Report of the NSF Workshop on High‐Performance Distributed Computing and Polar Sciences

• Main Author: Shantenu Jha
• Format: Dataset
• Language: unknown
• Published: Arctic Data Center 2017
• Subjects: high-performance computing, polar science; Arctic; Climate change; Ice; permafrost; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://search.dataone.org/view/urn:uuid:b96f3f89-7860-4403-81b8-32822b5c2b82

Climate change in the 20th and 21st century is dramatically changing the polar regions. This is documented by numerous studies, for example as thawing permafrost, retreating Arctic sea ice and accelerating mass loss from glaciers and ice sheets. These changes may have widespread consequences for many aspects of the earth systems, e.g. carbon budget, food and water security, sea levels, and freshwater input to oceans. To understand the changing polar regions and their global impacts, scientists are increasingly using very large datasets derived from high‐resolution satellite imagery, airborne missions, and computer modeling. However, advanced cyberinfrastructure, and in particular, high‐performance distributed computing (HPDC) remains an underutilized resource within the polar science community. To explore the opportunities for addressing this gap and increasing the collaboration between the polar science and HPDC communities, the workshop "High‐Performance & Distributed Computing for Polar Sciences: Applications, Cyberinfrastructure and Opportunities" brought together polar scientists, HPDC experts, and data practitioners at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey on December 4 and 5, 2014. Approximately thirty U.S.‐based researchers gathered for two days of presentations and discussions centered on two questions: 1) How can polar science benefit from HPDC? and 2) What are the challenges in bringing HPDC and polar sciences together? Through workshop discussions, participants agreed that processing the ever‐expanding catalog of high‐resolution digital satellite imagery, and running model simulations of polar region dynamics, provide key opportunities for polar science and HPDC collaboration to advance both fields. Despite the potential of these opportunities, a number of challenges currently exist preventing progress. Some example obstacles to collaboration are the knowledge gap, simple access mechanisms to HPDC resources and lower barriers to access HPDC. Workshop participants discussed many ways to close this gap, inter alia including how to increase data discovery and make connections between data repositories with computing and data processing facilities. Articulating and addressing the heterogeneity of HPDC solutions, whilst improving the simplicity of HPDC resource use (and understanding) were recurring themes. Greater adoption of HPDC might be facilitated by making software products commonly used among polar scientists available on HPDC platforms. Additionally, there are socio‐technical and cultural barriers that need addressing. Participants found the workshop, with adequate time for discussions, very educational and helpful, and there was unanimous consensus that such efforts needed to be sustained in order to understand how to convert aspirations into a plan and subsequent action. Recommendations from the Workshop include the following: • Continue cross‐community engagement to build common directions • Promote awareness of HPDC training resources for polar scientists • Work towards a roadmap for HPDC uptake in the polar sciences