Linux cluster for geoscientific capacity simulations

在过去的几十年里，计算机模拟对于理解地球内部复杂过程的重要性急剧增长。这需要永久提供具有高计算能力的模拟基础设施。多年来，LMU的地球物理学主席一直专注于地球科学建模，如今涉及高性能计算和数据爆炸的相互作用，即来自测量或模型计算的数据的巨大增长。研究的重点是模型和观测的定量合并。为此，采用了数值上极其复杂的数据同化方法。由于许多地球物理问题本质上是反问题，因此使用计算要求高的迭代优化方法来从给定的观测集合确定复杂的模型状态。并行高性能计算机使今天有可能解决离散系统与超过10exp10自由度。具体来说，这意味着我们可以模拟地球物理过程的尺度相互作用超过三个数量级。Linux计算集群特别好地满足了由此产生的对计算基础设施的需求。 这里所应用的系统作为高容量的模拟吞吐量系统是必要的。其目的是满足主要的计算能力需求，并进行系统的地球物理参数研究，这可能需要数月的计算才能完成。因此，该系统是LMU地球物理学主席模拟基础设施的核心组成部分。为确保这一基础设施的持续长期安全，必须按计划更换2012年购置的当前Linux集群。我们预计，在这个快速增长的高吞吐量（容量计算）的中端计算领域（中尺度计算），未来将有更多的计算需求。

The importance of computer simulations for understanding complex processes within the Earth has grown dramatically over the last few decades. This requires the permanent provision of simulation infrastructures with high compute capacity. For many years the chair of Geophysics at LMU has been focused on geoscientific modeling, which nowadays involves the interaction of high-performance computing and data explosion, i.e. the immense growth of data coming either from measurements or model calculations. The research is focused on the quantitative merging of models and observations. For this purpose, numerically extremely complex data assimilation methods are applied. Since many geophysical problems are inverse problems by nature, computationally demanding iterative optimization methods are used to determine complex model states from given sets of observations. Parallel high-performance computers make it possible today to solve discrete systems with more than 10exp10 degrees of freedom. Specifically this means that we can model the scale interaction of geophysical processes over three orders of magnitude. The resulting requirements for the computational infrastructures are particularly well met by Linux computing clusters. The system that is applied for here is essential as a simulation throughput system of high capacity. It is intended to cover the primary capacity computing needs and to perform systematic geophysical parameter studies, which may take many months of computation to complete. The system is thus a central component of the simulation infrastructure of the geophysics chair of LMU. To ensure the continuing long-term security of this infrastructure, the intended replacement of the current Linux cluster, acquired in 2012, is essential. We anticipate that there will be even more computing demand in the future within this rapidly growing mid range computing segment (mesoscale computing) of high throughput (capacity computing).