Robert Wilhelmson
Numerical Simulations of Supercells and Embedded Tornadoes
(baae)Nov 2015 - Dec 2016
Numerical Simulations of Supercells and Embedded Tornadoes
(jpo)Nov 2014 - Oct 2015
Understanding Tornadoes and Their Parent Supercells Through Ultra-High Resolution Simulation/Analysis
(jmn)Jun 2013 - Oct 2013
2017
2016
2018
2016
2015
Blue Waters Symposium 2016, Jun 13, 2016
Blue Waters Symposium 2015, May 12, 2015
Leigh Orf, R. Wilhelmson, and L. Wicker: Visualization of a Simulated Long-Track EF5 Tornado Embedded Within a Supercell Thunderstorm
Scientific Visualization & Data Analytics Showcase at the International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage and Analysis (SC '14); New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.A., Nov 19, 2014
Leigh Orf, R. Wilhelmson, L. Wicker, B. Lee, and C. Finley: Genesis and Maintenance of a Long-Track EF5 Tornado Embedded within a Simulated Supercell
The American Meteorological Society 27th Conference on Severe Local Storms; Madison, Wisconsin, U.S.A., Nov 3, 2014
Leigh Orf: Numerical Simulations of Supercells and Embedded Tornadoes
Blue Waters Symposium 2014, May 13, 2014
Leigh Orf and R. Wilhelmson and L. J. Wicker: A Numerical Simulation of a Long-Track EF5 Tornado Embedded Within a Supercell
American Meteorological Society Special Symposium on Severe Local Storms: The Current State of the Science and Understanding Impacts Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A., Feb 5, 2014
CMU meteorologist shares expertise at National Center for Supercomputing Applications
Apr 13, 2015
Central Michigan University meteorologist Leigh Orf was one of four researchers nationwide, selected from among 200 teams, invited to speak at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications conference celebrating the second birthday of its Blue Waters supercomputer. Blue Waters is one of the most powerful supercomputers in the world. Orf and his research team used Blue Waters to create a first-of-its-kind, spectacular 3-D simulation of a long-track EF5 tornado and the supercell thunderstorm that spawned it.
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Celebrating Blue Waters
Apr 7, 2015
On April 6, U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL) convened a celebration in honor of the second birthday of NCSA’s Blue Waters supercomputer, which is used by scientists and engineers across the country to tackle challenging research for the benefit of science and society. In kicking off the event, Kirk highlighted the importance of Blue Waters—and of continuing investment in high-performance computing. ... A panel of Blue Waters users—four from among the 200 teams across the country that have used the system—then briefly described how the supercomputer accelerates their research:
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18 general, 9 exploratory allocations on Blue Waters awarded to Illinois researchers
Nov 24, 2014
Eighteen researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign received allocations on the Blue Waters petascale supercomputer at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA). A portion of available time on Blue Waters is reserved for University faculty and staff projects like these that require the system’s unique capabilities. Ten of the awards will continue projects already running on Blue Waters, related to a wide variety of topics like tornadoes, steel casting, and cell function, among others. Eight allocations are for new projects.
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Breakthrough simulation: A supercell producing a long-track EF5 tornado
Jun 18, 2014
Long-track EF5 tornadoes, like the one that touched down in 2011 in Joplin, Missouri, US, are the longest-lived and most destructive of their kind. Most have wind speeds that reach more than 200 miles (322 kilometers) per hour and create major devastation. These tornadoes are also the most rare, which makes studying them all the more difficult. Using Blue Waters at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois, US, scientists have created the first simulation of a long-track EF5 tornado — including the supercell thunderstorm that spawned the tornado.
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Modeling Mother Nature
Jul 9, 2013
What occurs within a thunderstorm that leads to the formation of destructive weather events such as tornadoes and downbursts? Leigh Orf of Central Michigan University, NCSA’s Robert Wilhelmson, and Eric Savory of the University of Western Ontario are utilizing an idealized cloud model designed specifically for massively parallel architectures (CM1) to model storms and hoping that advances in supercomputing power will bring them closer to answers.
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Advances in Computational Research Transform Scientific Process and Discovery
Mar 25, 2013
Not every scientific discovery originates in the lab, or from the field. Scientists increasingly are turning to powerful new computers to perform calculations they couldn't do with earlier generation machines, and at breathtaking speed, resulting in groundbreaking computational insights across a range of research fields. .... Last October, NSF inaugurated Yellowstone, one of the world's most powerful computers, based at NCAR in Cheyenne, Wyo., and later this month will dedicate two additional supercomputers, Blue Waters, located at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Stampede, headquartered at the Texas Advanced Computing Center 9TACC) at The University of Texas at Austin. ... "The computer is excellent in permitting us to test a hypothesis," says Klaus Schulten, a professor of physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, who uses large-scale computing to study the molecular assembly of biological cells, most recently HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. "But if you want to test a hypothesis, you need to have a hypothesis."
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4 more research groups using Blue Waters Early Science System
May 21, 2012
Four additional research teams have begun using the first phase of the Blue Waters sustained-petascale supercomputer to tackle challenging problems in science and engineering. They join six research groups that began using the system in March. The Blue Waters Early Science System, which is made up of 48 Cray XE6 cabinets, represents about 15 percent of the total Blue Waters computational system and is currently the most powerful computing resource available through the National Science Foundation.
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When tornadoes attack
Apr 6, 2010
In many ways, tornadoes remain a mystery. While their powerful winds can leave broad swaths of devastation—damaged and destroyed homes and businesses, injuries and fatalities—twisters are a challenge for atmospheric scientists to study. It's difficult (not to mention hazardous) to be in the exact right place at the precisely the right time to see one in action, and models that capture all of the critical small-scale details within a dynamic storm system are computationally demanding. That's where the sustained-petaflop Blue Waters supercomputer comes into the picture. The University of Illinois' Bob Wilhelmson is the principal investigator for a Petascale Computing Resource Allocation project.
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What will scientists do with Blue Waters?
Dec 9, 2009
Many scientists are working now with the Blue Waters team so they are ready to use the massive sustained-petaflop supercomputer when it comes online in 2011. These teams will use Blue Waters to improve our understanding of tornadoes, earthquakes, the spread of contagious diseases, the formation of galaxies, the behavior of molecules and more.
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