National Center for Atmospheric Research Supercomputer Cheyenne

Summary: National Center for Atmospheric Research Supercomputer Cheyenne should be operational early in 2017 at NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputer Center in Cheyenne.

Cheyenne, Wyoming's current supercomputer, named Yellowstone, will soon be outperformed by a new supercomputer, named Cheyenne: Lauren Coolman, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr

Supercomputer Cheyenne, built by Silicon Graphics International Corporation, with information storage components provided by DataDirect Networks, is expected to become operational at NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center in Cheyenne early in 2017, according to the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) news release Jan. 11, 2016.

The NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center (NWSC) in Cheyenne, Wyoming, is a valuable resource for scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), the University of Wyoming, and research institutions and universities around the United States. Supercomputer Cheyenne will be critical in improving predictions and in researching important atmospheric and geoscience topics, such as climate change, geomagnetic storms and wildfires, through high-performance simulations of complex processes.

“We’re excited to bring more supercomputing power to the scientific community,” notes Anke Kamrath, director of operations and services at NCAR’s Computational and Information Systems Laboratory in Boulder, Colorado. “Whether it’s the threat of solar storms or a heightened risk in certain severe weather events, this new system will help lead to improved predictions and strengthen society’s resilience to potential disasters.”

Supercomputer Cheyenne will be super efficient. Designed as a 5.34-petaflop system, supercomputer Cheyenne will be capable of 5.34 quadrillion (one thousand trillion) calculations per second. DataDirect Networks (DDN), the world’s largest privately held storage company, will endow supercomputer Cheyenne with an initial storage capacity of 20 petabytes (one petabyte equals one quadrillion bytes). The addition of extra drives will expand storage capacity to 40 petabytes. The DDN storage system will be integrated with the National Center’s existing, 16 petabyte-capacity file storage system, known as GLADE (GLobally Accessible Data Environment). Supercomputer Cheyenne will have a data transfer rate of 200 gigabytes (one billion bytes) per second.

Supercomputer Cheyenne initially will compliment the National Center’s inaugural supercomputer, named Yellowstone, which was built by International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) and has been online since 2012. Supercomputer Cheyenne will outperform Yellowstone, with a computing rate which is 2.5 times greater than that of its predecessor.

As a 1.5-petaflop system, supercomputer Yellowstone achieves a peak computational rate of 1.5 quadrillion calculations per second. Yellowstone transfers data at a rate of 90 gigabytes per second. The Yellowstone system consists of 100 black, refrigerator-sized racks, with 74 racks for the computing cluster, 20 for the GLADE storage cluster, three for data analysis and visualization, and three for test systems.

Supercomputer Cheyenne is named in recognition of the support that NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center (NWSC) has received, since opening Oct. 15, 2012, from Wyoming’s capital and most populous city. Supercomputer Cheyenne becomes operational in 2017, the landmark year in which the Magic City of the Plains observes the 150th anniversary of its founding in July 1867.

High-resolution simulations available via supercomputer Cheyenne are expected especially to benefit research in air quality; decadal (10-year) predictions; drought potential, flood impacts, and water availability via predictions of streamflow and associated reservoir level; regional climate change; severe weather, such as flooding and intense thunderstorm clusters; solar energy; subsurface flows of gas, oil, and water.

“Supercomputing is vital to NCAR’s scientific research and applications, giving us a virtual laboratory in which we run experiments that would otherwise be impractical or impossible to do,” explains NCAR Director James Hurrell. “Cheyenne will be a key component of the research infrastructure of the United States through its provision of supercomputing specifically tailored for the atmospheric, geospace, and related sciences. The capabilities of this new system will be central to the continued improvement of our ability to understand and predict changes in weather, climate, air quality, and space weather, as well as their impacts on people, ecosystems, and society.”

Image, based upon research project run on Cheyenne supercomputer's predecessor, Yellowstone, depicts solar interior dynamo's opposing wreaths of magnetism pointing east (red) or west (blue); image by Kyle Augustson, NCAR: NCAR Science @NCAR_Science via Twitter Jan. 11, 2016

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Yellowstone supercomputer; April 3, 2016: Lauren Coolman, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/wintercool612/26134166351/

Image, based upon research project run on Cheyenne supercomputer's predecessor, Yellowstone, depicts solar interior dynamo's opposing wreaths of magnetism pointing east (red) or west (blue); image by Kyle Augustson, NCAR: NCAR Science @NCAR_Science via Twitter Jan. 11, 2016, @ https://twitter.com/NCAR_Science/status/686633745391202305

For further information:

AtmosNews::NCAR and UCAR Science. "Visualizations created with the Yellowstone supercomputer." YouTube. Jan. 8, 2016.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSbRLm9slhA

Burt, Jeffrey. "SGI to Build Supercomputer for Climate Research Center." eWeek > Servers. Jan. 11, 2016.
Available @ http://www.eweek.com/servers/sgi-to-build-supercomputer-for-climate-research-center.html

CARB ‏@AirResources. "'Cheyenne', successor to one of the world's fastest supercomputers, will be a critical tool for #climateresearch." Twitter. Jan. 12, 2016.
Available @ https://twitter.com/AirResources/status/687047177068228609

"DDN Storage Enables National Center For Atmospheric Research To Move Beyond Studying Weather Phenomena To Advancing Predictions With Big Data Simulations." DataDirect Networks > Press Releases. Jan. 11, 2016.
Available @ http://www.ddn.com/press-releases/ddn-storage-enables-national-center-for-atmospheric-research-to-move-beyond-studying-weather-phenomena-to-advancing-predictions-with-big-data-simulations/

Fedde, Corey. "Why Wyoming is getting another world-class supercomputer." The Christian Science Monitor > Science. Jan. 12, 2016.
Available @ http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2016/0112/Why-Wyoming-is-getting-another-world-class-supercomputer

Green Atom ‏@greenatomnet. "#CheyenneSupercomputer In The Works For Climate Modeling." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/greenatomnet/status/686711748431237120

"NCAR announces powerful new supercomputer for scientific discovery." EurekAlert! > Public Release. Jan. 11, 2016.
Available @ http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-01/ncfa-nap010816.php

NCAR Science @NCAR_Science. "Our old supercomputer was sweet: But our new one is 2.5x as awesome. Let's do some #science!" Twitter. Jan. 11, 2016.
Available @ https://twitter.com/NCAR_Science/status/686633745391202305

NCAR Staff. "NCAR Announces Powerful New Supercomputer For Scientific Discovery." NCAR AtmosNews > News Releases. Jan. 11, 2016.
Available @ https://www2.ucar.edu/atmosnews/news/18751/ncar-announces-powerful-new-supercomputer-scientific-discovery

The Weather Channel @weatherchannel 14 Jan 2016 More How the new #supercomputer #Cheyenne will boost US weather forecasting capabilities http://wxch.nl/1TYiriQ." Twitter. Jan. 14, 2016.
Available @ https://twitter.com/weatherchannel/status/687772076569047040

Wyo Tribune Eagle @WTEnews. "New: Powerful new supercomputer coming to Cheyenne." Twitter. Jan. 11, 2016.
Available @ https://twitter.com/WTEnews/status/686666164634828801

"Yellowstone Supercomputers Head-On (D102676)." OpenSky > OpenSky Repository > NCAR/UCAR Image and Multimedia Gallery.
Available @ https://opensky.ucar.edu/islandora/object/imagegallery%3A2357