Introducing a New Paradigm for Computational Earth Science– A web-object-based approach to Earthquake Simulations

Computer simulations will be key to substantial gains in understanding the earthquake process. Emerging information technologies make possible a major change in the way computers are used and data is accessed. An outline of a realizable computational infrastructure includes standardization of data accessibility, harnessing high-performance computing algorithms, and packaging simulation elements as distributed objects across wide networks. These advances promise to reduce dramatically the frustration and cost of doing earthquake science as they transform the fragmentary nature of the field into one of integration and community.