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Scientific visualizations: Video | Images Photos: Supercomputer & facility
Scientific Visualizations Using Supercomputing - Video
Coupled Weather-Fire Simulation of the Esperanza Wildfire. This fire-behavior simulation reproduces the October 2006 Esperanza Fire near Cabazon, California. For description and credits please see the YouTube description. (©UCAR. This video is freely available for media & nonprofit use.)
Intense Storm Observed during the ERICA Field Campaign. The low-pressure center modeled here, called an extratropical cyclone, was observed over the central North Atlantic Ocean in early January 1989. For description and credits please see the YouTube description. (©UCAR. This video is freely available for media & nonprofit use.)
Solar Magnetic "Tornado." Computer modeling based on a discovery made in 2012. A virtual camera travels around, above, and into a funnel of rotating solar magnetism. For description and credits please see the YouTube description. (©UCAR. This video is freely available for media & nonprofit use.)
Scientific Visualizations Using Supercomputing - Images
Sunspot visualization. The interface between a sunspot's umbra (dark center) and penumbra (lighter outer region) shows a complex structure with narrow, almost horizontal (lighter to white) filaments embedded in a background having a more vertical (darker to black) magnetic field. Farther out, extended patches of horizontal field dominate. In a first, NCAR scientists and colleagues modeled this complex structure in a comprehensive 3D computer simulation, giving scientists an unprecedented glimpse below the visible surface to understand a sunspot's underlying physical processes. more about this study > (©UCAR, image courtesy Matthias Rempel, NCAR.)
Earth’s climate system. This image depicts a single month from a simulation of the 20th century by the NCAR-based Community Climate System Model (version 4). The CCSM4 is one of the world’s most powerful computer models for simulating the complex interactions of Earth’s climate system, including the atmosphere, oceans, sea ice, and land surface. This image captures wind directions, ocean surface temperatures, and sea ice concentrations. (©UCAR, image courtesy Gary Strand, NCAR.)
Photos of the NWSC: Supercomputer and facility
A fish-eye view of some of the Yellowstone supercomputer's 100 racks. An iconic scene from Yellowstone National Park is featured mosaic-style on the ends of each rack. The image by Michael Medford, licensed to National Geographic, shows Fountain Geyser. (©UCAR. Photo by Carlye Calvin. This image is freely available for media & nonprofit use.)
Side view of some of the Yellowstone supercomputer's 100 racks. An iconic scene from Yellowstone National Park is featured mosaic-style on the ends of each rack. The image by Michael Medford, licensed to National Geographic, centers on Fountain Geyser. (©UCAR. Photo by Carlye Calvin. This image is freely available for media & nonprofit use.)
The building housing the NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center in Cheyenne, Wyoming, officially opened on October 15, 2012. (©UCAR. Photo by Carlye Calvin. This image is freely available for media & nonprofit use.)
The NWSC visitor center features views of the Yellowstone system and five stations scattered throughout the lobby that explore the many facets of supercomputing and related science. (©UCAR. Photo by Carlye Calvin. This image is freely available for media & nonprofit use.)
Housed in a set of 100 interconnected cabinets, the Yellowstone system includes more than 70,000 processors, as well as high-performance bandwidth, memory, and visualization functions to transmit, store, and view the results. (©UCAR. Photo by Carlye Calvin. This image is freely available for media & nonprofit use.)
Over a dozen miles of cable permit Yellowstone's tens of thousands of processors and other key components to interact with each other. (©UCAR. Photo by Carlye Calvin. This image is freely available for media & nonprofit use.)
Beneath the floor of the supercomputing rooms lies a vast, 10-foot high utility space, the key to the facility’s flexible, energy efficient design. The electrical supply and cooling systems, including the fans at right in this photo, can be positioned and controlled for optimal energy use, and air can be circulated as needed to computing systems and servers. (©UCAR. Photo by Carlye Calvin. This image is freely available for media & nonprofit use.)
Some of the NWSC's complex mechanical systems, which were designed with performance, flexibility, and energy efficiency in mind. (©UCAR. Photo by Carlye Calvin. This image is freely available for media & nonprofit use.)