NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center

NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center
Name	NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center
Location	Cheyenne, Laramie County, Wyoming
Established	2012
Type	Supercomputing center
Parent	National Center for Atmospheric Research (operated by University Corporation for Atmospheric Research)

NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center

The NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center serves as a high-performance computing facility supporting atmospheric, climate, and geoscience research. It links compute resources to researchers associated with institutions such as the National Center for Atmospheric Research, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, and numerous universities and laboratories. The center interoperates with national research infrastructure and collaborates with agencies including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Science Foundation.

Overview

The center provides computational capacity for projects spanning numerical weather prediction, climate modeling, and Earth system science, interfacing with programs at NASA, European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, and regional centers. Its user base includes investigators from Princeton University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, and the University of Colorado Boulder. The facility supports model development used by operational services such as the National Weather Service and research partnerships with Los Alamos National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

History and Development

Plans originated in collaboration among the National Science Foundation, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, and state officials in Wyoming. Site selection involved Cheyenne and Laramie County authorities and considered logistics similar to other centers like Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Argonne National Laboratory. Groundbreaking and construction paralleled procurement cycles at vendors such as Cray, Dell Technologies, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise. Deployment coincided with community engagement by entities including the Wyoming Business Council and the Cheyenne LEADS economic development organization.

Facilities and Architecture

The campus comprises data halls, power substations, and chilled-water plants designed with input from engineering firms experienced with facilities at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Fermilab. The building incorporates resilient electrical systems similar to those for NASA Ames Research Center and cooling approaches tested at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Networking integrates with backbone providers that interconnect with the Energy Sciences Network and metropolitan exchange points serving partners such as University of Wyoming and Colorado State University.

Hardware and Performance

Compute infrastructure has included systems procured from manufacturers like Cray and processor technologies from Intel Corporation and Advanced Micro Devices. The center has hosted accelerators from NVIDIA Corporation and interconnect fabrics provided by Mellanox Technologies. Performance metrics historically align with Top500-class machines and fostered scaling studies akin to those conducted at National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center and Texas Advanced Computing Center. Storage subsystems draw from vendors used by Stanford Linear Accelerator Center and archive strategies compatible with community standards promoted by Open Storage Summit contributors.

Research and Applications

Researchers run atmospheric models such as the Community Earth System Model and the Weather Research and Forecasting Model, conduct data assimilation comparable to systems at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, and perform ensemble forecasting linked to practices at the Met Office. Applications include hurricane modeling studied alongside groups at NOAA's Hurricane Research Division, climate attribution work coordinated with Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change authors, and air-quality simulations similar to projects at the Environmental Protection Agency. Collaborations extend to university consortia such as CIG and research programs affiliated with Department of Energy laboratories.

Management and Funding

Operations are overseen by the National Center for Atmospheric Research under sponsorship from the National Science Foundation with additional support through cooperative agreements involving state agencies in Wyoming and partnerships with industry suppliers including Intel Corporation and NVIDIA Corporation. Governance models reflect practices at federally funded research centers such as Brookhaven National Laboratory and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. User allocations and peer review processes emulate programs run by the Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment and regional allocation boards that include members from institutions like University of California, Berkeley and University of Michigan.

Environmental Design and Sustainability

The facility was designed with energy efficiency and resilience in mind, incorporating sustainable strategies akin to those at National Renewable Energy Laboratory campuses and green building standards encouraged by U.S. Green Building Council. Cooling design reduces water use through approaches tested at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and power systems include redundancies comparable to infrastructures at Sandia National Laboratories. The site supports workforce development tied to regional education partners such as the University of Wyoming and economic initiatives involving the Wyoming Energy Authority.

Category:Supercomputer sites Category:Buildings and structures in Cheyenne, Wyoming Category:National Center for Atmospheric Research