SWx TREC Testbed: Facilitating Model/Algorithm R2O and O2R Development within a Cloud Computing Environment

The Space Weather Technology, Research and Education Center (SWx TREC) is an emerging national center of excellence in cross-disciplinary research, technology, innovation, and education, intended to facilitate evolving space weather research and forecasting needs. Within this center, we are developing a Space Weather Testbed environment to facilitate the research to operations (R2O) and operations to research (O2R) pipelines. The Testbed leverages cloud computing to provide a managed computational environment for independent science teams to deploy their processing software into an operational-like system. Using cloud computing for the environment enables traditional defined-cadence (daily, hourly) model runs to be scheduled while also providing the ability to submit on-demand runs during storm times with no additional bulk hardware purchases that would otherwise sit idle most of the time.

In this poster, we will discuss the technologies that are being used in producing the Space Weather Testbed and demonstrate two ways that the testbed is currently being utilized. First, in the R2O pipeline, we have implemented code from the USGS to produce electric field maps at a set cadence to demonstrate that the code can be run in an operational mode. Second, in the O2R pipeline, we are taking an operational code, the NOAA Whole Atmosphere Model (WAM), and enabling researchers to investigate new data assimilation techniques that can supplement and enhance current operational code capabilities. The Space Weather TREC Testbed is utilizing modern computer architectures and software practices to facilitate researchers and forecasters bridge the R2O and O2R gaps.