SCD ASR header SCD ASR header

SCD FY2000 Annual Scientific Report

Message from SCD Director Al Kellie

SCD's FY2000 science highlights

Roadmaps: SCD's future strategic planning initiative
Teraflop computing at NCAR: the Advanced Research Computing System (ARCS)

SCD: Providing support for large and small scientific research projects, no matter where they are located

Allocating supercomputing resources for atmospheric and related scientific research
How allocations were used by all researchers
More resources allow larger Community Computing allocations
The Climate Simulation Lab also grows
Training, consulting, and documentation
Technical consulting services
Training classes and seminars sponsored by the SCD Technical Consulting Group
Code migration for the IBM SP complex and Compaq ES40 cluster
    The SMP machines
    The five-point migration plan
    The five stages of an application port
Production computing support
Documentation provided by the Technical Consulting Group
Consulting and other researcher support services provided by the Data Support Section (DSS)
Information contacts and consulting
Research and development efforts in DSS
Volume of data requests fulfilled
Expanding and maintaining computational software libraries
Software libraries developed by SCD's Computational Science Section
    New library to replace FFTPACK and SPHEREPACK
Software libraries maintained by SCD
Providing online, interactive information technology
Significant accomplishments for FY2000
    Expanded use of site authoring software (Dreamweaver and Flash)
    Redesigned SCD website and related information services
    Preparation of the Advanced Computing Research System RFP
Web-based information and user documentation
Services provided to SCD
Website maintenance and development
DIG outreach, education, and training
Distributed Computing Services: user interface to the MSS
FY2000 accomplishments
Collaborations with and outreach to scientific researchers
Computational Science Section collaborations
    DoE Climate Change and Prediction Program - Parallel Coupled Modeling
    Community Climate System Model
    Other CSS collaborations
Visualization and Enabling Technologies Section (VETS) collaborators and visitors
Technical Consulting Group collaborations and outreach
Network Engineering and Technology Section (NETS) collaborations
Data Support Section collaborations

SCD: A center for supercomputing resources and technologies

Supercomputing advances in FY2000
Maintaining NCAR's production supercomputer environment
FY2000 production system overview
Production system performance and utilization statistics
End-FY2000 production supercomputer systems
    CSL facility
    Community facility
FY2000 supercomputer resource changes
    Additions and upgrades
    Decommissionings in FY2000
Key maintenance activities
Automated monitoring of systems

SCD: A center for data resources, data analysis, and emerging technologies

Data archiving and access on the Mass Storage System (MSS)
MSS history
MSS today: access methods
MSS today: storage hierarchy
MSS today: import/export capability
MSS today: enhancements and upgrades
MSS growth
MSS roadmap
Data access, analysis, and visualization
Open Source software for the geosciences
NCAR Graphics
The NCAR Command Language (NCL)
NCAR version of Vis5D
Volsh -- A direct volume rendering shell
Facilities for access, analysis, and visualization
A new community data portal
A next-generation Visualization Lab
Collaborative efforts
Research datasets for modeling climate, weather, and the oceans
Main DSS accomplishments
Scientists use a lot of data from DSS
    Number of requests for data from DSS
    Information contacts and consulting
Volume of data being used
    NCEP/NCAR reanalysis project
How DSS maintains the data archives
    Updating the archives
    Adding new datasets and helping to create more new datasets
Using new technology
    Using different technologies for different purposes
Monitor tape storage technology to store large batches of data
Highlight: Seven sets of world observations upgraded
Will active data gathering and preparation remain necessary?
The world's main reanalysis projects
Brief information about several projects
Research and development efforts in DSS
A vision of how some data services will evolve
Packages of observations for Africa and Latin America
A brief 35-year history of DSS
More information about DSS projects and plans
Technology tracking and transfer
Computational science technology
High-performance computing technology
Mass storage technology
Visualization technology
Network technology
Web technology
Office computing technology

SCD research: Pushing the frontiers in high-performance computing for geosciences

Computational science research
Research progress in FY2000
    An efficient spectral transform method for solving the shallow water equations on the sphere
    Work with MMM on time-stepping schemes and solvers
    Spectral-element methods in geophysical fluid dynamics
    Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) with HAO
    Computing the points and weights for Gauss-Legendre quadrature
    Linux PC clusters
Frameworks and modeling infrastructure
Networking technology research
Wide Area Network research projects
    Web100 project
    Virtual Host Interface Project (VHIP)
    Earth Systems Grid project
Research activities in data access and visualization
The Earth System Grid
The Virtual Exploratorium
Website usability research
Web portal research
Data Support Section research and development efforts

SCD: Providing supercomputing and communications facilities and infrastructure

Supercomputing and mass storage facilities and infrastructure
Supercomputing operations, infrastructure, and applications
Problem identification, tracking, and resolution
Traditional role
Network Operations Center (NOC)
Machine dependencies
Equipment installations and removals
Computer room infrastructure
Trouble ticket development
Inventory system development
Web applications
Vendor performance management requests
Dialup Remote Access Service (RAS)
Asset manager report
Project manager
SCD portal
Streamlining SCD processes
    Monitoring system
    User authentication and authorization
High-speed network and data communications
Introduction to Network Engineering and Technology
Local Area Network projects
Metropolitan Area Network projects
Wide Area Network projects
Other network projects
Distributed servers
Overview of distributed servers
    Server hardware
High availability of distributed systems expansion
Distributed systems management software
Support of the Linux operating system
Integration of Windows and UNIX
    Dual-boot configuration
    Single-boot configurations
Expansion and upgrade of servers and services
Security for researchers using networked computers
UCAR security perimeter
Incident detection and response
Assured connection integrity and privacy
Enterprise web services
First steps
UCAR website redesign
Development and planning
Significant accomplishments
Office computing services
High availability of Windows NT systems
Expansion of Windows NT services
Significant accomplishments in FY2000
Visualization Lab facilities
Managing computing accounts for researchers

SCD community service activities

Listing of SCD's community service activities

SCD educational activities

Colorado Computational Science Fair
Computing grants to classrooms
SC2000 education program
Increasing girls' interest in math and science
Visualization and Enabling Technologies Section education activities
Technical Consulting Group outreach and education
Digital Information Group outreach, education, and training
Computational Science Section education, outreach, and knowledge transfer
Network Engineering and Technology Section outreach and knowledge transfer

SCD publications and papers

Publications, refereed
Papers and publications, non-refereed

SCD staff

SCD staff as of 9/30/2000

SCD visitors and collaborators

Visitors and collaborators in FY2000
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SCD ASR - Table of contents

Message from SCD Director Al Kellie

SCD's FY2000 science highlights

SCD: Providing support for large and small scientific research projects, no matter where they are located

SCD: A center for supercomputing resources and technologies

SCD: A center for data resources, data analysis, and emerging technologies

SCD research: Pushing the frontiers in high-performance computing for geosciences

SCD: Providing supercomputing and communications facilities and infrastructure

SCD community service activities

SCD educational activities

SCD publications and papers

SCD staff

SCD visitors and collaborators