CACR Takes Delivery of Parallel Computing Facility

Christmas came a second time for the numerical modelers in the Center for Applied Coastal Research (CACR) on January 27, with the arrival of the Center's second Beowulf cluster. Support for the purchase of the system was provided by a $142,000 award from ONR through the DURIP (Defense University Research Instrumentation Program), awarded to CACR members Jim Kirby and Fengyan Shi, along with Denny Kirwan and Bruce Lipphardt in the College of Marine Studies.

The system's 13 coupled nodes provide 84 Opteron processors, over 250 GB of RAM, and 12 TB of disk storage, and will be used in ongoing studies of wave processes, circulation, and sediment transport at coastal, estuary/shelf, and global scales. The system is installed in the University's main machine room on Chapel Street, where it joins the Center's existing system. Both systems are available for use by researchers and students in the Center and collaborating institutions.