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A ‘next generation’ super computer to be used for research by NIWA is to be housed in two data centres, including the one in Silverdale.
On August 13, Science Minister Judith Collins announced that $20 million had been spent on the biggest research computer in NZ, which will enhance NIWA’s work, including weather forecasting.
NIWA chief executive John Morgan said it represents an investment in NIWA’s world-leading climate, marine and freshwater science and advanced technologies.
The new computer will have up to three times more generational power than its predecessor, allowing for higher resolution, more frequent processing and additional AI workloads, he said.
“With our nation increasingly disrupted by extreme weather events, NIWA’s new supercomputer will enable high resolution weather and climate forecasting 24/7, using data from weather stations all around the world,” he said.
The computer’s new forecasting power will also be useful for the Department of Conservation, Morgan said.
As well as its impact on weather forecasting, Morgan said that the high resolution weather models enabled by the computer will also improve NIWA’s research on climate change.
“NIWA is the science lead in the international satellite mission (MethaneSAT) detecting global emissions of methane – including those from agricultural sources. But if it’s windy, the methane will be blown away from its source, so we need high resolution weather models to show us the origin of the methane. That requires huge computational resources,” Morgan said.
The super computer is also capable of tailored expansion to meet the supercomputing requirements of other science institutions – here and throughout the Pacific.
