A Cloud-based Testbed environment to help make models more “useful”

Abstract:

In the quote “All models are wrong, but some are useful”, a key point is that a model has to be made useful to the community in some way, even if it may be “wrong”. Here, we present a new Cloud-based Modeling Testbed environment that is designed to help fill in the missing “useful” piece when transitioning research models into operational frameworks. We define the usefulness of the models by iteratively engaging with the end-user, space weather forecasters and researchers, during model development to assure that the end product meets the needs of the community. We will present several specific examples of research codes that we have transitioned to running in the Cloud and made available to the public and how community and user feedback has led to a better end product.