Office of Energy Research; Energy Research Financial Assistance Program Notice 97-16; Climate Change Prediction Program

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Office of Energy Research; Energy Research Financial Assistance

Program Notice 97-16; Climate Change Prediction Program

AGENCY: U.S. Department of Energy.

ACTION: Notice inviting grant applications.

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SUMMARY: The Office of Health and Environmental Research (OHER) of the

Office of Energy Research (ER), U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), hereby

announces its interest in receiving applications to support the

development of decadal to multi-century climate prediction in

conjunction with the Climate Change Prediction Program, a part of the

U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP).

DATES: Applicants are encouraged (but not required) to submit a brief

preapplication for programmatic review. There is no deadline for the

preapplication, but early submission of preapplications is encouraged

to allow time for meaningful discussions. Formal applications submitted

in response to this notice must be received by 4:30 p.m., EDT, August

5, 1997, to permit timely consideration for award in Fiscal Year 1998.

ADDRESSES: Preapplications referencing Program Notice 97-16 may be sent

to one of the program contacts at the following address: Office of

Health and Environmental Research, Environmental Sciences Division, ER-

74, U.S. Department of Energy, 19901 Germantown Road, Germantown, MD

20874-1290. Formal applications referencing Program Notice 97-16 should

be forwarded to: U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Research,

Grants and Contract Division, ER-64, 19901 Germantown Road, Germantown,

MD 20874-1290, ATTN: Program Notice 97-16. This address also must be

used when submitting applications by U.S. Postal Service Express Mail,

any commercial mail delivery service, or when hand-carried by the

applicant. An original and seven copies of the application must be

submitted; however, applicants are requested not to submit multiple

application copies using more than one delivery or mail service.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Patrick A. Crowley, Office of

Health and Environmental Research, Environmental Sciences Division, ER-

74, U.S. Department of Energy, 19901 Germantown Road, Germantown, MD

20874-1290, telephone (301) 903-3069, fax (301) 903-8519, Internet e-

mail address: [email protected]. or Dr. Wanda Ferrell, Office of

Health and Environmental Research, Environmental Sciences Division, ER-

74, U.S. Department of Energy, 19901 Germantown Road, Germantown, MD

20874-1290, telephone (301) 903-0043, fax (301) 903-8519, Internet e-

mail address: [email protected]. Program information is

available on the DOE/OHER WWW site using the URL http://www.er.doe.gov/

production/oher/ESD__top.html.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice requests applications for grants

to support the following five efforts:

(1) Continuation and enhancement of activities previously funded

by DOE under the auspices of the Carbon Dioxide Research Program

climate research program element and the Computer Hardware, Advanced

Mathematics and Model Physics (CHAMMP) climate model development

program.

(2) Theoretical limits to climate prediction over decade to

multi-century time frames with subcontinental and smaller scale

spatial accuracy.

(3) The development of improved mathematical techniques, model

formulations and computer algorithms for atmosphere, ocean and

coupled atmosphere-ocean general circulation models (GCM) that more

accurately and efficiently describe and predict global climate

system behavior on the time and space scales mentioned above using

advanced, parallel-processing scientific supercomputers.

(4) The development of improved representations of key climate

processes (surface processes, convective transport, etc.) that

accurately simulate these processes on the appropriate scales used

in GCM-based climate models that simulate decade-to-century climate

change.

(5) The development and analysis of long-term, observation based

climate data sets that can be used to test the ability of GCM-based

climate models to realistically simulate and predict climate system

behavior on the above-mentioned time and space scales. The data sets

should be developed from existing observational data bases and not

require the collection of further measurements.

Accurate prediction of climate change on decadal and longer time

scales is a major scientific objective of the Environmental Sciences

Division (ESD). The DOE Climate Change Prediction Program is the next

phase in the evolution of DOE's long-standing climate modeling and

simulation research agenda. It was developed from the integration of

the Computer Hardware, Advanced Mathematics and Model Physics (CHAMMP)

climate model development program with the CO2 Research

Program climate research program element. The program is focused on

developing, testing and applying climate simulation and prediction

models that stay at the leading edge of scientific knowledge and

computational technology. A unique feature of the program is the

establishment of a distributed modeling center involving DOE National

Laboratories, the National Center for Atmospheric Research and the non-

Federal research community. The program will develop models based on

more definitive theoretical foundations and improved computational

methods that will run efficiently on future generations of high-

performance scientific supercomputers. The intent is to increase

dramatically both the accuracy and throughput of computer model-based

predictions of future climate system response to the increased

atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases.

To ensure that the program meets the broadest needs of the research

community and the specific needs of ESD, the successful applicants will

participate as members of the Climate Change Prediction Program Science

Team along with selected scientists from related ESD programs. Costs

for the participation in Science Team meetings and workshops should be

included in

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the respondent's application. Yearly estimates for Science Team travel

should be based on one trip of five days to Washington, DC, one trip of

five days to San Francisco, CA, and one trip of five days to Denver,

CO.

Successful applicants for continuation or enhancement of

previously-awarded grants will demonstrate (a) the continued relevance

of their work to the goal of advancing the science of decade-to-multi-

century climate prediction; (b) the quality and relevance of work

conducted under previous support to this goal, including a listing of

publications and presentations; and (c) relevant contributions to the

development of DOE CHAMMP and Climate Modeling programs, including

participation in the organization of meetings and workshops and

collaborations with other DOE investigators. Applicants should include

a special section entitled ``Accomplishments Under Previous Support,''

which addresses items (b) and (c) discussed in this paragraph.

Applicants should be prepared to provide, on short notice, complete

copies of all publications, reports, etc. listed in this section,

should they be required for the review process.

Successful applicants for grants exploring the theoretical limits

of climate prediction will conduct studies of the climate system to

ascertain the capability for computer based climate simulation models

to predict the aspects of the climate system that influence near-

surface temperature, precipitation and winds, decades to centuries in

the future. These studies may include, but are not limited to,

analytical and modeling investigations of the coupled climate system,

or components of the climate system, to identify climate dynamical

mechanisms that influence long-term variability and predictability over

continental and subcontinental spatial scales.

Successful applicants for developing new mathematical techniques

and numerical algorithms will target their research toward methods that

can be incorporated into models running on highly parallel scientific

supercomputers capable of performing over 1011 floating-

point operations per second (100 giga-FLOPS) in climate modeling

simulations. Applicants must demonstrate the role of their research in

improving the accuracy and/or computational efficiency of GCM-based

climate simulation models of the type envisioned for use in making

forecasts of long-term climate change. These methods may be used in the

simulation of any or all of the climate system processes modeled in a

GCM, including, but not limited to, atmospheric and ocean dynamics and

transport, surface energy and mass exchange, atmospheric radiative

transfer, ocean convection, and sea-ice dynamics and thermodynamics.

Applicants in this area must include a plan for the dissemination of

any developed model code, and necessary documentation, to the climate

modeling community.

Successful applicants developing or improving representations of

climate system processes for inclusion in GCM-based climate prediction

models will conduct research to more accurately describe these

processes and their interaction with other aspects of the simulated

climate system. These studies will explore methods for incorporating

the results of the U.S. Global Change Research Program's observational

and experimental programs into model components that accurately

describe climate system processes at the model resolution scales

typically used for decade-to-multi-century climate prediction.

Applicants in this area must include a plan for the dissemination of

any developed model code, and necessary documentation, to the climate

modeling community.

Successful applicants developing model diagnostic data sets will

analyze existing observational data bases to develop time dependent

records of climate variability and climate change that can be used as

tests for climate change predictions. Analysis of the data should

include consideration of the climate dynamical processes that led to

the temporal and spatial variability in the record.

Especially important is the development of diagnostic data sets

that can be used to test model predictions of long-term changes the

near-surface temperature, precipitation and wind climatologies over

continental and sub-continental spatial scales. Applicants in this area

must include a plan to allow the inexpensive dissemination of the

diagnostic data sets in a standard digital format.

It is anticipated that approximately $3,000,000 will be available

for awards in Fiscal Year 1998, contingent upon the availability of

appropriated funds. Multiple year funding of awards is expected, with

out-year funding also contingent upon the availability of appropriated

funds, progress of the research, and programmatic needs. The allocation

of funds within the research areas will depend upon the number and

quality of applications received. It is anticipated that a substantial

fraction of the funds will support continuation of existing research.

Typical awards in this area are $200,000 per year, but range from

$50,000 to $600,000. The technical portion of the application should

not exceed twenty-five (25) double-spaced pages and should include

detailed budgets for each year of support requested. For applications

requesting continuation or enhancements to previously awarded grants,

the ``Accomplishments Under Previous Support'' section should not

exceed ten (10) additional double-spaced pages. An abstract of 200

words or less must be included with the application. Lengthy appendices

are discouraged. Collaborative applications are encouraged. Awards are

expected to begin on or about December 1, 1997.

Potential applicants are strongly encouraged to submit a brief

preapplication that consists of two to three pages of narrative

describing the research project objectives and methods of

accomplishment. These will be reviewed relative to the scope and

research needs of the DOE's Climate Change Prediction Program.

Principal investigator address, telephone number, fax number and e-mail

address are required parts of the preapplication. A response to each

preapplication discussing the potential program relevance of a formal

application generally will be communicated within 30 days of receipt.

ER's preapplication policy can be found on ER's Grants and Contracts

Web Site at: http://www.er.doe.gov/production/grants/preapp.html.

Applications will be subjected to formal merit review (peer review)

and will be evaluated against the following evaluation criteria which

are listed in descending order of importance codified at 10 CFR

605.10(d):

1. Scientific and/or Technical Merit of the Project;

2. Appropriateness of the Proposed Method or Approach;

3. Competency of Applicant's personnel and Adequacy of Proposed

Resources;

4. Reasonableness and Appropriateness of the Proposed Budget.

The evaluation will include program policy factors such as the

relevance of the proposed research to the terms of the announcement and

an agency's programmatic needs. Note, external peer reviewers are

selected with regard to both their scientific expertise and the absence

of conflict-of-interest issues. Non-federal reviewers will often be

used, and submission of an application constitutes agreement that this

is acceptable to the investigator(s) and the submitting institution.

To provide a consistent format for the submission, review and

solicitation of grant applications submitted under this

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notice, the preparation and submission of grant applications must

follow the guidelines given in the Application Guide for the Office of

Energy Research Financial Assistance Program 10 CFR Part 605.

Applicants are strongly encouraged to access ER's Financial Assistance

Application Guide via the World Wide Web at: http://www.er.doe.gov/

production/grants/grants.html. A limited number of paper copies of the

Application Guide are available and may be obtained from Ms. Karen

Carlson, U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Health and Environmental

Research, Environmental Sciences Division, ER-74, 19901 Germantown

Road, Germantown, MD 20874. Telephone request may be made by calling

(301) 903-3338 or by Internet e-mail to [email protected].

Technical information on the CHAMMP and Climate Modeling Programs

is available on the WWW at the URL http://www.er.doe.gov/production/

oher/GC/ESD__gc.html or from the Office of Scientific and Technical

Information, P.O. Box 62, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, telephone (423) 576-

8401.

The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number for this program

is 81.049, and the solicitation control number is ERFAP 10 CFR Part

605.

Issued in Washington, DC, on May 16, 1997.

John Rodney Clark,

Associate Director for Resource Management, Office of Energy Research.

[FR Doc. 97-13791 Filed 5-23-97; 8:45 am]

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