Climate Simulation Using Tightly Coupled Program and Database Modules

We report our experience of tightly coupling a global change simulation of the terrestrial carbon cycle with an object{oriented database. By tightly coupled, we mean an interleaving of computational and data access statements within the same module so that intermediate model values are easily represented in persistent storage. This implementation approach opens up the \black box" character of simulation and has led to the discovery of errors within the simulation itself.