The United kingdom (U.K.) said it will spend 1.2 billion pounds (equivalent to 1.6 billion USD) on developing the most powerful weather and climate supercomputer in the world. The program aims to improve weather and climate modeling by the government forecaster, the Met Office, Business Secretary Alok Sharma said in a statement Monday.
Media reports say the British Government will invest 1.2 billion pounds (1.6 billion USD) in what it says is the world’s most powerful supercomputer to provide more accurate weather and climate forecasts.
According to Reuters, the new supercomputer, which will be managed by the country’s Met Office, will be used to help more accurately predict storms, select the most suitable locations for flood defenses and predict changes to the global climate.
It will enable better forecasting for airports so they can plan for potential disruption and provide more detailed information for the energy sector so it can prevent potential energy blackouts and surges.
The Met Office said the computer will create a “digital twin” of our atmosphere with data like wind speeds, air temperatures and pressures, and more. It will create forecasts down to an area just 1,000 meters across compared to 10 kilometers currently. Around large airports, accuracy will focus down to just 300m, or about 1,000 feet. Once in service, it will not only generate better forecasts (including rainfall predictions), but help emergency workers deploy mobile flood barriers, balance the energy grid and more, according to Engadget.
The Met Office’s current supercomputers reach their end of life in late 2022. The first phase of the new supercomputer will increase the Met Office computing capacity by six times, the British Government said on Monday, according to Reuters.
