ACCEHS 2010
ACCEHS met at NCAR's beautiful Mesa Laboratory in Boulder, Colorado, in August 2010 to participate in discussing the needs and opportunities for advanced computation in the area of Heliophysical Science. Computational modeling, simulation, and data assimilation have been among the most important drivers of scientific discovery in the last three decades, enabled by remarkable leaps in computing technologies. With upcoming decadal surveys, there is an urgent need for the research community to identify needs and opportunities in the era of tera- and peta-scale datasets and sophisticated computational models that require spanning huge ranges of physical scales. Working Groups will address needs and opportunities in (1) Solar (2) Interplanetary (3) Magnetosphere (4) Ionosphere-Thermosphere, and (5) Advanced Computation topics. The purpose of the workshop was to come together to address such questions as:
- What are the key scientific issues in each of the five topics mentioned above where advanced computational capabilities will be required to produce transformational discoveries in Heliophysical Science?
- How will future investments in novel numerical algorithms and high-performance computing software affect the quality, type, and frequency of significant discoveries?
- How will new advances in pattern analysis, detection, tracking or reconstruction enable the heliophysics community to confront present and future challenges in data mining? How will novel computational algorithms and visualization software enable the community to achieve breakthroughs in data assimilation?
- What kinds of computer hardware and networking would best suit the pursuit of transformational discoveries in Heliophysical Science?
The Working Groups produced brief drafts on Key Questions/Issues. These drafts, and the following white papers were posted online well before and after the Workshop, inviting community input. There was also opportunities in the Workshop program for short presentations by members of the community on the theme of the Workshop. One of the main objectives of the Workshop was to produce a compact report with broad community input that would then be made available to all relevant funding agencies and decadal surveys.