Enabling Breakthrough Kinetic Simulations of the Magnetosphere via Petascale Computing

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This award facilitates scientific research using the large new computational resource named Blue Waters being developed by IBM and scheduled to be deployed at the University of Illinois in 2011. It provides travel funds to support technical coordination between the principal investigators, the Blue Waters project team and vendor technical team.The award will aid researchers in the preparation and development of application codes which will subsequently be used to carry out the most accurate global simulations of the interaction of solar wind with the magnetosphere, far surpassing anything currently available. The accuracy and novelty of the 3D global model derives from its hybrid approach: fluid electrons coupled with kinetic ions. Results of the simulations will be available to the research community, stimulating additional research questions.Understanding solar wind interaction with the Earth's magnetic field is central to an understanding of space weather. The term "space weather" has been coined to describe the conditions in space that affect the Earth and its technological systems. Space weather affects operations of (i) Global Positioning System satellites, (ii) geosynchronous communication and weather satellites, (iii) large-scale power distribution grids on the ground, and (iv) navigation and communications systems through the ionosphere.