Indiana University
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Project: Polar Grid: Cyberinfrastructure for Polar Science

Primary UITS contact: Richard Knepper, David Hancock

Last update: June 1, 2009

Description: The Polar Grid project will help scientists better understand the current and future state of polar ice sheets by creating a computer grid spanning from the North to the South Pole. Polar Grid will consist of ruggedized laptops and clusters deployed in the field in the polar regions, and also two large-scale clusters for detailed data analysis in the US: a 17-teraflop cluster to be installed at IU, and a 5-teraflop cluster at partner institution Elizabeth City State University. The clusters will be made highly accessible through a science gateway, using Web 2.0 and portal approaches designed to make high performance computers easier to use. IU will also leverage its involvement in the TeraGrid to support the Polar Grid project. The first expedition to Greenland, which started May 2008, is capturing data via radar on the ice sheets. A projected 26 terabytes of data will be acquired on the ice sheets from field teams and aircraft surveys for processing at the two cyberinfrastructure facilities.

Milestones and status:

The Polar Grid project began in August 2007.

  • The field/base camp purchasing project started late 2007.

  • The Polar Grid Cyberinfrastructure team, including participants from the University of Kansas and Elizabeth City State University, met January 23-24, 2008, to plan for the Greenland expedition in May 2008.

  • Final hardware purchases for the Greenland expedition were completed in March 2008, and the equipment was shipped to Schenectady, NY, for shipment to Greenland the first week of April 2008.

  • Polar Grid researchers are on site in Ilulissat, Greenland, taking radar measurements and doing preliminary processing of field data (as of the first week of July 2008).

  • Polar Grid researchers are taking measurements at the NEEM station on the Greenlandic ice starting July 27, 2008.

  • A team from IU has returned from a mission to Ilulissat to assist the University of Kansas team with computation of radar data from aerial missions over the Greenland Ice Sheet.

  • University of Kansas researchers have asked a team member from IU to accompany them to the NEEM station on the Greenland Ice Sheet. The team member is on site at NEEM as of August 1, 2008. Information about NEEM is available at http://neem.nbi.ku.dk/.

  • Preparations for the Antarctic expedition for the Polar Grid project are underway, and IU is acquiring equipment to ship to Antarctica in late September 2008.

  • The 2008-2009 Antarctic Expedition is expected to return to the University of Kansas in early March 2009. Equipment for the 2009 Greenland Expedition is being assembled, and the Greenland Expedition will ship out for Ilulissat and Kulusuk on March 24.

  • The Ilulissat/Kulusuk expedition has returned, having completed six flights over the Jakobshavn glacier, two over the Kangerlussuaq glacier, two over the Helheim glacier, one over the Godthab glacier, and a cooperative mission for the US Coast Guard. The Greenland 2009 expedition produced over 6TB of radar data. Preparations are beginning for the Antarctica 2009 expedition, which starts in November 2009 and will be prefaced by a number of flights from Chile over the Antarctic ice sheets in early November.

Benefits: Polar Grid will transform US capabilities in ice sheet research, making it possible to collect, examine, and analyze data all during the course of a single expedition. This represents a dramatic change from the current method of study, in which expeditions occur during the summer months, data is brought back to the US for analysis, and a new expedition takes place the following year.

In addition to impacting polar science, Polar Grid builds upon PI Geoffrey Fox's existing efforts to help minority-serving institutions enhance their research by gaining greater access to cyberinfrastructure. The Polar Grid project will provide Elizabeth City State University, a historically black university in North Carolina, with a high-performance computing cluster and will give its researchers access to IU's cluster, using a high-speed network connection.

Faculty and student researchers will participate in field data collection and in Polar Grid implementation of a base camp 64-core cluster, allowing near real-time analysis of radar data by the polar field teams. Students trained and educated on Polar Grid will also participate in internships and enhance the entry of a diverse workforce into important science.

Project team:

  • Principal investigator: Geoffrey C. Fox, Director, Community Grids Lab; Professor of Informatics, Computer Science, and Physics, Indiana University
  • Co-PIs:
    • Marlon Pierce, Assistant Director, Community Grids Lab, Indiana University
    • Craig A. Stewart, Associate Dean and Associate Vice President of Research Technologies, Chief Operating Officer, Pervasive Technology Labs at Indiana University
    • Linda B. Hayden, Director, Center of Excellence in Remote Sensing Education and Research, Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science, Elizabeth City State University
    • Malcolm LeCompte, Associate Dean and Director of Research, Elizabeth City State University
  • Senior personnel:
    • Beth Plale
    • Donald McMullen
    • Matt Link
    • David Hancock
    • Dennis Gannon