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Title: On the scalability of the Albany/FELIX first-order Stokes approximation ice sheet solver for large-scale simulations of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets

Abstract

We examine the scalability of the recently developed Albany/FELIX finite-element based code for the first-order Stokes momentum balance equations for ice flow. We focus our analysis on the performance of two possible preconditioners for the iterative solution of the sparse linear systems that arise from the discretization of the governing equations: (1) a preconditioner based on the incomplete LU (ILU) factorization, and (2) a recently-developed algebraic multigrid (AMG) preconditioner, constructed using the idea of semi-coarsening. A strong scalability study on a realistic, high resolution Greenland ice sheet problem reveals that, for a given number of processor cores, the AMG preconditioner results in faster linear solve times but the ILU preconditioner exhibits better scalability. In addition, a weak scalability study is performed on a realistic, moderate resolution Antarctic ice sheet problem, a substantial fraction of which contains floating ice shelves, making it fundamentally different from the Greenland ice sheet problem. We show that as the problem size increases, the performance of the ILU preconditioner deteriorates whereas the AMG preconditioner maintains scalability. This is because the linear systems are extremely ill-conditioned in the presence of floating ice shelves, and the ill-conditioning has a greater negative effect on the ILU preconditioner than onmore » the AMG preconditioner.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [3]
  1. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-CA), Livermore, CA (United States)
  2. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
  3. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), Albuquerque, NM, and Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
1201743
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1214669; OSTI ID: 1214670
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC04-94AL85000; AC52-06NA25396
Resource Type:
Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Procedia Computer Science
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 51; Journal Issue: C; Journal ID: ISSN 1877-0509
Publisher:
Elsevier
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; 97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING; ice sheet model; first-order Stokes approximation; finite element method; scalability; ILU preconditioner; algebraic multigrid (AMG) preconditioner; semi-coarsening; Greenland; Antarctica; Algebraic multigrid (AMG) preconditioner

Citation Formats

Tezaur, Irina K., Tuminaro, Raymond S., Perego, Mauro, Salinger, Andrew G., and Price, Stephen F. On the scalability of the Albany/FELIX first-order Stokes approximation ice sheet solver for large-scale simulations of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. United States: N. p., 2015. Web. doi:10.1016/j.procs.2015.05.467.
Tezaur, Irina K., Tuminaro, Raymond S., Perego, Mauro, Salinger, Andrew G., & Price, Stephen F. On the scalability of the Albany/FELIX first-order Stokes approximation ice sheet solver for large-scale simulations of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2015.05.467
Tezaur, Irina K., Tuminaro, Raymond S., Perego, Mauro, Salinger, Andrew G., and Price, Stephen F. 2015. "On the scalability of the Albany/FELIX first-order Stokes approximation ice sheet solver for large-scale simulations of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets". United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2015.05.467. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1201743.
@article{osti_1201743,
title = {On the scalability of the Albany/FELIX first-order Stokes approximation ice sheet solver for large-scale simulations of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets},
author = {Tezaur, Irina K. and Tuminaro, Raymond S. and Perego, Mauro and Salinger, Andrew G. and Price, Stephen F.},
abstractNote = {We examine the scalability of the recently developed Albany/FELIX finite-element based code for the first-order Stokes momentum balance equations for ice flow. We focus our analysis on the performance of two possible preconditioners for the iterative solution of the sparse linear systems that arise from the discretization of the governing equations: (1) a preconditioner based on the incomplete LU (ILU) factorization, and (2) a recently-developed algebraic multigrid (AMG) preconditioner, constructed using the idea of semi-coarsening. A strong scalability study on a realistic, high resolution Greenland ice sheet problem reveals that, for a given number of processor cores, the AMG preconditioner results in faster linear solve times but the ILU preconditioner exhibits better scalability. In addition, a weak scalability study is performed on a realistic, moderate resolution Antarctic ice sheet problem, a substantial fraction of which contains floating ice shelves, making it fundamentally different from the Greenland ice sheet problem. We show that as the problem size increases, the performance of the ILU preconditioner deteriorates whereas the AMG preconditioner maintains scalability. This is because the linear systems are extremely ill-conditioned in the presence of floating ice shelves, and the ill-conditioning has a greater negative effect on the ILU preconditioner than on the AMG preconditioner.},
doi = {10.1016/j.procs.2015.05.467},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1201743}, journal = {Procedia Computer Science},
issn = {1877-0509},
number = C,
volume = 51,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2015},
month = {Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2015}
}

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Cited by: 10 works
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Works referenced in this record:

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journal, January 2010


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Enhanced basal lubrication and the contribution of the Greenland ice sheet to future sea-level rise
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Works referencing / citing this record:

MPAS-Albany Land Ice (MALI): a variable-resolution ice sheet model for Earth system modeling using Voronoi grids
journal, January 2018


A Study on the Performance Portability of the Finite Element Assembly Process Within the Albany Land Ice Solver
book, February 2020


LIVVkit 2.1: automated and extensible ice sheet model validation
journal, January 2019


Progress in Fast, Accurate Multi-scale Climate Simulations
journal, January 2015


Optimal numerical solvers for transient simulations of ice flow using the Ice Sheet System Model (ISSM versions 4.2.5 and 4.11)
journal, January 2017


An ice sheet model validation framework for the Greenland ice sheet
journal, January 2017