GS2 is a physics application, developed to study low-frequency turbulence in magnetized plasma. It is typically used to assess the microstability of plasmas produced in the laboratory and to calculate key properties of the turbulence which results from instabilities. It is also used to simulate turbulence in plasmas which occur in nature, such as in astrophysical and magnetospheric systems.
GS2 development is funded primarily by the United States Department of Energy, as part of the Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing program. There are presently about 20 users at universities and laboratories around the world.
GS2 is currently supported on Unix platforms ranging from laptops to Beowulf clusters to supercomputers. It is written in object-oriented style, with Fortran 95. Executables are available for supercomputers and clusters that are used within the magnetic confinement fusion program. Compilation requires access to a high-quality Fortran compiler, such as Lahey's lf95 or NAG's f95.