Yellowstone’s climate predicting supercomputer, which has been the standard since 2012, is about to be one-upped — plans for a new supercomputer in Cheyenne have recently been unveiled, and when it is complete in 2017, it will be 2.5 more powerful than Yellowstone’s.
According to Engadget, the US National Center of Atmospheric Research has announced a climate predicting supercomputer which is to be constructed in Cheyenne. When it is completed, the computer will have 313 terabytes of memory, 20 petabytes of dedicated storage, and operate at up to 5.34 petaflops per second.
Since 2012, the climate predicting supercomputer in Yellowstone has been scientists’ go-to for creating models of climate change and major weather patterns. However, given its relative lack of power compared to the new, massive Cheyenne supercomputer, the Yellowstone supercomputer might see diminished use in 2017, when its powerful sister-machine is slated for completion.
Given its massive upgrades over the Yellowstone supercomputer, the climate mapping device being built in Cheyenne will allow scientists the capability of creating even more detailed maps of climate change and major weather patterns, along with improved models of pollution and solar storms.
While 2017 is the intended date of completion for the Cheyenne supercomputer, teams will need time to gather data and work with the machine before any real results can be produced. The potential for improvement over the current system, however, is vast — soon we might have a better idea of the ins-and-outs of the Earth’s weather.