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earthquakes

Visualization of an aerosolized SARS-CoV-2 particle with various components inside and outside the particle.Science

2021 at the OLCF: Year in Review

In 2021, supercomputing at the US Department of Energy's (DOE's) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) enabled new scientific breakthroughs amid the global pandemic. From modeling small particles called quarks to simulating turbulence in fusion reactors, the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility's (OLCF's) flagship supercomputer, Summit, continued to provide unprecedented opportunities…
Rachel McDowell
December 30, 2021
Science

A New Approach for Bigger and Better Earthquake Modeling

This story was originally written by Aaron Dubrow at the Texas Advanced Computer Center and adapted by Rachel McDowell for the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdGctQsjKpU A randomly selected 3,000-year segment of the physics-based simulated catalog of earthquakes in California, created on the Texas Advanced Computing Center's Frontera supercomputer. Video Credit:…
Rachel McDowell
January 29, 2021
Science

Can a UNICORN Outrun Earthquakes?

Each year, anywhere from a few hundred to tens of thousands of deaths are attributed to the catastrophic effects of major earthquakes. Apart from ground shaking, earthquake hazards include landslides, dam ruptures, flooding, and worse—if the sea floor is suddenly displaced during an earthquake, it can trigger a deadly tsunami.…
Rachel McDowell
November 13, 2019
In this visualization from David Pugmire at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, a team led by Jeroen Tromp at Princeton University is imaging the interior of the Earth with adjoint tomography.Science

A Data-Driven Journey to the Center of the Earth

In a farewell nod to Titan, scheduled to be decommissioned in August 2019, we present a short series of features highlighting some of Titan’s impactful contributions to scientific research. In Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth, an impatient geology professor leads a subterranean expedition in search of…
Jonathan Hines
July 5, 2019
OLCF History

OLCF 25: Shaking up Earthquake Preparedness

In 2017, the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility celebrated 25 years of leadership in high-performance computing. This article is part of a series summarizing a dozen significant contributions to science enabled by OLCF resources. The full report is available here. Since 2010, a multi-institutional team led by Thomas Jordan of the…
OLCF Staff Writer
December 6, 2017
Science

A Seismic Mapping Milestone

Because of Earth’s layered composition, scientists have often compared the basic arrangement of its interior to that of an onion. There’s the familiar thin crust of continents and ocean floors; the thick mantle of hot, semisolid rock; the molten metal outer core; and the solid iron inner core. But unlike…
Jonathan Hines
March 28, 2017
Technology

Titan Delivered in 2013

By adding a graphics processing unit (GPU) accelerator to the 16-core central processing unit (CPU) on each node, the OLCF substantially increased Titan’s computing capability, enabling INCITE researchers to reach unprecedented science achievements.
OLCF Staff Writer
March 18, 2014