Scientific computing challenges arising from space-borne observations

Five supercomputing problems are described: (1) determining the motions of the earth's inner core boundary from outer-space measurements of the magnetic field, (2) simulating the global dynamics of the earth's ocean currents, sea-ice cycles, land surface biology, and interannual atmospheric climates, (3) upper atmospheric chemistry, (4) modeling solar flare eruptions, and (5) the role of jet processes in the birth of stars. In addition, two examples indicating the growing importance of the use of supercomputers for scientific visualization are presented. The first deals with remote mapping from space of the earth's topography or other planets. The second problem from astrophysics deals with mapping the cosmic background radiation in the presence of other astronomical signatures. A brief overview of interdisciplinary modeling plans under development for the next generation of supercomputers is given.