MRI: Acquisition of a 40-core Linux cluster for oceanographic research at Earth & Space Research

提供资金购买多处理器，基于linux的集群（“MPC”），以提高ESR（地球和空间研究）的能力，为各种海洋学研究应用进行高处理器密集型计算。ESR科学家目前使用联网的单处理器pc进行研究。这些设施远远落后于他们研究兴趣的要求。进入MPC将大大加强现有的项目，并将开辟目前ESR无法进入的研究领域。提议的MPC是一个40核（20个双核AMD Opteron处理器）系统，每个节点安排4个处理器。系统规模由预算和基础设施（电力和空调）要求确定。MPC将由ESR拥有和运营，供ESR的科学家使用，在负荷允许的情况下，也可供其他机构的项目合作者使用。拟议的系统将大大提高ESR科学家对热门研究的贡献，包括：潮汐对极地海洋混合和海冰性质的影响，以及南极冰架底部的冰/海洋相互作用；。日尺度上上层海流和混合的准全球和高分辨率分布分析及表层海流的短期预报和。反气旋涡旋在改变对流通气中的作用。MPC将通过允许扩展模型运行来帮助这些研究，以更好地表示需要在现有单cpu计算机上运行极长时间的进程。计算要求高的任务包括：在陡峭地形地区（精细网格间距是必不可少的）模拟内部潮汐和密度流出；将潮汐与风强迫流和热盐流的季节性和较长时间变化耦合（需要较长的积分时间）；在海洋和耦合冰架/海洋模式中明确表示海冰（相对于海洋模式，CPU需求增加了2-3倍）；并增加高纬度和准全球上层海洋研究的湍流关闭模式的复杂性。

Funds are provided to purchase a Multi-Processor, Linux-based Cluster ("MPC") to improve ESR's (Earth and Space Research) capacity to carry out highly processor-intensive computations for a variety of oceanographic research applications. ESR scientists presently conduct their research using networked, single-processor PCs. These facilities have fallen well behind the demands of their research interests. Access to the MPC would significantly enhance existing programs, and would open up research areas that are presently inaccessible to ESR. The proposed MPC is a 40-core (20 dual-core AMD Opteron processors) system arranged in 4 processors per node. The system scale is set by both budget and infrastructure (power and air conditioning) requirements. The MPC would be owned and operated by ESR and would be available to ESR scientists and, as load levels permit, to project collaborators at other institutions. The proposed system would significantly enhance the contribution of ESR scientists to studies of topical interest including: . tidal influence on ocean mixing and sea-ice properties in polar seas, and ice/ocean interactions at the base of Antarctic ice shelves; . analysis of the quasi-global and high-resolution distribution of upper ocean currents and mixing on daily timescales, and short-range forecast of the surface currents; and . the role of anticyclonic eddies in modifying convective ventilation. The MPC would assist in these studies by allowing expanded model runs to better represent processes that require extremely long run times on their existing single-CPU computers. Computationally demanding tasks include: modeling internal tides and density outflows in regions of steep topography (where fine grid spacing is essential); coupling tides to seasonal and longer changes in wind-forced and thermohaline flows (requiring longer integration times); explicitly representing sea ice in ocean and coupled ice-shelf/ocean models (a factor of 2-3 increase in CPU needs relative to ocean-only models); and increasing the sophistication of turbulence closure models for both high latitude and quasi-global upper-ocean studies.