HPC in global geodynamics: Advances in normal-mode analytical modeling

Abstract

Analytical models based on normal-mode theory have been suc- cessfully employed for decades in the modeling of global response of the Earth to seismic dislocations, postglacial rebound and wave propagation. Despite their lim- ited capabilities with respect to fully numerical approaches, they are yet a valuable modeling tool, for instance in benchmarking applications or when automated pro- cedures have to be implemented, as in massive inversion problems when a large number of forward models have to be solved. The availability of high-performance computer systems ignited new applications for analytical modeling, allowing to re- move limiting approximations and to carry out extensive simulations on large global datasets.