ARCHIVED: Petascale computing on the TeraGrid: Storm Surge Modeling on Petascale Computers

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Note: The project described in this document is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Office of Cyberinfrastructure (OCI) to use TeraGrid's petascale environments for highly advanced scientific analysis and simulations that advance the frontiers of scientific and engineering research. For more, see ARCHIVED: Petascale computing on the TeraGrid.

This project investigates the use of petascale computing to significantly advance the state-of-the-art in storm surge simulation, to accurately model flows at multiple, interacting scales at resolution never before attempted, and to demonstrate that results from these simulations can be delivered in real-time to emergency managers.

Predicting and studying coastal inundation due to hurricanes and tropical storms is a problem of critical importance to the United States. Hurricane Katrina was the costliest and fifth deadliest hurricane in history, with most of the devastation due to wind-driven flooding during the storm. The aftermath of this event has led to a number of federally mandated studies to determine what failed, the causes of failure, and how to prevent such catastrophes from happening again. Critical decisions will be made in the next several years on how to design better protection systems and improve emergency management practices in the event of future storms.

Storm surge is caused by wind, atmospheric pressure gradients, tides, river flow, short-crested wind-waves, and rainfall. In this project, the investigators will develop an accurate numerical model of storm surge which accounts for all of these effects. As storms approach landfall, this model will be tested in predictive mode for the purposes of emergency evacuation and response, and used to study the design and implementation of improved man-made and natural protection systems for vulnerable coastal areas.

While storm surge models have been developed extensively over the past decade, only recently have the algorithms, computational power, and resolution been available to begin to model these events with any reasonable degree of accuracy. In addition to storm surge modeling, the computational methodology and simulation tools developed under this project are applicable to other problems in coastal engineering and marine science, including water quality, shipping and ports, marine ecology, naval operations, weather and climate, and wetland degradation. Furthermore, the technology developed under this project will be disseminated to government agencies such as FEMA, the US Army Corps of Engineers, and NOAA.

For more, see award abstract #0749015 on the NSF web site.