The Arctic Region Supercomputing Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks is built on a solid legacy of performance. ARSC has continually demonstrated its significance as a valuable resource for the University, the State of Alaska and the U.S. Department of Defense. ARSC supports the computational requirements of DoD research and development with unique, pioneering, open research systems for high-performance computing users. As an allocated distributed center under the DoD’s High Performance Computing Modernization Program (HPCMP), ARSC has met or exceeded performance as measured by HPCMP metrics.
As a University of Alaska Fairbanks research center, ARSC benefits both the DoD and UAF by advancing and enhancing research, academic computing and military interests. Returns on investment to the University and the State of Alaska go far beyond the high performance computing resources ARSC provides. This includes support for research of interest to both the University and the State; a full range of computational, data and visualization systems available to faculty, staff and students; network capacity and technology for enhanced use of networking in sciences and engineering, as well as art and music; support of undergraduate and graduate students; and outreach to people in Alaska that attracts interest in computing technology, computational science and University programs.
ARSC has distinguished itself as a polar pioneer in high-performance computing and data storage capabilities. Located in North America’s only Arctic state, ARSC is a leader in supporting scientific analysis and research of polar regions that have global implications. Using the resources of ARSC, accurate and reliable models help predict tsunami wave action and ocean circulation, provide daily weather forecasts and anticipate the path of volcanic ash clouds, as well as help scientists predict space weather to reduce risks to ground-based communications systems.
ARSC's staff includes scientific specialists and scientific generalists who can provide in-depth assistance for computationally based research. ARSC scientific staff members are involved in research partnerships on campus, frequently engaging in joint research ventures including grant seeking and publication, as well as mentoring graduate and undergraduate students.
Through targeted investments and partnerships, ARSC has gained a strong international reputation for leadership in the use of hardware acceleration technology for high performance computing. ARSC is a founding member of the NSF-supported Center for High Performance Reconfigurable Computing, and has led the way in investigating accelerator technologies. These advanced technologies include reconfigurable computing hardware, special purpose hardware and new programming languages.
ARSC has long been recognized as a leader in providing detailed documentation and support for computational science. One aspect of this leadership is providing early adoption and assessment of software tools.
An example of leading-edge adoption of software technology is the MATLAB Distributed Computing Toolkit (DCT). ARSC brought MATLAB trainers for DCT to campus, offering the first ever public classes. MATLAB allows ARSC to offer a "right sized" approach to computation, from desktop workstations to world-class supercomputers.
ARSC's petabyte-scale (a quadrillion bytes) of storage and its Defense Research and Engineer Network (DREN) connection are requisite to data-intensive activities. One example of this activity is use by researchers and scientist who utilize ARSC's storage infrastructure to maintain backups of critical data. The UAF Rasmuson Library's digital archives take this approach, as do numerous individual researchers.
ARSC has implemented custom solutions to provide external access to data. For example, the Geographic Information Network of Alaska (GINA) uploads large collections of satellite imagery to ARSC's storage servers for safekeeping and rapid access. GINA ties its Web server to ARSC's storage system over a private network, so that external GINA users can have transparent and swift access to the imagery.
ARSC has been instrumental in bringing together a community of students and researchers interested in the Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF). The new ARSC weather server, weather.arsc.edu, provides ready access for the Fairbanks office of the National Weather Service, the Alaska Ocean Observing System, and the Alaska Volcano Observatory, as a valuable tool to meet each organization’s operational forecasting needs. ARSC provides a twice-daily weather model run of the Alaska region, as well as individualized runs for targeted areas (such as the Augustine Volcano). Compared to WRF runs from NOAA, the ARSC runs are higher resolution and have more Alaska-specific run-time parameters.
ARSC is an ardent supporter of computational science activity to investigate arctic climate and other arctic systems. More than 1 million CPU-hours per year have been pledged on ARSC’s new supercomputer cluster to support UAF-led earth systems research. Allied efforts come from existing large projects in oceanography, climate studies and sea ice.
ARSC employs more than 60 full time staff members and funds approximately 15 additional researchers as part-time students, faculty and staff. The high quality of ARSC employee performance and knowledge is recognized nationally and internationally. ARSC’s maintains a very significant, national presence by holding the top leadership positions in national and international organizations including the Coalition for Academic Scientific Computation, SC06 (Supercomputing Conference), the Cray User Group, the IBM Big System User Group (SP-XXL), and the Open Grid Forum (OGF).
Arctic Region Supercomputing Center
PO
Box 756020, Fairbanks, AK 99775 | voice: 907-450-8600 | email: 
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