<HTML><BODY style="word-wrap: break-word; -khtml-nbsp-mode: space; -khtml-line-break: after-white-space; ">Hi Brad et al:<DIV><BR><DIV><DIV>On 17/05/2007, at 2:58 AM, Brad Aagaard wrote:</DIV><BR class="Apple-interchange-newline"><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Hi all:</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">NOTE: Feedback is requested BEFORE Mon May 21.</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">The CIG Science Steering Committee will be meeting next Mon and Tue to revise<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">the rolling five-year Strategic Plan. There are currently two years left in<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">the (initial) NSF funding. The SSC would like to shift from relatively<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">independent software development in each of the working groups towards a more<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">synergistic approach. This synergistic approach will likely involve common<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">science goals (for example, driving a crustal deformation model with a mantle<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">convection model) and common software implementation goals (for example, use<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">of common components).</DIV></BLOCKQUOTE><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>We would certainly support this. There are two components to what you are proposing:</DIV><DIV>a)<SPAN class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </SPAN>Common science goals</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>b)<SPAN class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </SPAN>Common software implementation goals</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>I think that under a) there is also a question of the extent to which you want to drive it by specific models or benchmarks, and the extent to which those models reflect trying to model very specific geological systems (for many years we have used the "Grand Challenge" example of being able to model the evolution of the Tibetan plateau for example). My personal opinion (and that of a non-expert geologist, just a sw. developer) is that the more concrete the benchmark or physical model that can be agreed on the better the outcomes (as opposed to rather general goals such as coupling two models without some specific benchmarks). It is probably also true to say that you are not going to create a single common goal, but instead try to have a "bottom-up" approach of a few shared goals.</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Under b) I think that there is a fair amount of convergence already going on across several projects: PyLith, GALE, and the Magma code. Ourselves and Matt/ANL are all about building our software with well-defined interfaces, that make it possible to couple codes. At this early stage of evolution of codes, that makes coupling possible. It is really premature to try to define or enforce a common architecture or interface standard across all components, as in CCA).</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Another set of issues are also important:</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>c)<SPAN class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </SPAN>Documentation</DIV><DIV>This is a key issue for GALE/Magma, and anything using our StGermain framework. For Magma, we are going down the route of building "cookbook" documentation, as we develop the code, analogous to the current GALE documentation, but with more detail on the low-level facilities of StGermain (the analogy is Knuth's Tex documentation). This is a lot of work, but important to make sure that more sophisticated codes reach a wider user base of non-experts.</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>d)<SPAN class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </SPAN>Scaleability</DIV><DIV>This is a key issue for us and others as well. Credibility in the Terascale computing community means scaling out to hundreds and thousands of processors on very large problems, and that means 3D decompostions. Scaling has an associated problem of load balancing for the type of non-homogenous dynamic problems that are typical in geosciences. This all ties in with AMR, etc. This is a lot of work.</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>e)<SPAN class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </SPAN>Useability</DIV><DIV>If we want models to be used by non-experts, then we need to have high-level scripting (whether in XML, Python, or Matlab is an open question). This too is a lot of work</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Between a)-e) I think SSC needs to decide on priorities, as any one of these areas is a fair amount of effort from a relatively small budget. But I should add that we have ongoing funding from the Australian Government for development at Monash/VPAC for at least the next few years for our side of the software for collaborative projects.</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>My 2c worth -- Bill</DIV><BR><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">I would appreciate feedback/discussion on priorities for short-term tectonics<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">within CIG in the context of greater synergy across the working groups.<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Specifically, prioritizing the list of ideas below. Of course, new ideas are<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">also welcome. Below I have listed some of the ideas proposed over the last<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">year for upcoming priorities as well as an update on PyLith development.<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">PLEASE PROVIDE FEEBACK BY SENDING EMAIL TO <A href="mailto:cig-short@geodynamics.org">cig-short@geodynamics.org</A>.</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Thanks,</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Brad</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">IDEAS FOR SYNERGISTIC ACTIVITIES</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">a. Adaptive mesh refinement</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">b. Common interface/implementation of physical property databases</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">c. Coupling models of different physical processes (e.g., mantle convection<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">and crustal deformation)</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">d. Common software components (use of PETSc solvers, Pyre framework, build<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">systems) [this is more of an implementation issue]</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">e. Benchmarking tools</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">PYLITH DEVELOPMENT UPDATE</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Version 1.0 (planned release at CFEM workshop)</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Summary: Initial release of code for both quasi-static and dynamic modeling.<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">This is a completely new version of PyLith written in C++ and Python which<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">combines the functionality of PyLith 0.8 and EqSim. User input is<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">dramatically simplified via direct import of meshes from CUBIT and LaGriT and<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">use of a spatial database to specify all boundary conditions.</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Features:</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN>* Solves quasi-static or dynamic deformation problems using implicit and<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">explicit time-stepping schemes, respectively.</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN>* 2-D and 3-D Cartesian geometry (1-D also included but not very useful)</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN>* Dirichlet boundary conditions</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN>* Kinematic fault boundary conditions (specification of slip as a function<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">of time)</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN>* Elastic and linear Maxwell viscoelastic bulk constitutive models</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN>* Output in VTK files</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN>* Runs in parallel</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Version 1.1 (planned release in late Summer 2007)</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">New features:</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN>* Dynamic fault boundary conditions (fault constitutive models)</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN>* Nonlinear viscoelastic bulk constitutive models</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN>* Absorbing boundary conditions (may be included in version 1.0)</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN>* Traction boundary conditions (may be included in version 1.0)</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN>* Output to HDF5 files</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">_______________________________________________</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">CIG-SHORT mailing list</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><A href="mailto:CIG-SHORT@geodynamics.org">CIG-SHORT@geodynamics.org</A></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><A href="http://geodynamics.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/cig-short">http://geodynamics.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/cig-short</A></DIV> </BLOCKQUOTE></DIV><BR><DIV> <SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: auto; -khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; -apple-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: auto; -khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; -apple-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><DIV> Cheers -- Bill</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>------------------------------------------------------------</DIV><DIV>Bill Appelbe +61 3 9925 4648</DIV><DIV>VPAC (mobile)+61 0418 557115</DIV><DIV> (fax) +61 3 9925 4647</DIV><DIV>www.vpac.org <A href="mailto:bill@vpac.org">bill@vpac.org</A> </DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV></SPAN></SPAN></DIV><BR></DIV></BODY></HTML>