Editorial Type:
Article
Article Type:
Research Article

Clouds in the Cloud: Weather Forecasts and Applications within Cloud Computing Environments

Andrew L. Molthan NASA Short-term Prediction Research and Transition (SPoRT) Center, and NASA Marshall Space Flight Center/Earth Science Office, Huntsville, Alabama

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Jonathan L. Case NASA SPoRT Center, and ENSCO, Inc., Huntsville, Alabama

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Jason Venner NASA Ames Research Center, and Mirantis, Inc., Mountain View, California

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Richard Schroeder NASA Ames Research Center, and Dell Services Federal Government, Mountain View, California

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Milton R. Checchi NASA Ames Research Center, Mountain View, California

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Bradley T. Zavodsky NASA Short-term Prediction Research and Transition (SPoRT) Center, and NASA Marshall Space Flight Center/Earth Science Office, Huntsville, Alabama

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Ashutosh Limaye NASA Marshall Space Flight Center/Earth Science Office, Huntsville, Alabama

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Raymond G. O’Brien NASA Ames Research Center, Mountain View, California

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Print Publication:
01 Aug 2015
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-14-00013.1
Page(s):
1369–1379
Restricted access

Abstract

Cloud computing offers new opportunities to the scientific community through cloud-deployed software, data-sharing and collaboration tools, and the use of cloud-based computing infrastructure to support data processing and model simulations. This article provides a review of cloud terminology of possible interest to the meteorological community, and focuses specifically on the use of infrastructure as a service (IaaS) concepts to provide a platform for regional numerical weather prediction. Special emphasis is given to developing countries that may have limited access to traditional supercomputing facilities. Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) resources were used in an IaaS capacity to provide regional weather simulations with costs ranging from $40 to $75 per 48-h forecast, depending upon the configuration. Simulations provided a reasonable depiction of sensible weather elements and precipitation when compared against typical validation data available over Central America and the Caribbean.

CORRESPONDING AUTHOR: Andrew L. Molthan, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL 35811, E-mail: andrew.molthan@nasa.gov

Abstract

Cloud computing offers new opportunities to the scientific community through cloud-deployed software, data-sharing and collaboration tools, and the use of cloud-based computing infrastructure to support data processing and model simulations. This article provides a review of cloud terminology of possible interest to the meteorological community, and focuses specifically on the use of infrastructure as a service (IaaS) concepts to provide a platform for regional numerical weather prediction. Special emphasis is given to developing countries that may have limited access to traditional supercomputing facilities. Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) resources were used in an IaaS capacity to provide regional weather simulations with costs ranging from $40 to $75 per 48-h forecast, depending upon the configuration. Simulations provided a reasonable depiction of sensible weather elements and precipitation when compared against typical validation data available over Central America and the Caribbean.

CORRESPONDING AUTHOR: Andrew L. Molthan, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL 35811, E-mail: andrew.molthan@nasa.gov
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Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society

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