Modeling and computational issues for air/water quality problems: A grid computing approach

In this paper we report some results on the design of a grid computing application in the field of environmental sciences. The case study concerns the integration of several independent computational models (weather, air and water quality and sea wave and currents) over a grid computing infrastructure. The aim of the project is the development of an efficient, high-performance and general-purpose distributed laboratory for environmental modeling. Expected end users may be either researchers in computational environmental sciences, whom a standard interface to access existing and distributed resources (database, models, visualization tools, parallel computers and virtual organization's collaborative community facilities) is provided, or ordinary citizens who can access the results of operational runs of the integrated system for obtaining short-scale forecasts using a web-based interface. Presently, the application continuously supplies real-time forecasts and scenario analysis for both weather and air quality and it is interactively serviceable via a dedicated web portal.