WGCM Infrastructure Panel (WIP) Terms of Reference

1 WIP Terms of Reference Drafted: 7 June 2024 by CMIP IPO Draft: 23 August 2024 by WIP co-chairs Paul Durack and Matt Mizielinski Confirmed by WGCM and effective as of: XX XX 2024 Version 1.0 This document complies with the WCRP Guidelines on Membership and Responsibilities and ensures that the Working Group on Coupled Modelling (WGCM) Infrastructure Panel (WIP) of the WGCM Working Group has in place transparent, accountable, and effective procedures which honour the commitment and contribution of volunteering individuals, and ensure fairness, inclusion, and equity. Should the WCRP and/or Earth System Modelling and Observations (ESMO) Core Project guidelines change, this document will be updated. Please refer to the WCRP Procedural Terms and Definitions for an explanation of the terms used in this document. 2 Purpose 1. The WGCM Infrastructure Panel (WIP) is a panel of the Working Group on Coupled Modelling (WGCM), of the ESMO WCRP Core Project. The body is tasked with the coordination and implementation of “infrastructure” that defines a CMIP project phase, and the information that these infrastructure components require in order to build and deliver their services. The WIP is also tasked with providing guidance and feedback on other non-CMIP activities, within the interests of the WGCM, and as resources allow. This coordination role includes interaction with infrastructure delivery partners, ensuring that the technical requirements of infrastructure contributors to meet CMIP project infrastructure delivery are met. The WIP is supported in delivery of its objectives set out in clause 5, and with decision making in accordance with clause 7, by the CMIP International Project Office 2. The WIP was initiated in 01 October 2013, by unanimous support of modelling groups at the WGCM-17 Annual meeting. 3. Goal of the WIP: The WIP is a WGCM panel charged with coordinating and promoting a robust and sustainable global data infrastructure in support of the development, dissemination and evaluation of Global and Regional Climate Model Intercomparison Project (MIP) data through the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP) and other WCRP and community modelling activities as resources are available. 4. Objectives of the Body: 4.1. Report to the WGCM, and ESMO Scientific Steering Group (SSG) as directed, and brief other relevant WCRP committees and panels on progress, status, and plans for infrastructure and activities overseen by the WIP. 4.2. Offer feedback and coordinate when resources are available for funded projects providing infrastructure elements aligned with ESMO objectives and advocate for sustained funding with a view to maintain continuity with previous exercises. 4.3. Engage with key infrastructure providers, such as the Earth System Grid Federation (ESGF), in developing infrastructure supporting MIP data delivery and access 4.4. Encourage, when needed, proposals for extensions or modifications of established standards, e.g. within the CF (Climate Forecast) Standards community, to meet new needs for sharing climate data. Review proposals and suggest modifications to achieve better consistency with existing standards and to minimize disruption of existing infrastructure. Endorse proposed changes that serve the interests of the WGCM. 4.5. Review for consistency with existing standards and infrastructure all specifications defined by model intercomparison projects (MIPs) and related efforts and endorse specifications that serve the interests of the WGCM. 4.6. Review and provide guidance on infrastructure requirements (e.g. level of service, accessibility, level of security); across the infrastructure systems connected in support of WGCM activities. 4.7. Encourage development of and compose content for a website providing information on standards, policies, infrastructure, and controlled vocabularies endorsed by the WIP; provide machine readable outputs and guidance on infrastructure requirements for establishing new community modelling efforts. 4.8. Include in the scope of WIP oversight: a) file formats, structure and metadata, b) controlled vocabularies, name spaces, and naming conventions, c) protocols for interfacing components of the infrastructure, d) URL and catalogue standards making data accessible regardless of local storage format, e) protocols for data publication (including version identification), node management and data harvesting, f) standardized descriptions of models and simulations, g) security protocol for authentication and authorization, and (h) query formats. 4.9. All technical work will be completed in publicly accessible open repositories, ensuring traceability and allowing WIP membership to engage and provide feedback as available/relevant. 3 4.10. Report to the WGCM, and ESMO SSG as directed, and brief other relevant WCRP committees and panels on progress, status, and plans for activities overseen by the WIP. Term 5. The WIP, as a panel of the WGCM, remains active until a decision is made to close it by the ESMO SSG. Membership TYPES & DECISION MAKING 6. There are three types of members: Voting members, Ex-officio members and Emeritus members. All members with voting rights must be employed by an organisation/institution. 6.1. A voting member of an ESMO body (Task Teams excluded) can not hold more than one voting membership within ESMO. 6.2. Voting members have voting rights in all matters. 6.3. Ex-officio members have no voting rights but if the decision is relevant to them, they can be invited to speak, at co-chairs’ discretion, before the vote is made. 6.4. Emeritus members have no voting rights. 6.5. Members of the WIP will: a. have regard to the CMIP IPO Best Practice Note on Conflicts of Interest b. review before each meeting, where decisions and/or recommendations are being made, whether there are any interests which may conflict with their duties as members of [Body] and, if so, disclose them to the co-chairs and supporting IPO staff c. be asked by the Co-chairs of [Body] at each meeting to confirm they have carried out such a review and made such disclosure d. not participate in any activity of [Body] in relation to which they believe they have a conflict or possible conflict of interest without the consent of the [Body] Co-chairs, who will manage the conflict in accordance with the Best Practice Note. 7. Decision making is by consensus. However, if this is not possible, a vote should be taken. For a decision to be approved, there must be a 2/3 majority vote with 75% quorum of Voting Members. 7.1. The WGCM should be notified of any significant decisions within the annual report (see 34). In some circumstances, particularly where there are significant community coordination/resources implications, the WIP may wish to seek endorsement from the WGCM for a decision. 7.2. If a decision from the WIP is pending on WGCM approval, and the WGCM liaison member does not answer within 1 month and after 2 reminders, the decision can be considered as approved. The last reminder must state that “the decision will be considered as approved in absence of answer by [a given date], as per the Terms of Reference”. 7.3. The WIP may make a consensus decision to take a review-led approach under named-member delegated authority. This is restricted to situations where a decision involves a technical implementation project, e.g. it involves software development. In this circumstance, the WIP may choose to follow a review led process rather than the standard consensus based, decision led approach. The review led process will involve the definition of a goal, and set of milestones if appropriate, and regular meetings to iterate over details of associated technical work, its interaction with other parts of the infrastructure and testing. Where the results 4 of the technical implementation project are to be communicated publicly the WIP will be required to approve the final result on a consensus basis. Conflict of Interest 8. Members of the Body will: 8.1. have regard to the ESMO Conflict of Interest Policy. 8.2. review before each meeting, where decisions and/or recommendations are being made, whether there are any interests which may conflict with their duties as members of Body and, if so, disclose them to the co-chairs and supporting IPO staff using the Declaration of Conflict of Interest form. 8.3. be asked by the Co-chairs of Body at each meeting to confirm they have carried out such a review and made such disclosure. 8.4. not participate in any activity of the Body in relation to which they believe they have a conflict or possible conflict of interest without the consent of the Co-chairs, who will manage the conflict in accordance with the ESMO Conflict of Interest Policy. SIZE 9. In accordance with the ESMO ToRs, membership consists of two co-chairs, a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 15 members, including the voting members and co-chairs. Emeritus members and and ex-officio members can be appointed if needed. Emeritus and ex-officio members count within the maximum member number. TERM, TERMINATION & EXTENSION 10. In alignment with the WCRP Guidelines on Membership and Responsibilities (WCRP guidelines) all appointments are initially for a maximum of 4 years, with up to two 2-year extensions possible. 11. The four-year terms of the two co-chairs shall be staggered by at least one calendar year as far as possible to prevent gaps in leadership and enhance resilience. 11.1. When an existing member moves up to chair or co-chair, the appointment length “clock” is reset, with the condition that the member can serve on the committee up to a maximum of 10 years altogether. Only in rare circumstances (which would require ESMO SSG approval) would any individual serve on the same committee for longer than 10 years. Permission to do so must be sought from the WGCM and ESMO using the form in Annex B. 11.2. For an outgoing chair or co-chair, an extension of up to 1 year as a voting member is possible, where a handover period is deemed necessary with the successor co-chair. 11.3. Outgoing chairs/co-chairs, along with any other members who have exceeded their term, can be made Emeritus members at the discretion of the current co-chairs and WGCM chairs. 11.4. For the CMIP7 project phase, term limits set out in 10.1 will not be retroactively applied to members who would exceed the 10 year maximum before the end of 2027. As planning and delivery of CMIP7 began in 2022, WIP members involved in project implementation will continue to serve through 2027. 12. Emeritus members have their membership reviewed annually, there is no limit on this term. 13. The relevance of Ex-Officio membership is reviewed every 4 years. 14. All members can resign from their position at any point and are encouraged to give three months’ notice. Resigning members are encouraged to first discuss their circumstances with a chair/co-chairs. It might be more suitable to 5 pause the membership in circumstances where ability to participate is restricted for a specific period (e.g., parental leave), or change the membership type. A membership pause is excluded from the service calculation in 10.1. MEMBER APPOINTMENT 15. Co-chairs, Voting and Emeritus members are appointed on the basis of their personal experience and expertise and should be willing to represent relevant geographical or specialist science/technical areas, beyond their existing affiliations, as set out in the membership call text and table of Body members (25). 16. All new appointments should be made with consideration of compliance with the WCRP Guidelines on Membership and Responsibilities on diversity. Restrictions may be included to address under-representation within the Body. An open call should be issued with a specification of requirements in line with membership responsibilities set by the co-chairs. The open call should run for at least a month. A deadline will be set for applications, which will be collected by the CMIP IPO. The CMIP IPO will coordinate all open calls for all CMIP bodies, which can be requested through standard reporting mechanisms or by special need. 17. All applications should contain as a minimum: a. A statement (up to 500 words) demonstrating why they are a good candidate for that position b. A 1 page Curriculum Vitae (CV) 18. For Voting member positions, the applications will be collected by the CMIP IPO and issued to the selection committee to make a decision. Decision options are Appoint, Waitlist and Reject. Applicants should be excluded from any selection committees/votes relating to this process. 18.1. For regular members positions, the WIP co-chairs are responsible for the selection. A shortlist of minimum two candidates and maximum three candidates should be provided in priority order from 1 (with 1 being the first choice). The length of the shortlist can be extended if several positions are available. The WGCM liaison member either approves or proposes a new ranking until agreement with the co-chairs is reached. 18.2. For Chair/Co-chair positions, the whole WIP is responsible for the selection. A shortlist of maximum three candidates should be provided in priority order from 1 (with 1 being the first choice). The WGCM co-chairs either approves or proposes a new ranking until agreement with the WIP is reached. 19. Members involved in short-listing can refer to the WGCM, and ESMO SSG if required, for arbitration. 20. No communication to candidates can take place until WGCM approval has been obtained. 6 REVOKING MEMBERSHIP 21. Unproductive members may be removed by the WIP co-chairs if any of the following criteria are met: 21.1. Two unexcused meetings in a row. 21.2. Violation of the WCRP code of conduct. 21.3. Undeclared conflict of interest. 22. All member removals, including the reasoning for the removal and a copy of the removal communication, must be shared with the WGCM and ESMO IPO. Roles and Responsibilities 23. It is the responsibility of all members to ensure the activities of the WIP are in accordance with the Goal and objectives set out in (3) and (4). 24. It is the responsibility of all members to ensure the the CMIP IPO supporting their activity has up to date contact details for them and is notified of any changes to role and employing institution. 25. Co-chairs are responsible for reviewing the table of member types every two years. Any amendments to the table should be issued as a new version of this ToR (51) 7 26. TABLE: MEMBER TYPES OF THE WIP, limited to 5-15 Members by (8) Member type Appointment process Term Responsibilities /Justification Co-chairs (2) Open Call Minimum 2 years The co-chairs’ roles are to provide: a. To chair meetings of the Panel. b. To provide leadership of the Panel and vision and drive to achieve the Panel’s aims and objectives. c. Oversight and ensure coordination of the infrastructure system, its maintenance and appropriate development to meet scientific need d. High level liaison with ESGF Steering and Executive Committee e. Interaction with CMIP Core Panel f. Assist in technical areas that have relevant expertise in g. To make operational decisions about the work of the Panel between meetings. h. To actively promote the work of the Panel. i. To liaise with the WGCM co-chairs and the CMIP Panel co-chairs and provide guidance to the WIP regarding project priorities. j. To report, as relevant, to the WGCM, ESMO and WCRP Joint Scientific Committee (JSC). Voting members – WIP (up to 7) Open Call 4+2+2 These members, along with the co-chairs, cover the following expert input: i. CVs, CF Conventions and data standards ii. Software meeting standard climate model experiments requirements including CMOR, PrePARE iii. Documentation including expertise to cover liaison with services continuing to support past phases including ES-DOC iv. International data delivery infrastructure including, but not limited to ESGF nodes, e.g. CDNOT v. Data citation services including expertise to cover liaison with services continuing to support past phases. vi. Data Request vii. Errata systems and integration, and overview of issues raised by users viii. Environmental sustainability ix. Liaising with commercial cloud operators/Data accessibility Members are expected to: 8 *The WIP can seek to add members should other CDNOT geographic academic node communities require technical liaison. This is separate to stakeholder representation on the Stakeholder Panel. To note, a WIP member is assigned to each task team it creates. To avoid conflicts of interest, where possible task team co-leads will not be WIP members. The WIP welcomes attendance of its Task Team co-leads at “Extended WIP” meetings. For the avoidance of doubt, “Extended WIP” is considered a subsidiary body of the WIP a. Attend and contribute to meetings, typically convened monthly, to drive progress and review issues and risks arising in the delivery of CMIP. b. Work with other Panel members to develop white papers and other publications as relevant and to support delivery of the objectives of the WIP c. Ensure adequate availability to be able to respond to requests for support from Panel co-chairs and the IPO. d. Promote the work of the WIP and gather community feedback within their own networks and wider community. e. Commit to promoting diversity, equality, inclusivity, and environmental sustainability within the activities of the WIP. f. Assist the co-chairs with liaison with the task teams and stakeholder panel Ex-officio (1) CMIP Panel CoChairs Reviewed every 4 years Provide linkage to CMIP Panel Ex-officio (1) WGCM Liaison Member Reviewed every 4 years Provide linkage to WGCM (Parent Body) Ex-officio (1) ESGF XC Cochairs Reviewed every 4 years Provide linkage to ESGF compute & analysis platforms close to CMIP archives, including representation of the WIP interests in external liaison with downstream users. Ex-officio (1) FEoC Steering Committee Infrastructure co-leads Reviewed every 4 years Provide linkage to FEoC community Emeritus (2) Body & PBLM (annual review) 1 y annually renewed Provide historical knowledge and experienced insight 9 WIP task team (TT) co-leads Open Call 4+2+2 a. Report on areas of responsibility (TT), provide relevant material to support Panel decision making, and adopt actions as needed. b. Develop and deliver white papers and other publications as relevant to the goals and activities of the TT. c. Manage risks relevant to specific tasks of the TT in close coordination with the WIP and IPO. d. TT Co-leads attendance at WIP meetings is welcomed but remains optional and should be driven by relevance of the agenda to their TT or area of expertise.