Real-time ground motion simulation workflow

Abstract

Background and objective : QuakeCoRE developed the Ground Motion (GM) simulation workflow based on the Graves and Pitarka (2010, 2015) methodology, we have strived to deliver the simulation result in timely manner to increase the research throughput. Our effort has been made in two directions. Firstly we utilized high-performance computing (HPC) facility in partnership with New Zealand eScience Infrastructure (NeSI) to improve the computational capacity. Secondly we have incrementally refined the overall workflow, hence improved the computational efficiency. The importance of such an effort was highlighted by the 2016 Mw7.8 Kaikoura earthquake. While the timely simulation result obtained in the immediate aftermath of an event can be of tremendous value for scientific reconnaissance and civil defence response, our delivery was not responsive, taking 7 hours just to produce the inputs, followed by 2 days of actual computation. This motivated to acquire “Near Real-time” GM simulation capability. In this poster, we present how we carried out the comprehensive overhaul of the computational workflow to achieve this goal.