MODELLING AND SIMULATION g
accelerated libraries for computationally intensive parts of the model. Third, it is using separate data-layout, memory placement and science-driven code developments, enabling asynchronous and data-driven programming models, and the use of source-to-source translators (using DSL toolchains). Finally, the ECMWF is also developing
alternative and novel algorithms, for example, part replacing time-critical code with machine learned equivalents, and/or the use of alternative discretisations that are potentially better suited for emerging HPC. ‘How we can best use a quantum
computer is still to be answered, but researched,’ Wedi said.
Streamlined simulations There are many efforts to streamline weather and climate change prediction systems. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), for example, is part of a broader community modelling effort called the Unified Forecast System (UFS). Dr Vijay Tallapragada, chief of the Modelling and Data Assimilation Branch in NOAA’s Environmental Modeling Center, explained: ‘UFS is integrating numerous environmental models into a unified Earth modelling system that will be used to predict weather from local to global domains at time scales from minutes to seasons. ‘This unified system allows better
collaboration between NOAA and the extramural science community, and will accelerate the development and integration of innovation into NOAA’s operational weather forecast systems.’ NOAA is migrating towards simplifying the operational production suite by adopting the community-based UFS for all operational applications in the next five years. Both its Global Forecast System (GFS) and Global Ensemble Forecast System (GEFS) have already been migrated to the UFS framework, and the rest of its applications are currently being
developed and merged into the same framework to streamline its research and operations.
The Met Office also uses a Unified Model of the atmosphere for both its weather and climate applications. ‘Although we have several modelling systems available to us, the Unified Model is key for our weather forecasts and climate predictions,’ Petch added. To help manage the resulting, demanding workloads, commercial tools are also available. Altair, for example, provides workload management solutions for the world’s weather sites, such as the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in the United States, Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology, and the US Naval Research Laboratory. Sam Mahalingam, Altair’s CTO, said: ‘Sophisticated and well-supported HPC workload management and optimisation are a must for these sites, where HPC downtime, productivity loss and inefficient resource utilisation can threaten critical real-world research.’ At NCAR, Altair’s PBS Professional
“Features like high- throughput hierarchical scheduling with Accelerator Plus offer six to ten times HPC throughput improvements”
34 Scientific Computing World Spring 2021
is already used for workload orchestration on the organisation’s current supercomputer, Cheyenne. PBS Professional and Altair Accelerator Plus will also be used on its new system, Derecho, which is predicted to be one of the world’s Top 25 HPC systems. ‘Features like high-throughput
hierarchical scheduling with Accelerator Plus offer six to ten times HPC throughput improvements, as well as better license and resource utilisation, and more flexible scheduler usage models,’ Mahalingam explained. ‘At NCAR, this will help develop and test the Weather Research and Forecasting model for atmospheric
research and operational forecasting applications. ‘Other features, such as cloud bursting, which provides massive scalability and flexibility, and key access portals and alerting mechanisms, are also critical to weather research and climate modelling,’ according to Mahalingam. At Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology, staff members at many sites are required to constantly monitor the environment. There, an Altair solution that leverages the Cylc workflow engine provides detailed information to staff, allowing them to monitor the supercomputer hardware, Cylc suites, and PBS Professional jobs, while reporting status clearly and concisely. The solution is designed to be modular and general-purpose, so any site can deploy it out of the box, or substitute components they’re more familiar with. Seamless integration is a sign of things to come in the world of weather and climate prediction, as Mahalingam explained: ‘We expect the use of multi- dimensional HPC such as storage-aware scheduling and hierarchical scheduling, cloud bursting and automated cloud migration, and workload simulation, as well as the use of HPC to propel machine learning applications, will continue to gain traction in the coming months and years.’ Such developments are key to not only
futureproof the world of weather and climate forecasting, but also protect our planet. Petch concluded: ‘Predicting the weather and climate has become one of the most important areas of scientific endeavour, and increasing our computing capability is essential if we are to continue to improve our climate predictions and climate change simulations.’
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