Testing Moderately Parallel Environments for an Ocean Modeling Application

Abstract

Due to the high costs of accessing massively parallel and vector environments, as well as the overworking of high-performance computers, there is now a need for a different approach to parallel computing. The feasibility of ocean modeling in a moderately parallel environment is tested using a 2-D (vertically-integrated) ocean circulation model. The parallel algorithm is based on the Glenda message-passing software and follows the master-worker paradigm. It is evaluated on both internal and external communication environments. The numerical experiments show that the internal communication environment is only slightly more efficient than the external communication environment. This is due to a combination of shared memory problems in the internal communication environment and to inefficiencies in the message-passing software. The tests also demonstrate how efficiency depends on the domain sub-divisions. Most importantly, they show that both environments effectively outperform their sequential counterparts, reducing the program elapsed time, and offering quicker access to the model outputs. The parallel version provided a time-saving alternative to the sequential version of the same model on both internal and external communication platforms. This research supports the conclusion that both environments are a viable alternative to single-CPU machines and that moderately parallel environments are feasible computer platforms for ocean modeling applications.