This grant supports upgrade of the computing facilities in the Geophysical Computer Laboratory (GCL) at UC-Berkeley. The GCL supports researchers affiliated with the Berkeley Seismological Lab (BSL) and faculty and students in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences. Support will be used to purchase: tape backup libraries, multiple single CPU desktop workstations and multi-CPU servers dedicated for computation. The computational upgrade will support a range of NSF funded research including: global seismic tomography; seismic studies of lithospheric structure and earthquake physics; geodynamical modeling of mantle convection; modeling of the physical properties of volcanic magmas and eruptive processes; modeling of landscape evolution; and global climate system modeling. The equipment will support the research of over 5 faculty and approximately 30 graduate and 10 undergraduate students over the next five years. Research programs in earthquake source modeling, climate system dynamics and physical volcanological processes have implications for hazards mitigation and improved understanding of possible scenarios surrounding global climate change.
