[CIG-ALL] CIG News - August 2009

[Sue Kientz]

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                         CIG News:  August 2009
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Also available at
http://geodynamics.org/cig/proposalsndocs/newsdocs/newsletter-august09

CIG Software Releases

    * SPECFEM2D 6.0 - SPECFEM2D facilitates 2D simulations of  
acoustic, (an)elastic, and poroelastic seismic wave propagation. With  
version 6.0, the 2D spectral-element solver accommodates regular and  
unstructured meshes, generated for example by Cubit  
(cubit.sandia.gov). The solver has adjoint capabilities and can  
calculate finite-frequency sensitivity kernels for acoustic, (an) 
elastic, and poroelastic media. Finally, the solver can run both in  
serial and in parallel. See
http://geodynamics.org/cig/software/packages/seismo/specfem2d for  
source code and readme manual.

Software Bug Fixes

    * CitcomS 3.1.1 Manual Update - CitcomS is a finite element code  
designed to solve thermal convection problems relevant to Earth's  
mantle. The manual was updated to fix an error in the geoid output  
table (the 5th/6th columns were flipped with the 7th/8th column) and  
to explain that version 3.1 is slightly backward incompatible with  
version 3.0, in that the same input file will generate slightly  
different results between the two versions. See
http://geodynamics.org/cig/software/packages/mc/citcoms/ for source  
code and the updated manual. You can also run this latest version of  
CitcomS on the TeraGrid; see http://geodynamics.org/cig/software/csa/  
for details.

    * PyLith 1.4.2 - PyLith is a finite-element code designed to  
solve dynamic elastic problems and quasi-static viscoelastic problems  
in tectonic deformation. The latest release fixes several bugs in  
vers. 1.4.0 and 1.4.1, including (1) parameters in the power-law  
rheology are now consistent with laboratory experiments, (2) errors  
in implementation of point forces are fixed, (3) the stable time step  
for implicit time-stepping with linear viscoelastic models has been  
increased from 0.1 times the Maxwell time to 0.2 times the Maxwell  
time based on accuracy tests, (5) the preconditioner is only  
recomputed when necessary, (6) some unnecessary allocation and  
deallocations were removed through the use of persistent data  
structures, and (7) several memory leaks associated with output and  
running in parallel have been eliminated. We strongly recommend all  
users of previous PyLith releases to switch to this latest release;  
the README file at
http://geodynamics.org/wsvn/cig/short/3D/PyLith/trunk/README? 
op=file&rev=0&sc=0
has instructions on required changes. See
http://geodynamics.org/cig/software/packages/short/pylith/ for source  
code, binaries, and manual.

     * SPECFEM3D_GLOBE 4.0.4 - SPECFEM3D_GLOBE simulates global and  
regional (continental-scale) seismic wave propagation. The latest  
version fixes a bug which resulted when outputting SAC binary, SAC  
alpha files, or rotated seismograms (SAC or ASCII text files). See
http://geodynamics.org/cig/software/packages/seismo/specfem3d-globe/  
for source code and manual.

CIG II Transition

    * CIG-II Proposal Submitted on July 8 - The CIG-II proposal and  
its supplemental material were submitted on July 8, 2009. The  
Proposal Writing Committee wishes to thank everyone who contributed  
feedback and suggestions on the initial drafts. We expect a decision  
on the proposal just before the December AGU Meeting. The final  
proposal and supporting documents can be viewed at http:// 
geodynamics.org/cig/proposalsndocs/blogs/cig2-proposal/

    * What to Expect During Transition to CIG II - While CIG  
officially ends its 5-year term on August 31, 2009, after that date  
CIG will carry on normal operations in a "transition period." The  
entire CIG community structure will continue to function as it does  
now. Committees and working groups will keep working and meeting, and  
staff will be available as always for questions and assistance with  
CIG software. The CIG Business Meeting will again be held in December  
during AGU. Most of CIG's staff will stay in place at Caltech through  
early 2010, at which time a new administrative setup will be  
established at UC Davis. More information on the transition will be  
sent out sometime in September or early October.

Gale Users Meeting Presentations, Animations Online

    * A two-day workshop held at Caltech provided advanced training  
in Gale use, capabilities, and code structure. The workshop was  
sponsored by the CIG Long-Term Tectonics Working Group and led by  
Walter Landry of CIG, with additional presentations by Steve Quenette  
and Louis Moresi of VPAC. See the presentations from the meeting  
along with some animations at http://geodynamics.org/cig/ 
workinggroups/long/workshops/gale-dev-mtg09

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Who to contact

Administration:
Mike Gurnis, (626) 395-1698
gurnis at caltech.edu

Benchmarking, Cigma, and visualization:
Luis Armendariz, (626) 395-1695
luis at geodynamics.org

Build procedure and computational seismology:
Leif Strand, (626) 395-1697
leif at geodynamics.org

CIG Administration, contracts, travel, etc.:
Ariel Shoresh, (626) 395-1699
ariel at geodynamics.org

Citcom and Mantle convection benchmarks:
Eh Tan, (626) 395-1693,
tan2 at geodynamics.org

Equation solvers (PETSc) and PyLith development:
Matt Knepley, knepley at mcs.anl.gov

Gale and Magma development:
Walter Landry, (626) 395-4621
walter at geodynamics.org

Software architecture and Pyre framework:
Michael Aivazis, (626) 395-1696
aivazis at caltech.edu

SVN software repository and systems administration:
Jan Lindheim
cig-help at geodynamics.org

Website and user manuals:
Sue Kientz, (626) 395-1694
sue at geodynamics.org

Science Steering Committee: contact Chair
Louise Kellogg (UC Davis),
kellogg at geology.ucdavis.edu

Executive Committee: contact Chair
Marc Spiegelman (Columbia),
mspieg at lamont.ldeo.columbia.edu

-- 
Sue Kientz

Technical Writer/Web Manager
Computational Infrastructure of Geodynamics (CIG)
    http://www.geodynamics.org/
sue at geodynamics.org
ofc: (626) 395-1694
    ~Metaphors Be With You~
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