The Government has unveiled plans for a new £97 million supercomputer which look set to cement the UK’s position as a world leader in weather and climate prediction.
The next generation supercomputer which will take UK weather and climate services into the future will be supplied by Seattle based specialists, Cray. The new CrayXC40 system, which will be one of the world's fastest high performance computers (HPCs), is the largest international contract in Cray's history.
The supercomputer will be 13 times more powerful than the current system used by the Met Office and will have 120,000 times more memory than a top-end smartphone.
Enabling forecast updates every hour and the ability to provide very high detail weather information for precise geographical areas, the world-leading High Performance Computer will help the UK to more effectively predict disruptive weather events such as flooding, strong winds, fog and heavy snowfall.
The supercomputer’s impressive computing power also opens up the potential for higher resolution models, which would have the ability to pinpoint more detail for small scale, high-impact weather.
Scientists will also explore the benefits of adapting the resolution to improve UK winter forecasts months in advance, and assessing the specific regional impacts of climate change such as floods, droughts and heatwaves.
The supercomputer’s sophisticated forecasts are anticipated to deliver £2 billion of socio-economic benefits to the UK by enabling better advance preparation and contingency plans to protect peoples’ homes and businesses.
Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander described the £97m investment as “a crucial part of the Government’s wider drive to make the UK the best place in the world to do science and research.”
Weighing 140 tonnes, the supercomputer, which will be based at the Met Office and Exeter Science Park, will be able to perform more than 16,000 trillion calculations per second.
As one of the most powerful supercomputers in the world when fully installed, the Government said it would also be a catalyst for regional growth in the South West, supporting collaboration and partnerships between science, business and academia.
Met Office Chief Executive Rob Varley said:
“We are very excited about this new investment in UK science. It will lead to a step change in weather forecasting and climate prediction and give us the capability to strengthen our collaborations with partners in the South West, UK and around the world.”
The new supercomputer, together with improved observations, science and modelling, will help to make the UK more resilient to high impact weather and other environmental risks.
The first phase of the supercomputer will be operational in September 2015 and the system will reach full capacity in 2017.
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