Glossary

CMOR

Climate Model Output Rewriter. A library maintained by PCMDI that rewrites climate model output into a standardized format for model intercomparison projects.

CMORization

The process of rewriting model-specific output files for model intercomparisons (MIPs) using the cmor module. Named after the CMOR (Climate Model Output Rewriter) library.

controlled vocabulary

A standardized set of allowed values for metadata fields such as experiment_id, source_id, grid_label, and nominal_resolution. Published by the CMIP community.

experiment configuration

A JSON file containing experiment-level metadata required by CMOR (e.g. experiment_id, activity_id, source_id, institution information, variant labels).

FMS

Flexible Modeling System. GFDL’s software framework for building and running Earth system models.

FRE

Flexible Runtime Environment. GFDL’s framework for compiling, running, and post-processing climate models.

MIP

Model Intercomparison Project. A coordinated effort to compare climate models (e.g. CMIP6, CMIP7).

MIP table

A JSON configuration file that defines variable metadata requirements for a specific realm and frequency combination (e.g. CMIP6_Omon.json for ocean monthly variables).

platform

The computing platform and compiler specification (e.g. ncrc5.intel25, gfdl.intel25).

pp directory

Post-processing directory. The root directory containing per-component subdirectories of post-processed model output (e.g. /archive/user/experiment/pp/).

target

The compilation option passed to fre make (e.g. prod, repro, debug). Supplementary options may be appended with - (e.g. prod-openmp).

variable list

A JSON file mapping modeler variable names to MIP table variable names. Generated by fremor varlist and consumed by fremor run.