Saturday, May 10, 2008

Climate Change: The earth is a beautifully complex system The Nation Center for Atmospheric Research has a shiny new computer from IBM to help with climate analysis, according to DailyTech. From the article: It's a well known fact that developing realistic models to simulate climate change scenarios is a challenge, arduous, and cerebral task that currently is done rather poorly. Many models feature glaring flaws, and most models lag behind true prediction, trying to be able to repeat previous weather patterns as proof of concept that there future predictions will hold true. And most have trouble even doing that. Half of the equation is coming up with a better understanding of the math and physics driving the problem. The other half of the equation to improve the struggling weather modeling community is allocating more computing resources. Weather models take massive amounts of number crunching to generate semi-accurate results. The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) is working to shore up the latter count with the addition of a massive new IBM supercomputer to its Boulder, CO research center. The center is arguably the nation's largest hotbed for climate and weather research. The new supercomputer, a Power 575 Hydro- Cluster, will not only allow it to improve its analysis, but also to conserve energy, thanks to an energy efficient design by IBM... Part of the use of the cluster will center on climate change. Researchers hope to analyze effects that warming (or cooling) might have on the environment, such as future patterns of precipitation, droughts, changes in growing seasons, and warming's influence on hurricanes. The system will also analyze severe weather in the present. Researchers hope to use the system's power to develop more accurate weather forecasting models. These models will in turn help to forewarn citizens of impending severe weather. With tornado deaths in the U.S. jumping from 67 to 81 between 2006 and 2007, and with 75 U.S. tornado casualties already this year, these models can literally be life-saving... One of the computer's first main tasks will be a heady and likely controversial one. The system will be tasked with developing climate simulations for use in the next meeting of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the UN organization monitoring global warming and other climate change phenomena. The organization shared the Nobel Prize in 2007... NCAR is under the administration of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR). The National Science Foundation (NSF) primarily sponsors the center's research. Other funding comes from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Department of Defense (DOD), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Department of Energy (DOE), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). "cc" 8:24:56 AM

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