2004 — 2007 |
Richardson, Mark |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Dust and the Martian Climate @ California Institute of Technology
AST 0406653 Richardson
This project led by Dr. Mark Richardson will provide new insight into the processes that control the Martian dust cycle, including the development of global dust storms. A General Circulation Model (GCM), originally developed to study the Earth's climate, and subsequently adapted for Martian application, will be used to study the global dynamics of dust lifting and transport. Data obtained from multiple years of observations by the Viking Orbiters and the Mars Global Surveyor Orbiter will be used to constrain model simulations to realistic states. The model will treat dust injection by small-scale convective motions (such as dust devils) and model-resolved wind stresses. Dust is transported within the atmosphere by resolved winds and by diffusion, representing unresolved motions. Gravity is allowed to act on the dust particles, generating dust settling back onto the surface. While in the atmosphere, dust modifies the visible and thermal infrared optical depths, modifying atmospheric heating rates and hence the circulation. The system is thus highly coupled and non-linear. The model is to be used to study the processes that maintain the ubiquitous, but seasonally varying background distribution of dust in the Martian atmosphere. It is currently not known how important dust devils and convective motions are, on a global basis. A major goal of this project is the generation of quazi-variable, spontaneous global dust storms, which have never previously been simulated in a GCM. These studies will focus on the mechanisms of storm generation and interannual variability of the storms. It is anticipated that this study will result in the first simulation of the Martian dust cycle to generate both the seasonal variation of haze and quazi-variable global dust storms using a completely unprescribed, prognostic dust scheme. More importantly, exploration of the behavior of the model should yield insight into the processes operating in the dust cycle that have hitherto not been accessible to quantitative study. These insights will have implications for our understanding of the maintenance of the Martian climate, and how this climate may have varied over the course of Martian geological history.
The activities associated with this project will have a major impact on the education and training of the graduate student and post-doctoral scholar involved. The major tool to be used in this study, the GCM, provides a useful means for training students in the numerical simulation of the atmosphere and climate system. Development of this tool provides a continuing facility for other projects and further research/training opportunities in the future. Smaller projects spurring-off from this activity will provide foci for undergraduate research opportunities, through Caltech's Summer Undergraduate Research Foundation (SURF) program, which the PI has been involved in during each summer since his appointment at Caltech. ***
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0.915 |
2005 — 2007 |
Gurnis, Michael (co-PI) [⬀] Simons, Mark Richardson, Mark Schneider, Tapio (co-PI) [⬀] Tromp, Jeroen [⬀] |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Acquisition of a 864-Node Pc Cluster For Caltech Computational Geoscience @ California Institute of Technology
EAR-0521699 Tromp
Caltech's Division of Geological & Planetary Sciences will construct an 864-node PC cluster computer that will be combined with an existing 160-node cluster. The resulting supercomputer will have 1024-nodes (2048 processors) and will be dedicated to a wide spectrum of geoscience research and education. The NSF Award provides an important component of the funding for a partnership between Dell, Intel, and Caltech. NSF, Dell, and Intel have provided the funds for the computer while Caltech renovated 1750 square feet of space with advanced cooling and uninterruptible power.
The computational facility will be used for research in the solid-earth sciences (including seismology, geodynamics, and geodesy), atmospheric sciences (including climate dynamics), and planetary sciences (including planetary atmospheres). The project spans a wide range of topics in basic research as well as work that will have a substantial benefit to society (such as work related to earthquake shaking and climate change). For example, in seismology, the infrastructure will lead to dramatically improved images of earth structure, globally and locally, as well as images of the rupture of large, destructive earthquakes. In geophysics, simulations tied to observations will lead to a fuller understanding of the forces driving plate tectonics and the rupture of earthquakes. In atmospheric sciences, simulations will be used to demonstrate how water vapor is maintained, how it varies, and how it may cause rapid climate change. In planetary sciences, the mechanisms of the most dramatic weather events in the solar system, the Martian global dust storms, will be investigated.
Since many of the scientific challenges facing geoscientists today transcend disciplinary boundaries, and many of the computational challenges involve common issues related to algorithms, visualization, and data assimilation, the single computer system will enable cutting-edge simulations while promoting and fostering cross-fertilization of ideas. The facility will generate a learning environment that fosters interdisciplinary interactions and integrates research with education, thereby educating and training the next generation of academic and industry computational scientists and engineers.
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0.915 |