Oak Ridge National Lab in USA selects IBM supercomputer for global warming research

The machine will incorporate IBM eServer POWER4 technology to achieve a target peak performance level of four trillion calculations per second. Nearly tripling the amount of processing power in ORNL's data centers, the IBM system is expected to rank among the world's five most powerful supercomputers when completed in early 2002. POWER4 is the advanced microprocessor that powers the next generation of IBM eServer UNIX systems -- code-named "Regatta" -- which are scheduled to begin shipping later this year.

The machine strengthens ORNL's role as a major resource for the Department of Energy's Scientific Discovery Through Advanced Computing Program (SciDAC). Most notably, the ORNL supercomputer will be used to investigate extremely sophisticated computer models that simulate the world's climate. These computer models -- containing hundreds of thousands of lines of code -- will predict the potential impact that increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere could have on crop yields, public drinking water supplies and ocean levels. Many scientists believe that greenhouse gases -- emissions from automobiles and smokestacks, for example -- are a major contributor to global warming. Other SciDAC areas expected to benefit include computational chemistry, high energy and nuclear physics and fusion energy research.