pSIMS (Parallel System for Integrating Impact Models and Sectors) is a suite of tools, data, and models developed to facilitate access to high-resolution climate impact modeling. This system largely automates the labor-intensive processes of creating and running data ingest and transformation pipelines and allows researchers to use high-performance computing to run simulations that extend over large spatial extents, run for many growing seasons, or evaluate many alternative management practices or other input configurations. In so doing, pSIMS dramatically reduces the time and technical skills required to investigate global change vulnerability, impacts and potential adaptations. pSIMS is designed to support integration and high-resolution application of any site-based climate impact model that can be compiled in a Unix environment (with a focus on primary production: agriculture, livestock, and forestry).

The framework prototype has been applied to versions 4.0 and 4.5 of the Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT), version 7.5 of the Agricultural Production Systems Simulator (APSIM) and a parallel version of the CenW forest growth simulation model. We are now integrating additional crop yield and climate impact models.

The code-base was recently redesigned and streamlined. We’re currently doing production-scale tests and adding new examples and documentation in preparation for a version 2.0 release (a primarily python based version we call pySIMS) in late 2015.

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