We propose a plan to fulfill the cyberinfrastructure needs of geoscience research. The diagram shows a distributed network of domain-specific science and technology centers linked to a central research hub facility that will supply computing and data resources beyond the reach of the partner centers. We call this architecture the geoscience collaboratory. The feasibility of this design has been demonstrated by the deployment of High Performance Computing (HPC) Grid technology in projects such as the NSF-funded TeraGrid and the eScience program in the United Kingdom. The proposed collaboratory will enable geo-specific HPC, data, and observation systems in the public and private sectors to collaborate more effectively on the most challenging problems in the geosciences.
Priority 1: Enhancing Capability and Capacity of NCAR Supercomputing
Workshop on High Performance Computing for Geosciences Research
Background
NCAR has a reputation and a core vision of being an integrator, innovator, and community builder. NCAR has been contributing to efforts to define both the science and cyberinfrastructure requirements for the geosciences. These findings are outlined in the two Establishing a Petascale Collaboratory for the Geosciences documents: Scientific Frontiers and Technical and Budgetary Prospectus. NCAR is working to further develop the concepts and implement the vision outlined in these documents.
Progress
"Workshop on High Performance Computing for Geosciences Research" is the second NCAR-organized workshop held in FY2006 addressing the challenges of preparing to run geoscience applications on petascale computing systems and beyond. The first workshop, "Geoscience Application Requirements for Petascale Systems" (GARPA) was held June 1-2, 2006. Both workshops were funded by the NSF. These exploratory efforts support NCAR's strategice priorities of "Engaging a broader and more diverse community" and "Developing and providing advanced services and tools," and NCAR's strategic goal of "Improving understanding of the atmosphere, the Earth system, and the Sun."
The High Performance Computing in the Geosciences workshop was organized and hosted by NCAR on September 25-27, 2006 in Boulder, Colorado. It attracted 125 participants, including university researchers with HPC research projects as well as representatives from other national laboratories, supercomputing facilities, and the NSF. Nine prominent NSF staff attended the workshop, including Margaret Leinen, Assistant NSF Director for the Geosciences; Jarvis Moyers, NSF/Division Director of Atmospheric Sciences; Art Goldstein, NSF Acting Division Director of Earth Sciences, and Eric Itsweire, NSF/Division of Ocean Sciences (OCE) Physical Oceanography Program Director.
Workshop Deliverables
A consensus was reached on several points for moving the Geocollaboratory formation process forward:
- That a new steering committee be formed for the purpose of writing the Geocollaboratory Implementation Plan
- That a workshop summary document be written and released by mid-November 2006
- That a Town Hall Meeting be held during the December AGU meeting to provide an opportunity for further discussion of the Geocollaboratory concept with the community
- That a series of pilot projects be identified to demonstrate the utility of forming the Geocollaboratory
- That workshops be proposed and conducted to build community consensus on the Geocollaboratory science drivers
Plans and Impact
The workshop brought together a critical mass of geoscientists and focused them on the issue of cyberinfrastructure needs for the geosciences. The clear message coming out of the workshop is that the geoscience community needs and is ready for better cyberinfrastructure that enables collaboration and provides access to next-generation HPC and data storage resources.
Beyond that, the geoscience community made it clear that common tools for creating end-to-end modeling and forecast systems is critical to their scientific progress. An organizational structure facilitating that would be welcome.
As a consensus-building and community-building exercise, the workshop was a successful first step.
The deliverables cited above are relatively low cost, feasible, and will build momentum for the community moving forward.
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