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Earth system and climate modelling involves the simulation of processes on a wide range of scales and within and across various compartments of the Earth system. In practice, component models are often developed independently by different research groups, adapted by others to their special interests and then combined using a dedicated coupling software. This procedure not only leads to a strongly growing number of available versions of model components and coupled setups but also to model- and high-performance computing (HPC)-system-dependent ways of obtaining, configuring, building and operating them. Therefore, implementing these Earth system models (ESMs) can be challenging and extremely time consuming, especially for less experienced modellers or scientists aiming to use different ESMs as in the case of intercomparison projects. To assist researchers and modellers by reducing avoidable complexity, we developed the ESM-Tools software, which provides a standard way for downloading, configuring, compiling, running and monitoring different models on a variety of HPC systems. It should be noted that ESM-Tools is not a coupling software itself but a workflow and infrastructure management tool to provide access to increase usability of already existing components and coupled setups. As coupled ESMs are technically the more challenging tasks, we will focus on coupled setups, always implying that stand-alone models can benefit in the same way. With ESM-Tools, the user is only required to provide a short script consisting of only the experiment-specific definitions, while the software executes all the phases of a simulation in the correct order. The software, which is well documented and easy to install and use, currently supports four ocean models, three atmosphere models, two biogeochemistry models, an ice sheet model, an isostatic adjustment model, a hydrology model and a land-surface model. Compared to previous versions, ESM-Tools has lately been entirely recoded in a high-level programming language (Python) and provides researchers with an even more user-friendly interface for Earth system modelling. ESM-Tools was developed within the framework of the Advanced Earth System Model Capacity project, supported by the Helmholtz Association. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Earth system and climate modelling involves the simulation of processes on a large range of scales, and within very different components of the earth system. In practice, component models from different institutes are usually developed independently and then combined using a dedicated coupling software.This procedure not only leads to a wildly growing number of available versions of model components and coupled setups, but also to model and system-dependent ways of obtaining and operating many of these. This can be challenging (and potentially a huge waste of time) especially for unexperienced researchers, or scientists aiming to change to a different model system, e.g. for intercomparisons. In order to define a standard way of downloading, configuring, compiling and running modular ESMs on a variety of HPC systems, AWI and partner institutions developed and maintain the ESM-TOOLS software (https://www.esm-tools.net) within the framework of the Helmholtz Association-funded project Advanced Earth System Model Capacity (ESM). Our aim is to provide standard solutions to typical problems occurring within the workflow of model simulations, such as calendar operations, data post-processing and monitoring, sanity checks, sorting and archiving of output, and script-based coupling (e.g. ice sheet models, isostatic adjustment models). The user only needs to provides a short (40-50 lines) runscript of experiment specific definitions, while the ESM-TOOLS execute all the phases of a simulation in the correct order. A user-friendly API ensures that more experienced users have full control over each of these phases, and can easily add functionality. A GUI has been recently developed to provide a more intuitive approach to the modular system, and also to add a graphical overview of the available models and combinations.The first version of the ESM-TOOLS has been released in September 2018 and with revision 2 (to be released on March 19th 2019), the ESM-TOOLS will support four ocean models, two atmosphere models, two biogeochemistry models, an ice sheet and an isostatic adjustment model as well as standard settings for five high performance computing systems. For the future we plan to add interfaces to the MESSy-framework (Joeckel et al., 2005), regional models and soil/hydrology models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]