Issues

Concurrent computation and high‐speed communication offer opportunities for simulations of more realistic physics.

High‐performance computers that allow users to visualize and diagnose numerical simulations and interact with them rapidly are boosting scientific productivity in the study of complex and turbulent systems.

Massively parallel supercomputers seem the best hope for achieving progress on ‘grand challenge’ problems such as understanding high‐Reynolds‐number turbulent flows.

Violent storms in the English Channel, the growth of the ozone hole and the Great Red Spot of Jupiter are all problems in planetary fluid dynamics that challenge our most powerful computers.

Simulations offer insights into transformations of galaxies: Colliding spiral galaxies can merge, undergo bursts of rapid star formation and evolve to become elliptical galaxies.

Computer models such as the ‘numerical tokamak’ will advance all areas of plasma science, including basic plasma physics, fusion physics, space plasmas and industrial plasma processing.