This project deals with the very challenging problem of the generation of the Earth's magnetic field. The P.I.s will adopt a dual strategy in which the computer hardware and software are each specifically designed to function together at peak efficiency. In particular, the hardware will consist of a 144 processor Beowulf PC-cluster, yielding an estimated peak sustained performance of 100 Gflops - competitive with high-performance National Supercomputer Center machines, but at a fraction of the cost. To take full advantage of such a cluster, the software under consideration must be easily and efficiently parallelizable. The P.I. will derive the software from a finite element mantle convection code that is already fully parallelized, and already runs at high parallel efficiency on precisely such Beowulf clusters. Much of the conversion from mantle to core convection has already been done, with no loss in parallel efficiency. ***
