Building the software, data and training foundations to support Australia’s climate simulator (ACCESS-NRI)

ACCESS-NRI is a national research infrastructure (NRI) established to support the Australian Community Climate and Earth System Simulator, or ACCESS. The ACCESS suite of software and data outputs are essential tools used to simulate past and future climate, weather and Earth systems and to support research and decision making within Australia. ACCESS-NRI's mission is to build an open collaborative infrastructure that will accelerate research in Earth system, climate and weather modelling as well as enable new research not currently possible. The facility brings together skills in software development, high-performance computing, data management and analysis to enhance the ACCESS modelling framework, making it easier to use and lowering the barrier for innovation.   

To improve usability and uptake of this complex modelling framework, the software, data and training program is comprised of 3 teams that focus on providing open and transparent processes for the development, release, and user training of the ACCESS models, tools and data. This presentation will provide an overview of the program’s establishment over the first 18 months as a new facility. This includes enabling reproducible build and deployment workflows, supporting tools to analyse and evaluate model output, data management and development of training tools and materials. Core to all capabilities across the organisation is openness and community engagement in our open development and decision-making processes. This presentation will also discuss the critical infrastructure foundations we have built to support this engagement and advance the impact of ACCESS. 

ACCESS became a National Research Infrastructure (NRI) facility through funding from the Australian Government’s National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) Program and officially launched in June 2022. This facility is a major collaborative undertaking between the Bureau of Meteorology, CSIRO and five Australian universities, in collaboration with national and international partners.