We don’t know the answer, but we have done it at Pawsey!
On the 28th September, Pawsey Supercomputing Centre hosted its bi-monthly “Pawsey Friday”, a regular community event uniting researchers and technical staff. The event hosted over twenty attendees from multiple research institutions and universities such as CSIRO, the University of Western Australia and Edith Cowan University, who gathered to hear from Dr Ivica Janekovic, a specialist in physical oceanography at the University of Western Australia.
In his presentation, Dr Janekovic discussed numerical modelling in association with oceanography and illustrated how the use of supercomputers have contributed to the development of a high-resolution atmosphere-ocean coupled system for the coast of Western Australia. He explained that this apparatus can be used for a variety of purposes; to predict weather extremities, calculate ocean-atmosphere forecasts, and monitor surfing conditions. Dr Janekovic also briefly discussed 4D variational data assimilation, which is processed in Magnus, Pawsey flagship supercomputer.
Following this presentation, Mark Stickells, Pawsey’s Executive Director, provided attendees with a brief update, which included the Pawsey capability refresh and upcoming events, and also encouraged researchers to submit proposals for the 2019 supercomputing allocations.
Juan Carlos Guzman, Group Leader, CSIRO Astronomy & Space Science also briefly spoke about the new developments of the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder in Murchison. To conclude the event attendees took the opportunity to speak with technical staff, bridging the gap between consumers and providers.
In addition to “Pawsey Friday”, the centre held a tour for conference delegates attending the national “Australian Society of Archivists” convention in Perth hosted by David Schibeci, Pawsey’s Head of Supercomputing. Archivists from around Australia discovered the power of supercomputing and the science that it can enable. They left the Centre with enough information to champion Pawsey among the research communities they generally engage with.
In conclusion “Pawsey Friday”, in association with the Archivist tour, was a successful event that facilitated social connections within the wider community. The event has also introduced members of the public to supercomputing applications, demonstrating how data processes are applicable to personal operations. “Pawsey Friday” is held every second month at the Pawsey Supercomputing Centre.
Our next event is on the 22nd November from 3:00pm and it will feature Prof Dave Edwards, a bioinformatician from UWA, on his research about crop plant genomics. This event is free but registration is required.
Should you have any questions regarding the event, please contact pr@pawsey.org.au.
