Skip to content

The Volcanology Infrastructure for Computational Tools and Resources (VICTOR)

Sylvain J. Charbonnier1 , Einat Lev2, Sam Krasnoff2, Abani Patra3, Charles Connor1, Amelia Mullins2

  • Affiliations: 1School of Geosciences, University of South Florida, Tampa, USA; 2Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, New York, USA; 3Department of Computer Sciences, Tufts University, Medford, USA

  • Presentation type: Talk [Invited]

  • Presentation time: Friday 15:00 - 15:15, Room R290

  • Programme No: 7.5.4

  • Theme 7 > Session 5

Abstract

The volcanology community has been expressing, through National Academies reports, workshops, and research coordination networks, a need for centralized and modern cyberinfrastructure and computational tools. As the community prepares for future volcanic eruptions and their potential global impacts, the availability and accessibility of reliable and sophisticated models is particularly important. The Volcanology Infrastructure for Computational Tools and Resources, VICTOR, answers this need. VICTOR provides the volcanology community with open-access, open-source computational tools for modeling volcanic processes in a low-cost, accessible cloud-based environment. VICTOR is accessed through a central web portal that includes links to thorough documentation and user-focused communication channels. The cloud-based architecture allows for demand-based resource management and workflow portability and reproducibility. VICTOR already includes a library of eruption simulation codes, mathematical and data science tools, a sandbox for the development and execution of workflows, and interfaces to external resources such as remote sensing and topography datasets. Next, VICTOR will expand its core mission of a transparent and efficient integration of community codes, ensuring that the wider community has easy access to cutting-edge software at a low cost. The existing and newly added individual components will then be harnessed towards more advanced workflows, such as for inversion of observational data and uncertainty quantification. Lastly, to sustain and grow VICTOR as an effective community-focused cyberinfrastructure, we propose a comprehensive, multilayered plan for communication with the volcanology community, from webinars and recorded tutorials (in both English and Spanish) about computational geophysics and the tools available, to short courses, hackathons and workshops.