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Remote data processing inside the ASPECT analysis tool
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  • Kodi Neumiller,
  • James Gallagher,
  • Emmanuel Njinju,
  • D. Sarah Stamps
Kodi Neumiller
OPeNDAP

Corresponding Author:kneumiller@opendap.org

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James Gallagher
OPeNDAP
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Emmanuel Njinju
Virginia Tech
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D. Sarah Stamps
Virginia Tech
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Abstract

ASPECT (Advanced Solver for Problems in Earth’s ConvecTion) is an analysis tool that simulates convection in the Earth’s mantle and other planets. The BALTO project has extended the ASPECT software so it can read data used to perform the simulations from the BALTO brokering server. These additions to the ASPECT codebase allow data to be remotely accessed and then processed as if the data were stored on the user’s local computer. The additions to ASPECT can be split into two distinct sections: a URL reader and a netCDF reader/translator. The URL reader uses the Data Access Protocol (DAP) to access remote data from supported web servers. Data values are transferred from the BALTO broker and converted within the URL reader plugin to match the format that is expected by the rest of the ASPECT code. Similarly, the netCDF plugin reads data stored using netCDF from the BALTO broker and transforms these data into the sph file format required by ASPECT to perform global mantle convection. The netCDF plugin can use either local or remote data. Once the NetCDF data are read, the plugin combines and formats the required variables (longitude, latitude, seismic velocity, and depth). These newly formatted values are then converted into the sph internal representation to be used as spherical harmonic data by ASPECT. The conversion and processing of data all takes place within the ASPECT program. Both plugins have been integrated to allow the user to lookup remote data in a seamless fashion and broaden the types of data that can be requested by the user.