Tokyo: The Japanese government on Wednesday announced the commencement of the development of a unique system which is intended to predict typhoons, heavy snowfalls, sharp increases in air temperature and other atmospheric natural calamities accurately enough for 20-30 years ahead.
The key element of the contemplated system will be the supercomputer, the Earth Simulator, which operates at an average speed of 5,000,000 million calculations per second.
The supercomputer is housed in the Yokohama-based Institute of the Earth and consists of 5,120 processors that take up an area of 50 by 65 meters.
This computer can process a gigantic amount of data coming in from weather satellites and observation stations, creating a virtual model of the processes evolving in the atmosphere and in water expanses.
By means of the Earth Simulator, Japanese specialists intend ultimately to create a system to predict weather with an accuracy of up to four kilometres on the entire terrestrial surface.
Special attention will be devoted to the environs of Japan where a weather forecast for 20-30 years ahead must help the government more rationally to allocate budget resources and prepare for possible disasters.
A more approximate global weather forecast for about 300 years ahead will also be prepared by the supercomputer.
Japan’s Ministry of Education and Science now intends on the basis of an open tender to determine which research institutions and private companies will participate in the project, the actual implementation of which is to begin in spring next year.
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