NSF NCAR allocations¶

NSF NCAR’s portion of the Derecho system amounts to 31% of both the CPU and GPU partitions. This percentage translates to roughly 825 million core-hours and 855,000 GPU-hours per year for NSF NCAR-led activities. These activities span large-scale efforts targeting NSF NCAR strategic efforts, smaller-scale lab-prioritized work and collaborations, and externally funded projects.

Allocation categories¶

Four categories of allocations are available to NSF NCAR researchers, with the resources available as outlined in the following table. Descriptions and instructions for how to request projects for each category follow on this page. Projects with NSF NCAR visitors or university-based collaborators are eligible to use or make requests for all four categories of NSF NCAR allocations. See NSF NCAR and university collaborations below.

* These values may vary depending on external awards received.*

NCAR Strategic Capability (NSC) projects¶

NCAR Strategic Capability (NSC) allocations target large-scale projects lasting one year to a few years (but not indefinitely long) that align with NSF NCAR’s scientific priorities and strategic plans. These large-scale, high-priority projects are subject to review of their scientific merit, strategic importance, technical readiness, and broader impact.

Because of the short-term nature of NSC projects, the Campaign Storage needs of NSC projects need to be handled within the Campaign Storage allocations made to the NSF NCAR labs.

See the NSC Projects page for details, including the next deadline for submitting requests.

NSF NCAR Lab Allocations¶

The NSF NCAR labs receive allocations to support lab-driven activities and priorities. The lab-level amounts are managed by each lab through an allocations representative who serves as the primary lab point of contact with CISL. The annual allocations are assumed to remain at the same levels while a system is in production. However, a member of the NSF NCAR Executive Committee (EC) can request that the lab allocations be reviewed and potentially revised or adjusted due to changes in lab needs or priorities. The EC member should initiate this process at an EC meeting, which will determine the timeline and process for considering the request.

Within the lab-level allocations, the labs allocate resources according to their strategic priorities. They are expected to accommodate small- to medium-sized activities within these locally managed allocations, including joint work with collaborators, regularly scheduled workshops and training activities, preparatory work for larger-scale projects, and work by visiting, postdoctoral, or graduate student researchers. (NSF NCAR short-term visitors also may apply for university allocations if they meet all necessary eligibility requirements.)

The only reporting requirements for lab allocations are acknowledgement of NSF NCAR's copmuting resources in relevant publications, and for those publications to be included in the OpenSky repository.

The NSF NCAR labs also receive allocations for analysis and visualization resource use and Campaign Storage space. Storage space requests and allocations are constrained by the growth supported by the CISL budget for system expansion. Within these constraints, NSF NCAR labs and NSC projects will have to make trade-offs and data management decisions, especially when considering storage of data that are generated on resources outside of CISL.

NSF NCAR External Projects¶

NSF NCAR projects supported by a funding award separate from NSF NCAR base funding may request an External Project allocation to support the computational work necessary to accomplish the objectives of the award.

Small allocations of up to 2 million core-hours can be granted as soon as the external award begins and last through the end of the external award. Requests can be submitted via the Allocations section of the ARC Portal. No proposal document is required, but you will need to provide basic project information (title, abstract) and details of the supporting grant.

For larger allocation amounts in support of external awards, researchers are expected to submit requests to the next available NSC proposal opportunity for review. In these cases, the work is deemed to have been confirmed strategic through the proposal process, but the computational plan, alignment with science objectives, and estimated resource costs will be reviewed. If the semi-annual NSC opportunities do not align well with the award timing, contact alloc@ucar.edu to discuss options.

Note that the annual amounts available to External Projects in the table above are tentative and can expand as external grants are awarded. Core-hours or GPU-hours will be shifted from the NSC pool as needed to accommodate externally funded projects.

NSF NCAR policies and guidelines for co-sponsorship are not affected by these allocation policies. Co-sponsorship remains a transaction between a lab and the proposer, and the process is monitored by UCAR Budget and Planning and PACUR. The UCAR B&P office has approved rates for use in the proposal process.

NSF NCAR Director's Reserve¶

The NSF NCAR Director’s Reserve resources are disbursed at the discretion of the NSF NCAR director and is designed to accommodate work that does not fit within any other allocation mechanism.

Director’s Reserve requests must meet the following two criteria:

1. The project should have clear relevance to the NSF NCAR mission or strategic priorities.
2. The project will be completed in less than one year and should not be an ongoing or recurring activity.

Reserve requests should also meet at least some of the following six criteria:

1. The work or project lead does not meet the eligibility criteria for other allocation mechanisms (for example, the work is led by collaborators at or supported by non-NSF agencies or labs).
2. The project has come up unexpectedly and has an urgency that cannot be accommodated by other allocation options (for example, simulations related to an ongoing wildfire, oil spill, or storm).
3. The work has tangible benefits to NSF NCAR as a whole that do not serve as valued criteria for other allocation opportunities (for example, educational, public outreach/service, political).
4. The work cannot be accommodated within the relevant NSF NCAR Lab Allocation but has the backing of the NSF NCAR lab leadership. “Matching” allocations are encouraged. That is, the Director’s Reserve allocation will be matched by support from an NSF NCAR Lab Allocation.
5. The work involves collaborators from multiple NSF NCAR labs or multiple organizations or institutions outside of NSF NCAR. (Note that a request that meets only this criterion is unlikely to merit a Director’s Reserve allocation; typically, other criteria also must be met.)

Projects that may be suitable for an NSC allocation but that cannot wait until the next NSC round can request a startup allocation from the Director’s Reserve; such requests still must explain why they satisfy the criteria for a Director’s Reserve allocation.

To request a Director’s Reserve allocation, the NSF NCAR Lab Allocation administrator should submit a brief write-up (approximately one page) from the prospective project lead that describes the project to be conducted and its computing requirements. The NSF NCAR Lab Allocation administrator should include a statement describing why the work should be considered for a Director’s Reserve allocation. The request should be submitted to alloc@ucar.edu.

Director’s Reserve requests are reviewed as they are submitted, and decisions generally are made within a few days.

NSF NCAR and university collaborations¶

NSF NCAR computational and storage resources are shared among several allocation “facilities,” including the NSF NCAR Community and University community. NSF NCAR and CISL are responsible for maintaining the appropriate balance across the several communities.

To support this NSF NCAR/University balance, we offer the following guidelines for appropriate use of the NSF NCAR and university resource pools.

• NSF NCAR visitors (visiting scientists, post-docs, and so on) who are not permanent UCAR staff are eligible to apply for University allocations, subject to the eligibility policies for university allocations.
• UCAR/UCP (that is, non-NSF NCAR) permanent staff may request University allocations, subject to the university eligibility policies.
• NSF NCAR Labs and NSC projects may choose to allow visitors and collaborators to use those allocations as part of collaborative projects.
• For joint University/NSF NCAR work in which permanent NSF NCAR staff will be responsible for a significant amount of computational usage or a significant fraction of the project’s total computational work, the preferred approach is for NSF NCAR staff to request the necessary resources from the NSF NCAR pool, while the university researchers request the necessary resources for their activities from the university pool.
• A university principal investigator with a University allocation in support of an NSF award may elect to permit an NSF NCAR collaborator on that award to access an incidental amount of the awarded allocation in support of the collaboration.
• NSF NCAR staff may apply for a University educational/classroom allocation in support of a training activity or workshop that has substantial participation from the university community.