Bess Corbitt (Harvard)
Dust PDF for global simulations	David Ridley (MIT)
Benchmark for aerosol deposition	Aerosols Working Group

--Bob Y. 10:47, 18 December 2013 (EST)

Over the horizon (6-12 months)

Item	Author(s)	Status
Updates to redox chemistry for Hg simulation	Bess Corbitt (Harvard)
High-resolution regional emissions	Nested Model Working Group
Flexible diagnostic package	GEOS-Chem Support Team
Grid-independent GEOS-Chem: Convection	TBD	GCST needs help from community
Grid-independent GEOS-Chem: Wet scavenging	TBD	GCST needs help from community
Grid-independent GEOS-Chem: PBL mixing	Sajeev Philip (Dalhousie) Christoph Keller (Harvard) GMAO
Grid-independent GEOS-Chem: Transport	TBD	GCST needs help from community
3D VOC source for tagged CO simulation and enhanced tagging of secondary CO	Jenny Fisher (Wollongong)
Satellite diagnostic for XCO2	Andrew Schuh (CSU)
Dynamic precision	GEOS-Chem Support Team
Profiling GEOS-Chem	TBD
Methylmercury in the surface ocean	Anne Soerensen (Harvard)
Primary marine emissions of OA	Brett Gantt (NCSU)
Recommendations for optimal timesteps	Sajeev Philip (Dalhousie)
DMS oxidation scheme updating (DMSO, oxidation by BrO)	Tom Breider (Harvard) Becky Alexander (U. Washington)
More options for terrestrial CO2 fluxes	Kevin Bowman (JPL)
Merge organics from specialized simulations into the mainline code	Dylan Millet (U. Minnesota)

--Melissa Sulprizio 15:33, 21 October 2013 (EDT)

Longer term (12-24 months)

Item	Author(s)	Status
Coupling to 3D ocean: MIT ocean GCM	Yanxu Zhang (Harvard)
Python interface	Benoît Bovy (U. Liège-Belgium) + others
Uniformity of units	GEOS-Chem Support Team
Historical inventory of Hg in products and processes	Hannah Horowitz (Harvard)
Better link/coupling to ocean processes	Chemistry-Climate Working Group
Better coupling to biogeochemical cycles	Chemistry-Climate Working Group
Chemistry feedbacks to vegetation ecosystem	Amos Tai (MIT)
Iodine chemistry	Tomás Sherwen (York)
Harmonization of aerosol optics (including water uptake)	David Ridley(MIT) Colette Heald (MIT) Peter Adams (Carnegie Mellon) Fangqun Yu (SUNY Albany) Gabriele Curci (U. L'Aquila) Randall Martin (Dalhousie)
Grid-independent GEOS-Chem: Ocean interface	Yanxu Zhang (Harvard)
Updated LAI	Kevin Bowman (JPL) Folkert Boersma (KNMI)
Merge dicarbonyl simulation into standard simulation	Tzung-May Fu (Peking)
Global 0.5x0.667 capability for CO2/CH4	Liang Feng (Edinburgh) Dylan Jones (U. Toronto)
Dynamic multiple boxes subsurface Arctic Ocean	Helen Amos (Harvard) Anne Soerensen (Harvard)
PCB simulation: atmosphere and ocean	Carey Friedman (MIT) Helen Amos (Harvard)
Nighttime isoprene chemistry	Rebecca Schwantes (Caltech)
ClNO2	Mat Evans (York)
Dissolved Fe/Cu	Matthew Johnson (NCSU) Jingqiu Mao (NOAA/GFDL)
UV absorption of organics/brown carbon	Rokjin Park (Seoul Nat'l Univ.)
CO-CO2-CH4 simulation	Dylan Jones (U. Toronto) Annemarie Fraser (Edinburgh)
Updated HCN simulation	Dylan Jones (U. Toronto)
Passive tracer module	Jenny Fisher (Wollongong)	Jenny Fisher wrote: Passive tracers will not (at this stage) be added as a standard feature of GEOS-Chem, but can be implemented by individual users relatively straightforwardly. We have added this to the SEAC4RS research version of GEOS-Chem.
Plume in-grid lightning NOx emissions	Alicia Gressent (U. Toulouse)

--Melissa Sulprizio 15:33, 21 October 2013 (EDT)