A new NEC SX-5 supercomputer - the most powerful non-classified computer in Australia - will be installed in Melbourne and used by climate researchers, weather forecasters, drug designers, polymer chemists and atmospheric scientists from CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology.
"The new supercomputer's increased power and speed will allow more accurate, localised forecasting of short-term and city-scale weather events," says Dr Rob Bell of CSIRO.
"This could, for example, give people monitoring tropical cyclones more detailed information about the cyclone's approach so that they can better protect homes and human lives."
The 128-gigabyte computer will be installed in the Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO's joint High Performance Computing and Communications Centre (HPCCC) by a team from NEC in Tokyo.
The centre's upgrade will put Australian researchers and forecasters at the forefront of supercomputer users in the world.
"The SX-5 model is the latest, most powerful supercomputer from NEC," says Steve Munro, manager of the HPCCC. "It has 128 gigabytes of memory. That's 16 times more than the (SX-4) supercomputer we use now. And its processors are four times faster than the present ones too."
"The SX-5 could do in an hour what a high-end personal computer would take weeks or months to do," Munro said. "And some of the problems the SX-5 can do are so big, a PC couldn't do them at all."
The new supercomputer is also lighter than its predecessor, making deployment easier.
"That's a real bonus," says Rob Bell of CSIRO. "When the present 14 tonne SX-4 was delivered, it had to be hoisted up into our Lonsdale St building with a crane. The floor had to be strengthened before it went in. The SX-5 was taken up in the lift."
The monster will also boost co-operative investigations into the complex ocean-atmosphere interactions, and into air quality forecasting and pollutant dispersion studies.
As well as weather and climate applications, the SX-5 will be used for research such as designing pharmaceutical and financial applications. Researchers are also exploring the potential to use it to help emergency services planners and organisers of outdoor events such as cricket matches or the Olympic rowing.
