Derecho (supercomputer)

Derecho (supercomputer) is a high-performance computing system operated by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and located at the NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center (NWSC) in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Funded primarily by the National Science Foundation (NSF), it serves as a critical national resource for the atmospheric, Earth system, and computational science communities. Named for a type of widespread, long-lived windstorm, Derecho succeeded the Cheyenne system and entered full production in late 2022.

Overview

Derecho is a central component of the NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center, a facility jointly managed by NCAR and the University of Wyoming. The system is a key asset within the broader U.S. Federally Funded Research and Development Center ecosystem for geoscience. Its primary mission is to support advanced research in areas including climate modeling, weather prediction, solar physics, and computational fluid dynamics. Access to Derecho is allocated through a competitive peer-review process managed by the NSF, serving hundreds of researchers from universities and laboratories across the United States.

Hardware and architecture

The Derecho supercomputer is a heterogeneous computing system, integrating multiple types of processors to optimize different computational workloads. Its main compute nodes are based on AMD's EPYC "Milan" CPUs, providing high general-purpose performance. A significant portion of its capability comes from its substantial complement of NVIDIA A100 Tensor Core GPUs, which accelerate machine learning and specialized modeling tasks. The system utilizes a high-speed InfiniBand HDR interconnect from NVIDIA Networking (formerly Mellanox Technologies) to facilitate fast communication between nodes. Total system memory exceeds 690 terabytes, and it is supported by a multi-petabyte Lustre parallel file system for high-throughput data storage.

Software and applications

Derecho runs a standard Linux operating system environment, managed by the HPE Cray Programming Environment. Key supported software includes the Community Earth System Model (CESM), the Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF), and the Model for Prediction Across Scales (MPAS). The system's GPU partitions are heavily used for emerging workloads in artificial intelligence and deep learning, applying techniques to problems like severe storm analysis and climate dataset emulation. Programming models such as OpenMP, MPI, and CUDA are fully supported, enabling scientists to port and optimize complex codes from previous NCAR systems like Cheyenne and Yellowstone.

History and development

The procurement and deployment of Derecho was part of NCAR's regular refresh cycle for its flagship computing resources. The contract for the system was awarded to Hewlett Packard Enterprise in 2021, with a total award value of approximately $35 million. Installation at the NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center began in early 2022, with acceptance testing conducted throughout that year. The system officially entered full production service in November 2022, replacing the aging Cheyenne system which had been in operation since 2017. The NWSC facility itself, opened in 2012, was designed with such periodic technology refreshes in mind and is powered by a dedicated wind farm to meet its sustainability goals.

Performance and rankings

In its initial configuration, Derecho achieved a peak theoretical performance of approximately 19.87 petaflops. Its real-world scientific throughput, however, is significantly higher for many complex geoscience codes due to its accelerated GPU components. Upon its debut in the November 2022 list, Derecho was ranked 69th in the world on the TOP500 list of most powerful supercomputers. It also placed highly on other benchmarks, including the HPCG benchmark. While its pure LINPACK performance places it within the upper echelon of academic supercomputers in the U.S., its primary importance is measured by its impact on advancing predictive understanding of the Earth system.

Category:Supercomputers Category:National Center for Atmospheric Research Category:Computers introduced in 2022 Category:Hewlett Packard Enterprise