Article by Katherine Shanahan, JCSDA Program Coordinator

The 6th JEDI Academy, hosted virtually the week of June 21-25, was the latest in a series of training sessions for the Joint Effort for Data assimilation Integration (JEDI) users and community contributors. This academy shifted focus toward observations, as it followed the most recent release of JEDI-FV3 on June 11, which featured major updates to the Interface for Observational Data Assimilation (IODA).

The academy ran for four and a half days over Zoom. Participants from institutions such as UCAR, NOAA, NASA, the UK Met Office, and several national universities attended. Each of the full days consisted of four lectures and two practical sessions, with every practical session corresponding to the preceding lecture material. The academy wrapped up on Friday, June 25, with two lectures and a practical focused on quality control and software pull requests — two essential topics for learning how to contribute to the JEDI effort.

Members of the core JEDI and Observations teams worked to align the practical session material to the latest release updates, giving students the most up-to-date experience with JEDI-FV3 possible. Students were assigned to randomized breakout rooms to complete practical work with their peers. To facilitate learning and optimize the instructor-to-student ratio, academy attendance was capped at 50 participants.

*Several 6th JEDI Academy participants happily pose for a virtual group photo on Tuesday, June 22.*

The 6th JEDI Academy was a great success, and there is already a waitlist for an additional virtual academy planned for October 4-8, 2021. The JCSDA strives to provide users and developers with what they need to successfully utilize JEDI for their own data assimilation projects. All material is posted for interested parties to view and use at their own pace; lecture slides are posted to the academy website and the live recordings of the lectures are posted to the JEDI Academy page on the JCSDA website. As interest in JEDI Academies continues to grow, the JCSDA is currently working to expand self-paced training options. We are all looking forward to the next academy!