ACCEHS Background
Computational modeling, simulation, and data assimilation have been among the most important drivers of scientific discovery during the last three decades. This progress has been enabled by remarkable leaps in computing technologies, producing parallel computers of great power and speed. It is reasonable to anticipate a near-future transition from the present-day terascale systems to the petascale and beyond. These advances are stimulating the development of novel algorithms and high-performance computing software by interdisciplinary teams of physical scientists, applied mathematicians and computer scientists. These tools present transformative possibilities for heliophysical science. They can be used in the design of flagship experiments and diagnostic instruments that explore new physical phenomena and as yet inaccessible physical domains and parameter ranges. Other such tools are critical in the efficient data assimilation and in the successful mining of very large data volumes assembled by current and near-future state-of-the-art observatories.
These developments call for urgent investments in developing a program on Advanced Computational Exploration that will enable us to take theory, modeling, and data assimilation and analysis to a new level. The heliophysical science community is going through a phase of rapid and radical transformation with vast increases in the sophistication of instruments, data rates, archive volumes and usage, and is hampered in its progress by urgent needs for theoretical interpretations and predictions on complex, nonlinear systems of environments coupling the Sun’s deep interior to planetary climate systems: we are posing questions at a level of detail that cannot be resolved by incremental modifications to legacy computer simulation codes. The effectiveness of our community-wide theory, modeling, and data assimilation and analysis efforts depend critically on the development and use of innovative numerical algorithms and high-performance computing practices that are sweeping across some other scientific disciplines. It is no longer enough for us to assume that the fruits of the efforts made by other science communities will naturally diffuse into heliophysical science, and that this slow diffusion will be enough for the community to meet the challenges of the future. What is urgently needed is an investment by NASA in critical Advanced Computational Exploration that will lead to the deployment of computational frameworks and a software infrastructure that can be used by the community to making scientific breakthroughs in heliophysical science.
Workshop
To pursue this goal, the 2010 LWS Steering Committee (SC) is taking a leading role in developing a community-wide initiative leading up to a Workshop in Boulder, August 16-18, 2010. The SC is presently organizing Working Groups (WG) that will have responsibility for (1) Solar, (2) Interplanetary, (3) Magnetosphere, (4) Ionosphere-Thermosphere, and (5) Advanced Computation topics. Each WG is led by two/three coordinators and six to eight other members, and will have the responsibility to produce a summary of Key Questions for ACCEHS and Draft Reports that will be posted online before the Workshop, and made available to the community for feedback. The purpose of these narratives is to articulate approximately 3-5 issues of transformative potential in each of the topics identified above, and propose strategies and opportunities for solution based on Advanced Computational Exploration.
At the Workshop, presentations will be made on each of the topics above based on the contents of the Key Questions and the Draft Reports, and the community-wide input obtained online as well as from the participants of the Workshop. A Final Report will be prepared by September 2010 for wide distribution to the community and to all the relevant funding agencies. While the Report will be submitted by the 2010 LWS SC to NASA, the Workshop will involve representation from NSF, DoD, and NOAA, all of which are represented on the 2010 LWS SC. The final product of the Workshop will be a concise report that will serve as the foundation for the program on ACCEHS.
Principal Coordinator
Amitava Bhattacharjee (UNH)
Local Organizing Committee (LOC)
Philip Judge (HAO/NCAR, Boulder) Chair, Wendy Hawkins (HAO/NCAR, Boulder), Dolores Knipp (University of Colorado, Boulder), Cora Randall (University of Colorado, Boulder), Teresa Rivas (HAO/NCAR, Boulder), Adrian Trujilo (HAO/NCAR, Boulder).