New supercomputer by year-end for weather forecasting

NEW DELHI: India will unveil its new 18 petaflop supercomputer for weather forecasting institutes later this year, Union Earth Sciences Minister Kiren Rijiju said on Wednesday.

At present, the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF) houses ‘Mihir’, a 2.8 petaflop supercomputer, while the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) is home to ‘Pratyush’, a 4.0 petaflop supercomputer.

“The new supercomputer will be bought at a cost of Rs 900 crore,” Rijiju told reporters at NCMRWF.

The new high-power computing facility is expected to improve weather forecasts at the block level, help weather scientists give higher resolution ranges of forecast, predict cyclones with more accuracy and lead time and ocean state forecast, including marine water quality forecast.

‘Mihir’ and ‘Pratyush’ were launched in 2018 and will be decommissioned once the new supercomputer is unveiled, a senior NCMRWF official said.