Acquisition of a High-Performance Computing Cluster for the Penn State "Earth System Science Center (ESSC)"

宾夕法尼亚州立大学地球系统科学中心(www.essc.psu.edu)最初成立于1986年，隶属于地球与矿物科学学院。ESSC的使命是基于一种研究方法来描述、模拟和理解地球气候，这种研究方法涉及(I)气候模拟的多层次方法，(Ii)使用长期、高分辨率的气候模式集成实验，(Iii)强调“面向过程”的研究，以跨越多个时间尺度，以及(Iv)模型、实证分析和基本过程研究的综合。ESSC还寻求促进EESI和EMS不同部门内科学家(教职员工)之间的互动，并为宾夕法尼亚州立大学附属中心的学生和研究人员提供教育机会和计算资源。凭借在地球化学、地质学、冰科学、气候学和天气现象的气候敏感性以及气候建模方面的专业知识，以及M.Mann主任的新领导，ESSC具备了成为世界级气候和古气候研究中心所需的基本要素。然而，近年来一直缺乏的是满足ESSC研究目标所需的计算资源。这些需求现在可以通过NSF EAR/IF计划提供的赠款来满足，这是对我们在2005年提交的建议的回应。这笔赠款将允许ESSC购买一个高性能的Linux计算集群。基于ESSC人员之前的基准测试，该计算集群将适用于中心使用的许多计算密集型数值模型，提供MPI和Open-MP并行化，并在速度上比正在逐步淘汰的宾夕法尼亚EESI Cray大幅提高。***

EAR-0548962MannThe Penn State Earth System Science Center or "ESSC" (www.essc.psu.edu) was originally founded within the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences in 1986. The ESSC maintains a mission to describe, model, and understand the Earth's climate based on a research approach that involves (i) a multi-tiered approach to climate modeling, (ii) the use of long-term, high resolution climate model integration experiments, (iii) an emphasis on "process oriented" studies to bridge multiple timescales, and (iv) the synthethis of modeling, empirical analyses, and studies of fundamental processes. The ESSC also seeks to promote interaction among scientists (faculty, students, and staff) within the various departments of EESI and EMS, and to provide educational opportunities and computational resources to both students and researchers at Penn State affiliated with the center. With expertise in the areas of geochemistry, geology, ice science, climatology and climate sensitivities of weather phenomena, and climate modeling, and new leadership by Director M. Mann, the ESSC has the basic ingredients required for a world-class center for the study of climate and paleoclimate. What has been lacking in recent years, however, are the computational resources required to meet ESSC research goals. Such needs can now be met with the grant provided by the NSF EAR/IF program in response to our proposal submitted in 2005. This grant will allow the ESSC to purchase a high-performance Linux computing cluster. Based on previous benchmarking by ESSC personnel, this computing cluster will be suitable for many of the computationally intensive numerical models to be used in the center, providing both MPI and Open-MP parallelization, and substantial increases in speed over the Penn State EESI Cray, which is in the process of being phased out. ***