An IBM Supercomputer to Monitor The Weather

What are supercomputers very good at? Well, among other things like simulations, resolving math problems, pattern recognition and so on they are very good at predicting weather changes, so all the weather forecasts for the Beijing Olympic Games will be based on an IBM supercomputer that will continuously update its forecasts for each square kilometer.

Forecasts that are targeted at large zones and need not be very accurate, do not need the services of a supercomputer but the organizers of the Olympic Games want pretty accurate readings so the Beijing Meteorological Bureau has bought an IBM System p575 supercomputer. The very same type of supercomputer is being used by the United States National Weather Service and about 35 other weather-forecasting sites around the world, says David Blaskovich, IBM's Deep Computing weather specialist, who was cited by the news site ComputerWorld.

The IBM supercomputer that was delivered to the Beijing Meteorological Bureau features 80 processors that can reach a total performance mark of 9.8 teraflops, or 9.8 trillion operations per second and it will allow scientists to constantly monitor the dynamics of the atmosphere while providing weather updates from the Olympic Games. The IBM machine will also make detailed wind forecasts that are used in preparation for the sailing events, while general temperature and humidity monitoring as well as air quality observation will allow planners to think ahead in the event of bad weather. This is not the first time when an IBM supercomputer was used at the Olympic Games for weather forecasts as in 1996 at Atlanta and in 2004 at Athens, organizers relied on the same architecture. The Beijing weather monitoring system will keep a close eye over an area of 44,000 square kilometers and it will make hourly forecasts for each square kilometer.

The weather prediction system which features the IBM p575 supercomputer at its center is already installed and running and it is currently working on air quality models as well as local weather forecasts in an attempt to test the system for the upcoming Games.