German Weather Service (DWD) to install 2 Tflop/s IBM supercomputer in SeptemberOffenbach 30 May 2001 The German Weather Service (DWD) signed an agreement with IBM to supply a 2 Tflop/s supercomputer in the context of the modernisation of the central IT systems. This is the latest stage of a larger contract for the German meteorological computing centre (DMRZ) in Offenbach, Germany.
The delivery is part of a 5-year supply contract for the gradual development of the DMRZ facilities. In the context of this contract, IBM will, in September this year install the last and largest machine.
Then the DWD expects an increase in output compared the past
supercomputer Cray T3E with 816 processors, which was put 1998 into
operation, of approximately around a factor of 6.
The IBM system RS/6000 will consist of 80 computer nodes with each 16 processors, so that altogether 1280 processors are available.
The peak output of this system is close to 2 Teraflop/s.
This stage of development uses up almost half of the budget of approx. euro 27 million, which was approved 1997 for the overall project.
The development enables to improve the German weather service the quality of its numeric weather forecast models further, in particular by refinement of the spatial resolution of the local model. The weather phenomena can be simulated and predicted in a more realistic manner. That leads e.g. to more exact forecasts of amounts of rain fall which could eventually lead to more precise flood warnings.
The results of the local model are basis of a number of other special model calculations of high economical value (e.g. propagation of radioactive pollutants in the atmosphere, sea water flow forecasts for the North and Baltic Seas, as well as for the Mediterranean, weather forecasts for traffic including road weather forecasts, and warnings of extreme weather events).
After installation of the computer in September 2001 the DMRZ belongs to the 10 largest supercomputing centres in the world.
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