Met Éireann has adopted a novel supercomputer technology for its weather predictions, bettering the precision and promptness of its forecasts. Collaborating with meteorological services in Denmark, Iceland, and the Netherlands, the Irish entity is operating a universal weather prediction model on the supercomputer, housed in Iceland.
According to Eoin Sherlock, Met Éireann’s chief forecaster, the upgraded model permits superior control over prediction uncertainties. The escalated computational power results in enhanced resolution of the scrutinized images, akin to upgrading from standard to high-definition television. Furthermore, the system updates every hour as opposed to the previous tri-hourly updates.
Eoin Sherlock also elucidated on the long-standing collaboration with meteorological services in Denmark, Iceland, and the Netherlands since the shared weather patterns among these regions. Iceland plays host to the supercomputer as it is entirely operable by renewable energy sources and is capable of dealing with over 10 million observations in a day, perform 4,000 trillion computations each second, and generate hour-by-hour weather forecasts.
Given the intensifying climate changes triggering global heatwaves, floods, and heavy rainfall, Eoin Moran, Met Éireann’s chief, notes that the enhanced response to weather events from the four collaboration institutes aids in protecting lives, assets and facilitates more intelligent decision making as climatic change persists.
The advanced weather prediction supercomputer, termed Aurora, is supported by a secondary research and climate modelling unit, Borealis, also situated in Iceland.
The collaborating units adopt a grid system covering a zone that spans from East Greenland to Southern Italy. The new mechanism deploys 2km square grids, smaller than the prior 2.5km square grids, thereby capturing an elevated level of detail.