Jane Edwards
IBM has completed upgrade work on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s supercomputing systems intended for weather and climate forecasts under a $44.5 million contract.
The company worked to increase the operational computing capacity of the Luna and Surge supercomputers from 776 teraflops to 2.89 petaflops each, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday.
“The faster runs and better spatial and temporal resolution that Luna and Surge provide will allow NOAA to improve our environmental intelligence dramatically, giving the public faster and better predictions of weather, water and climate change,” said Kathryn Sullivan, NOAA administrator.
IBM tapped Cray as a subcontractor to provide the systems for NOAA’s supercomputers, which are located at data centers in Virginia and Florida.
The Commerce Department said NOAA will leverage the increased computing capacity to launch operational model updates this year, such as the deployment of the Weather Research and Forecasting Hydrologic Modeling System and updates to the Hurricane Weather Research and Forecasting Model.
