The second phase of the ChEESE project is underway. The potential of High Performance Calculation at the service of emergencies and the estimation of the danger of earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis.
Is born ChEESE-2P, a project to address challenges in the field of geosciences in support of civil protection actions at European level and based on the help of super-computers to exascale, very fast computers that make it possible provide "urgent calculation" services during emergencies, early warning (early warning), and assessment of the hazards of relevant geological events. For exascale computing we mean the use of supercomputers capable of processing up to a billion billion mathematical operations per second: a real scientific and technological challenge.
ChEESE-2P represents the second phase of the ChEESE project, a Center of Excellence for the use of Exascale Computation in Solid Earth Sciences, during which were successfully developed and upgraded codes and procedures to provide operational risk mitigation products.
The current project is coordinated by the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and will be financed by the European Commission and the funds of the 10 participating countries with approximately 8 million euros.
ChEESE-2P covers the earth science disciplines: seismology, tsunami study, magnetohydrodynamics, physical volcanology, geodynamics and glaciology. Among the different methodologies used in the project to achieve its purposes they are used seismic tomography, artificial intelligence, numerical simulation of the phenomena studied, and uncertainty quantification.
«The continuation of the ChEESE initiative will further enhance the capabilities of the European Solid Earth community, enabling scientists to enable services related to urgent calculation, early warning, risk assessment, which can be used by European civil protections" explains Arnau Folch, Professor of the CSIC and coordinator of the project. The impact of the initiative has allowed a winning synergy between research in the geosciences and that of High Performance Computing (High-Performance Computing, HPC) giving life, among other things, to further European projects such as DT-GEO (Digital Twin for GEOphysical Extremes), which is creating a "digital twin" for natural hazards in the context of the European initiative Destination Earth.
The ChEESE-2P project involves European academic and industrial partners at an international level such as BullAtos, Barcelona Supercomputing Center, Center National de la Recherche Scientifique, CINECA, CSC - Tieteen Tietotekniikan Keskus Oy, National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV), Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, Johannes Gutenberg-Universitat Mainz, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich, Ruder Boskovic Institute, Sorbonne Universite, Stiftelsen Norges Geotekniske Institutt, Technical University of Munich, Universidad de Málaga, Universität Stuttgart and Vedurstofa Islands.
"Implementing ChEESE in real operating environments has demonstrated that our developments can have a direct impact on the lives of people affected by natural disasters"Folch concludes.
More information can be found at
picture 1 - Maximum wave height for a simulation of the tsunami generated by the 1755 Lisbon earthquake.
picture 2 - Example of simulation carried out with one of the ChEESE flag codes (ASHEE) for a Plinian eruption of Vesuvius, similar to that of 79 AD which destroyed Pompeii. The simulated 3D eruptive column is shown; the isolines and the color scale at sea level indicate the ash load (in kg/m2) accumulated on the ground two and a quarter hours after the start of the eruption. The view is from the North West to the South East (note the Sorrentine peninsula in relief).
GALLERY - ChEESE comprises 16 European research and technology organisations.