Columbia Uses IDL to Make Learning Climatology Possible for Anyone
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Customer Challenge
Columbia University needed to make a Global Climate Model teaching aid for high schools, universities, and anyone else interested in learning about meteorology and climatology.
Solution Achieved
Columbia University, in cooperation with NASA, developed a free Global Climate Model using IDL®, which is now available for high schools, universities, and anyone with a personal computer. The software is a result of an effort by the Educational Global Climate Modeling (EdGCM) Cooperative. The EdGCM Project develops software applications that help people set up, operate and manage complex 3-D computer simulations of the Earth's climate system. The EdGCM software runs on a desktop computer and is easy to use for computer users of all levels, making it possible for anyone to learn about climate science by running simulations similar to those used by researchers using supercomputers. Simulations may include models of past, present, and future climates.
To provide users with the ability to create line plots, maps, and vertical cross sections of hundreds of climate variables, project engineers developed the EdGCM Visualization Application (EVA), an advanced yet easy-to-use visualization program, built using IDL as its primary graphics engine. EVA is supported by the National Science Foundation's Division of Atmospheric Sciences, Paleoclimate Program and NASA's Earth Science programs. In March, 2006, a new version of EVA was released for download, and it includes additional map projections, such as the satellite view, regional zooming, global and hemispheric averages, and array differencing.
"The real goal of EdGCM is to allow teachers and students to learn more about climate science by participating in the full scientific process, including experiment design, running model simulations, analyzing data, and reporting on results via the Web," said Mark Chandler, lead researcher for the EdGCM project from Columbia University, New York, “IDL’s built-in capabilities allowed us to develop a robust visualization tool that is easy to distribute.”
For more information about the EdGCM Project visit: http://edgcm.columbia.edu, or download the software and manuals at: http://edgcm.columbia.edu/download
Details about EVA development are available at http://dev.edgcm.columbia.edu/wiki/EVA
Key Benefits
- Using an IDL-based solution, anyone with access to a personal computer can now conduct climate experiments that previously were only available to scientists with supercomputers.
- The IDL application is easily distributed and allows EdGCM to provide the application to almost anyone
- Before the IDL solution, teachers and students were limited in the scientific process as it relates to global climate modeling. Now, they can participate in the full scientific process, including experiment design, running model simulations, analyzing data, and reporting results.