Ryan Fraser (CSIRO), Lesley Wyborn (GA), Richard Chopping (GA), Terry Rankine (CSIRO), Robert Woodcock (CSIRO)

MINERALS DOWN UNDER

Virtual Geophysics Laboratory (VGL): Exploiting the Cloud and HPC

Scientific workflow – Virtual Geophysics Laboratory (VGL)

Scientific Workflow Engine (or Virtual Laboratory)Automates and massively expands (GA) Geophysicists computational capacity via the Cloud Amazon – EC2 / S3 (and others using this interface) OpenStack

Collaboration between CSIRO, GA, NCI, Monash, UQ, and ANUVGL is just a pretty face User Driven GUI Leverages data providers and cloud technologies to do all the heavy lifting

Non-Restrictive Open-source

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V(what)GL

VEGL – Virtual Exploration Geophysics Laboratory One primary science collaboration One primary workflow One collection of geophysical data sets

VGL - Virtual Geophysics Laboratory NeCTAR funded activity Collaboration with multiple partners (CSIRO, NCI, GA, UQ, Monash, ANU) Supporting multiple workflows New data sets New data types New Use – Not just exploration.

Done

Geophysics (as seen by a software dev)

Geophysics is taking physical measurements… Magnetism over an area Acceleration due to gravity over an area…Applying lots of mathematics……to infer the structure of what is under the surface…It is not geology Samples are never taken, only measurements

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Apply Mathematics

Raw data

But -- Where is all the ????

Our Geophysics Problem

Measurements coming from the field are ‘raw’ Varying spatial reference systems Noisy Artefacts from collection process

This data needs processing From raw data to a data product

Data products are valuable They will be re-used and referenced repeatedly

Processing is a time consuming process Made worse by a purely manual workflow

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The Past

Compile raw data using proprietary FORTRAN Also use software – IntrepidTransform to a regular grid using more software MATLAB, Intrepid, ER Mapper, ESRI ArcGIS, QGISCrop data spatially to suit final data product eg: everything in VictoriaTransform data into a file format that can be read by proprietary scientific code. This is usually done with some handwritten python or c There is no version control, code is often rewritten / redoneUpload data to HPC Manually enter input parameters/start job

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Hardcopy of data

SSH Client

MATLABIntrepid

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Let’s map it out…

Transform to a regular grid

Crop data to area of interest

Reformat data for processing

Upload data to NCI

Configure job and start

processing

Download results

Get handed field data Visualise data

There seems to be a problem…

Reproducibility – there is none• What was the input of your model?• What transformations occurred?It’s a manual process• Time consuming• Error proneExpensive • Licensing costs

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The Recent Past - Our solution

Virtual Exploration Geophysics Laboratory - http://siss1.anu.edu.au/VEGL-Portal

Provenance (“I hate this word”) All input data is saved and then published with the final data product

VEGL automates portions of the workflow Allowing scientists to focus on scienceBuilt entirely on open source tools No licensing costs

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11CLOUD

Data Discovery

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Data Selection

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Script Builder

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Job Monitoring

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Published provenance records

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From this…

Hardcopy of data

SSH Client

MATLABIntrepid

Transform to a regular grid

Crop data to area of interest

Reformat data for processing

Upload data to NCI

Configure job and start

processing

Download results

Get handed field data Visualise data

…to thisVirtual Geophysics Laboratory

Build “science” from existing

libraries

Run jobCollect and

publish results

Discover raw data

Select spatial bounds

VEGL – Point-of-View benefits

User:• Data all accessible in one place• Same science but MUCH more efficient• Bigger scale, quicker • Repeatability

Developer/Tech: Its concepts can be re-used for other scientific workflows It can produce actual scientific data products Is capable of integrating with any SISS (OGC) data provider The power lies with the underlying services, accessed using standardised

protocols

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NOW - Opportunities: Virtual Geophysics Laboratory

Collaboration with multiple partners – CSIRO, GA, NCI, Monash, UQ, ANU Supporting multiple workflows Model Registry (3D) New Scientific Codes – Underworld, eScript, UBC, Airborne EM inversion

codes New data sets from GA: National Airborne Geophysical DB including– Gravity, Radiometric, AEM, Magnetics

New Use – Broad application.

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Opportunities

Exploiting the generic Modularising the workflow for general scientific usage Repurposing for other use cases – nature hazards, climate prediction, etc Commercial uptake Integration with other VLs to achieve ultimate aim

•Supercomputing - Pawsey Centre, NCI •Cloud – NeCTAR, NCI and commercial providers

• NeCTAR VGL funded – opportunity to use and/or repurpose the platform for other uses

Thank you and for more information:

CSIRO Earth Science & Resource EngineeringRyan FraserProject Lead

Phone: +61 8 6436 8760Email: ryan.fraser@csiro.au

Web: www.csiro.ausiss.auscope.org

http://siss1.anu.edu.au/VEGL-Portal/

https://twiki.auscope.org/wiki/Grid/VEGLPortalDevelopment