- Australia's Climate Simulator (ACCESS-NRI), Acton, Australia (kelsey.druken@anu.edu.au)
Australia’s Climate Simulator (ACCESS-NRI) is a national research infrastructure established to support the Australian Community Climate and Earth System Simulator (ACCESS) modelling system. Since its launch in 2022, ACCESS-NRI has focused on modernising climate modelling software and data practices for ACCESS. Guided by the needs of our community, our goal is to make the modelling framework and data outputs more FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) and easier to use.
One of the key challenges in achieving FAIR for ACCESS data is the reliance on often optional post-processing steps to meet most of the FAIR guidelines. While ACCESS model outputs generally follow community standards (e.g., CF-Conventions), their implementation can be inconsistent across modelling components (e.g., atmosphere, ocean, and land models) as well as among individual data generators. As a result, using direct model output data frequently requires users to have previous knowledge and understanding of the specific climate models and leads to significant overheads for compatibility with data discovery and evaluation tools (e.g., Intake, ESMValTool).
As a new infrastructure dedicated to Australian climate software and data, ACCESS-NRI has a unique opportunity to uplift and directly embed FAIR practices into the climate modelling software components we maintain and support. Building on successes and lessons learned from participation in global intercomparison activities such as CMIP6, ACCESS-NRI is working to apply similar data standardisation practices for the lower-level model outputs in a way that enhances consistency and usability. The effort involves close collaboration with the research community, identifying gaps and commonalities to establish a data specification that can be versioned and linked to future ACCESS model releases. This includes minimum and recommended requirements for file and dataset metadata such as: controlled vocabularies, file and variable naming conventions, provenance statements, and other critical elements to ensure data consistency and usability across all ACCESS components.
By embedding FAIR principles directly into the ACCESS modelling system, ACCESS-NRI is not only addressing current challenges but is also future-proofing Australia’s climate modelling capabilities to meet the evolving needs of the research community. This approach will make data and tools more accessible, reduce research overheads, and enhance the adaptability of the infrastructure to future changes and new technologies.
How to cite: Druken, K., Richards, C., Beucher, R., Basevi, J., Bull, C., Carouge, C., Dix, M., Heerdegen, A., Leopardi, P., Marchegiani, D., Nettelbeck, H., Steketee, A., Turner, C., White, M., and Wong, S.: Uplifting and streamlining FAIR data implementation for Australia’s climate modelling outputs, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-14828, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-14828, 2025.