Posted on 01/11/2016 1:33:56 PM PST by Citizen Zed
CHEYENNE, Wyo. -- One of the most powerful computers in the world dedicated to climate change, weather and other earth science research will be replaced in 2017 by an even faster machine, officials announced Monday.
The Yellowstone supercomputer in Wyoming currently ranks among the 60 fastest in the world. The new supercomputer, to be named Cheyenne, will be at least 2 1/2 times more powerful, the National Center for Atmospheric Research said.
Capable of 5.3 quadrillion calculations, or petaflops, per second, Cheyenne will be some 100,000 times faster than a typical home computer. The speed provides unprecedented detail in climate-change predictions, including regional modeling of effects, the centre said.
A more powerful computer will allow researchers to see results in higher resolution, like a higher density of pixels sharpens images on a television or a stronger telescope brings a greater number of far-off galaxies into focus, explained Rich Loft, the centre's director of technology.
Scientists since 2012 have been using the Yellowstone supercomputer near Cheyenne for a range of research that also includes modeling air pollution and ocean currents.
The atmospheric research centre plans to install Cheyenne later this year and put it to work early next year. Questions it might help answer include:
-- Is the California drought a fluke or due to global climate change?
-- Can scientists predict the intensity of solar flares -- streams of radiation released by the sun that can endanger satellites and astronauts -- during an upcoming solar cycle?
-- How might climate change increase the likelihood of drought and change the extent of arctic sea ice from decade to decade?
The Yellowstone computer, located in a business park west of Cheyenne, put Wyoming's capital on the map as a potential technology hub. Facilities including a huge Microsoft data centre have set up nearby since the centre opened.
The Cheyenne supercomputer will be about three times as efficient as Yellowstone, using 90 per cent as much electricity but taking up to a third as much space. The machine will be built by Milpitas, California-based Silicon Graphics International Corp.
The University Corp. for Atmospheric Research, a consortium of more than 100 North American universities and colleges, oversees the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Both organizations are based in Boulder, Colorado.
It is quicker to calculate the answer when you are directed to answer a certain way.
Garbage In, Garbage Out.
It’s a denier killer!
So the garbage they are feeding in will result in even worse garbage out.
It will be able to download all porn on the net instantaneously.
CC
Yay them.
They can read my posts 100,000 times faster.
That's got to be in the "Add to Mankind" category and somebody should get a coffee cup.
Okay, that is where I stopped reading.
Anything dedicated to climate change models is gonna be crap, and will spew out crap.
So, these computers will give us the crap lies even faster.
GIGO
Garbage In, Garbage Out.
And the answer will still be “42”.
I knew the article was going to link it to “climate change”. Computing faster means that garbage is produced sooner.
They’ll be able to make-up the future now for 250 years away instead of only 100. We’ll never know just how wrong they are today.
And they’ll still mainly use the computers to download porn.
Meh, not faster than mine. Mine has a Turbo button. And a MATH COPROCESSOR! So jump back, Jack.
GIGO
That is the bias of CTV News, not necessarily the lab or the scientists who will utilize the system. If you bothered to read some of the sample research questions it would become clearer to you.
“It will be able to download all porn on the net instantaneously.”
Will it want a cigarette after that?
Yes. And some chinese takeout.
CC
Last time I checked, Silicon Graphics is a dead company.
Google bought most of their property in Mountain View.
I wonder who got paid off to take a Silicon Graphics computer.
Yes but it delivers the garbage 100,000 times faster.
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