RMMC awarded a hardware procurement contract to "thelinuxstore.com" for a 16-node AMD athlon Beowulf PC Cluster. The 16-node cluster will be used for executing the SLEUTH 3.0 version in a parallel-processing environment.

As part of RMMC's Information Technology Research activities, Regina Peyfuss, Orkand Corporation, was hired as a contractor to assist Mark Feller in configuring the Center's existing Beowulf PC Cluster (1 server, 12 CPU's) for SLEUTH 3.0 execution. During the quarter, Regina Peyfuss began investigating enfusion in order to create processing clusters on existing RMMC platforms running multiple operating systems.

During the quarter, EPA distributed (3) Alpha releases of the SLEUTH 3.0 parallel-processor source code to RMMC. All (3) SLEUTH 3.0 Alpha versions were compiled on the Silicon Graphics (SGI) Challenge server (CRSTL1). In order to validate the CRSTL1 SLEUTH 03.00.00 and 03.00.02 alpha installations, RMMC successfully executed coarse calibration processes using the Demo City (50 X 50 and 200 X 200 arrays), Portugal (209 X 196 array), and Isleta, New Mexico 1:24,000-scale Case Study (87 X 72 array) data inputs. Mark Feller compiled the SLEUTH 03.00.02 Alpha release on RMMC's new SGI Origin 2000 server (CRSTL0) during the quarter. To test the SLEUTH 03.00.02 installation on CRSTL0, Mark Feller executed coarse calibration processes using both the Demo City and Portugal datasets.

Due to problems with the SLEUTH HALFGIF utility maintaining linear feature continuity when array sizes drop below 1000 X 1000 pixels, RMMC plans to use ARC/INFO's LINEGRID command to create the lower-resolution transportation input image. Since the HALFGIF utility is no longer included in the SLEUTH 3.0 Alpha release, RMMC intends to examine the differences between coarsened images created using HALFGIF for polygonal data inputs (i.e., urban, land use, slope, and exclusions) and those images derived using a larger cell-size during ARC/INFO's POLYGRID rasterization. Dependent of the HALGIF versus POLYGRID test results, RMMC may discontinue use of the HALFGIF utility for creating SLEUTH calibration data inputs.

During the quarter, RMMC distributed a copy of the standalone Land Use Transition Matrix (LUTM) program to the Michigan State University Department of Fisheries and Wildlife. Michigan State plans to use the SLEUTH 2.0 LUTM extract as a tool for analyzing temporal land transformations for wetland areas.

In support of RMMC's Urban Dynamics investigations, Dave Catts, NMD Seattle Natural Hazards Project Chief, procured a FRAGSTATS ARC commercial license from Pacific Meridian Resources for the CRSTL0 SGI Origin 2000 server. RMMC plans to use FRAGSTATS ARC as a methodology for researching temporal landscape fragmentation.

Dave Hester documented the SLEUTH model's calibration data input and prediction data output ARC/INFO processing specifications for the NMD Seattle Natural Hazards Project Chief. Based on the recommended SLEUTH I/O p-specs, Dave Catts created full-resolution Seattle/Tacoma GIF images for executing the SLEUTH 3.0 version. The Seattle SLEUTH input images (i.e., urban area, roads, slope, excluded lands, and shaded relief) created were 4000 by 4000 arrays with a 25-meter cell size. The Seattle urban retrospective timeframes that will be used as control years for SLEUTH calibration are 1950, 1970, 1990, and 2000.

During the quarter, Dave Hester submitted Albuquerque's 1935 through 2050 3-dimensional urban retrospective and forecast urban form images for the DRAFT RMMC Geographic Research Factsheet "urban growth and land use modeling" section. Dave Hester and Richard Pelltier updated the RMMC Land Surface Analysis web page with additional online resources (http://rockyweb.cr.usgs.gov/html/lsalinks.html).

Dave Hester began serving on the Planning Committee for an upcoming integrated USGS Urban Dynamics Workshop. The USGS Urban Dynamics Workshop is tentatively scheduled for the 2nd Quarter of fiscal year 2001.