SGER: Feasibility of Taking the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model to Petascale

University Of California-San Diego, La Jolla CA

Investigators

Abstract

This project is an exploratory activity intended to test the application of new expertise and techniques in performance modeling and optimization to the numerical simulation of the lower atmosphere. It encompasses preliminary work to determine the feasibility of a future effort to develop a petascale version of the Weather Research Forecast model (WRF). If WRF can be adapted to run well on large-scale computational resources, such as forthcoming petascale systems, then it will be possible for researchers to extend the range of multi-scale physical problems associated with the atmosphere, such as the rapid development of very strong storms, that can be studied with these models. The project is one of a series of pilot projects spawned by a workshop on "Petascale Computing and the Geosciences" in Spring 2006. The purpose of these pilot activities, all related to the use of high-performance computational modeling in different parts of the geosciences, is to determine how the simulation tools used in leading-edge geoscience research can be adapted for the very large-scale computing systems that will be deployed in the next few years. The results of these analyses will be discussed at a second workshop on "Petascale Computing and the Geosciences" in Fall 2006. This SGER project involves a collaboration between computer scientists from University of California-San Diego (UCSD), who specialize in the detailed analysis and optimization of numerical applications, and atmospheric scientists from the National Center for Atmospheric Research involved in the development of WRF. Broader impacts of this work stem from the improvement of a tool that is potentially useful for both atmospheric science research and high-impact, operational weather forecasting.