Optimizing Cloud-to-GPU Throughput for Deep Learning With Earth Observation DataAkram Zaytar, Caleb Robinson, Girmaw Abebe Tadesse, Tammy Glazer, Gilles Hacheme, Anthony Ortiz, Rahul M Dodhia, Juan M Lavista Ferreshttps://arxiv.org/abs/2506.06235
Optimizing Cloud-to-GPU Throughput for Deep Learning With Earth Observation DataTraining deep learning models on petabyte-scale Earth observation (EO) data requires separating compute resources from data storage. However, standard PyTorch data loaders cannot keep modern GPUs utilized when streaming GeoTIFF files directly from cloud storage. In this work, we benchmark GeoTIFF loading throughput from both cloud object storage and local SSD, systematically testing different loader configurations and data parameters. We focus on tile-aligned reads and worker thread pools, usin…