Toward Automated Precision Tuning of Weather and Climate Models: A Case Study

Jackson Vanover, Alper Altuntas, Cindy Rubio-Gonzalez

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

Floating-point precision tuning (FPPT) searches target programs for computations amenable to reduced-precision, thereby trading accuracy for performance. FPPT does so by searching the mixed-precision design space for program variants maximizing performance constrained by some correctness criteria. Given their computational intensity and complexity, weather and climate models present prime FPPT targets. However, past attempts at FPPT in this domain are limited by manual efforts of domain experts (tedious) and low-precision emulation (obscures speedup). Automated and performance-guided techniques are naturally of interest but have not been explored at this scale. Facilitated by a bespoke Fortran transformation tool, this paper presents a first-of-its-kind case study: based on the varied results of applying FPPT to computational hotspots in three real-world weather and climate models (MPAS-A, ADCIRC, and MOM6), we identify and discuss important lessons learned and offer insights into best practices for feasible FPPT that targets large programs in complex domains such as this.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of SC 2024-W
Subtitle of host publicationWorkshops of the International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage and Analysis
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages148-159
Number of pages12
ISBN (Electronic)9798350355543
DOIs
StatePublished - 2024
Event2024 Workshops of the International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage and Analysis, SC Workshops 2024 - Atlanta, United States
Duration: Nov 17 2024Nov 22 2024

Publication series

NameProceedings of SC 2024-W: Workshops of the International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage and Analysis

Conference

Conference2024 Workshops of the International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage and Analysis, SC Workshops 2024
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityAtlanta
Period11/17/2411/22/24

Keywords

  • climate
  • correctness
  • floating-point
  • fortran
  • hpc
  • performance
  • precision
  • tuning
  • weather

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