Advancing Community NextGen and NextGen In A Box (NGIAB) – Paving the Pathway to Operations
Research Team Members
Objective:
NextGen Community Maintenance and Support (R01) Community NextGen Enterprise development (RO2) Evaluation Integration (RO3) Testing and Calibration Integration (RO4)
Approach:
DevOps processes to implement the tools and help integrate the hydrology advances
Impact:
Scientific and Technical Advancement The project will fundamentally enhance how water resources are modeled and predicted by creating a more accessible, standardized, and robust modeling framework. By integrating NextGen framework improvements into a deployable "In A Box" format, researchers worldwide will gain access to cutting-edge modeling capabilities without the traditional barriers of complex setup and configuration. This democratization of advanced modeling tools will accelerate scientific discovery and innovation in hydrology. Operational Forecasting Enhancement The direct pathway from research to NOAA's operational forecasting represents a paradigm shift in how scientific insights translate to real-world applications. This will improve the accuracy and timeliness of flood warnings, drought predictions, and water resource management decisions that affect millions of people. The R2O2R (research-to-operations-to-research) connectivity ensures continuous improvement cycles between theoretical advances and practical applications. Community Building and Standardization By establishing Community NextGen standards and an open governance structure, the project creates a sustainable ecosystem for collaborative development. This will reduce duplication of effort across institutions, accelerate the adoption of best practices, and ensure that advances made by one team benefit the entire water resources community. The community-driven approach ensures longevity beyond the project's funding period. Research Acceleration The NGIAB platform as a "laboratory workbench" will dramatically reduce the time researchers spend on technical setup and allow them to focus on scientific questions. The CI/CD implementation means that new ideas can be tested and validated rapidly, potentially reducing the research cycle from years to months for certain applications. Capacity Building The project will build capacity at multiple levels - training new researchers on standardized tools, enabling smaller institutions to access advanced modeling capabilities, and creating documentation and guidelines that lower the barrier to entry for water resources modeling. This multiplier effect extends the impact far beyond the immediate project team.Abstract:
This collaborative effort of the University of Alabama (UA), Lynker, and Brigham Young University (BYU) will advance the NextGen Water Resources Modeling Framework and provide enabling technologies intended to allow research insights to ultimately inform NOAA operational forecasting. The project aims to build on ongoing CIROH hydroinformatics advancements by integrating NextGen framework changes into deployable NextGen In A Box (NGIAB) instance of the framework. The team will incorporate model evaluation functionality into the NextGen framework, establish Community NextGen standards and guidelines, and promote Community NextGen growth through an open governance structure and community management of the Community NextGen framework. The NGIAB effort will serve as a deployable laboratory workbench version of the Community NextGen framework allowing research teams to modify and experiment with updates, improvements, and revised/localized model configurations and components. The team will implement continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) to facilitate rapid development and a functional baseline configuration will enable the exploration of potential upgrades. The project will strengthen testing procedures with additional test suites to foster efficient research-to-operations and operations-to-research (R202R) connectivity. Case studies using the NGIAB as an experimental workbench will also be developed.