ACcESS: Australia's contribution to the iSERVO Institute's development

Solid earth systems simulation is now becoming feasible from the microscopic to the global scale. The ACES international cooperation has shown development of simulation capabilities for solid earth phenomena that are beyond the ability of a single group or country. Each country has different strengths, computational approaches, and laboratory and field observational systems. This range of numerical models is required to model the entire earth system, and calibration is required to ensure that results obtained using these models match with the different laboratory and field observations available in each country. For this reason, international groups have agreed to work toward establishing iSERVO to build the ACES cooperation. iSERVO aims to collaboratively develop a computational infrastructure - accessible through Web portals - that combines models developed across the international community and to conduct collaborative research to solve problems of global significance such as earthquake forecasting, green energy development, and environmental management. The new Australian Computational Earth Systems Simulator research facility provides a virtual laboratory for studying the solid Earth and its complex system behavior. The facility's capabilities complement those developed by overseas groups, thereby creating the infrastructure for an international computational solid earth research virtual observatory.