Wouldn't it be great if we had the expertise to solve the problem
of coastal erosion? If we could know where a hurricane's storm
surge is going to go when it hits land? If we were able to determine
a hurricane's path early on and respond accordingly?
That post-Katrina/Rita future may not be now, but it's well on its way.
For that, we can, in large part, thank LONI-the Louisiana Optical Network Initiative and the capabilities it will infuse in the computer modeling of the State's university researchers, according to Dr. Edward Seidel, Director, Louisiana State University and
A&M College (LSU) Center for Computation and Technology.
"Supercomputers that will give Louisiana unprecedented capabilities more computer power per capita than every nation in the world except the U.S. are already being deployed across the State," he said. "With them, we can harness local and national expertise to develop forecasting models focused on solving such problems as hurricanes and coastal erosion."
He noted that three of LONI's high performance "grid" computers that will initially interconnect mainframe computers at Louisiana's major research universities are in place at LSU, Louisiana Tech University, and Tulane University. Those earmarked for Southern University and A&M College, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and University of New Orleans are next in line for delivery.
LONI will also connect the institutions to the National LambdaRail, a grid-computing network for major research universities across the nation that is expected to have the same effect on the nation's technological development as the interstate highway system has had on interstate commerce.
Noting that in prior eras, research was often conducted in isolation, Dr. Seidel, an internationally renowned scientist, stressed the need for researchers to link with one another. "In modeling for hurricanes or coastal erosion we need to build collaborations and links with other researchers to help develop, embed and respond to the data as a whole in order to make comprehensive, important predictions. Researchers around the world are very interested in helping solve these problems."
Examples of national/international collaborative projects of importance to local regions that he suggested to the audience of more than 330 attending the Board of Regents/Louisiana EPSCoR-sponsored Forum, included the Southern California Earthquake Center, Massachusetts Biotechnology Center of Excellence, and the National Hurricane Center in Florida.
As an example of the unintended results of failing to address a disaster as a whole entity pre-, during, and after -- Dr. Seidel cited the 1927 Mississippi Flood, which resulted in levees being built by the federal government that in turn resulted in the loss of Louisiana's wetlands.
"Behind Katrina, in just two short days, Louisiana lost as much of its coast as it normally does in six months," said Dr. Seidel. "The interaction of hurricanes and coastal erosion is very complicated. There is a quantitative answer that requires sufficient computer power to make predictions. But if we can model it, we can more reliably predict it.
"With Katrina, five days in advance, there was almost no clue regarding where it was going to hit. We need to develop longer projections that we know are reliable; we need to correct our models as we receive the data in real time. The kind of waves developed by a hurricane, for instance, depend on what they are going to first hit. With real-time data, we can plan and respond accordingly.
"With our network of supercomputers we will be able to forecast a day of resolution in one hour and run models of all scenarios. Give us the experts and the means to communicate and we can develop world leadership in technology."
The Forum's Information Sciences Discussion Group, which agreed with the need to link Louisiana investigators to researchers throughout the State, nation and world, identified LONI as the fundamental enabler that will help anchor collaborations.
A working group was formed, names and e-mails exchanged and plans were made to generate a report that could lead to a white paper and/or a regional/national information technologies center. The dual missions of the proposed center: emergency responses before, during and following an emergency, and comprehensive modeling addressing both short and long-term issues.
Publish Date:
05-09-2006
