Minisymposium Presentation

Atmospheric models consist of a dynamical core – integrating the equations of motion on a computational mesh – and physical parameterizations – taking into account the bulk effect of subgrid-scale phenomena (e.g. radiative heat transfer, microphysics, turbulence). For ease of software development, dynamical cores and physics packages have historically been written in isolation, leading to model components based on inconsistent assumptions and featuring incompatible structures. We present recent efforts to devise model components with a common and expressive interface, which can be more easily transferred between models and favor modular code designs. We discuss the challenges and benefits associated with this approach, both from a software engineering perspective (e.g. maintainability, reusability, interoperability, readability) and a scientific point of view (e.g. process coupling). Moreover, we address the integration of modern HPC tools (e.g. domain-specific languages) into composable code architectures and discuss potential impacts on performance, as compared to a monolithic code design.