Predicting Twisters with HPC

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A simulated radar image of a storm produced by CM1. The hook-like appendage in the southwest corner is an indication of a developing vortex.

Over at the National Institute for Computational Sciences, Scott Gibson writes that researchers are using HPC to enhance tornado prediction capabilities.

We hope that with a more accurate prediction and improved lead time on warnings, more people will heed the warnings, and thus loss of life and property will be reduced,” said Amy McGovern of the University of Oklahoma. McGovern is working to revolutionize the ability to anticipate tornadoes by explaining why some storms generate tornadoes and others don’t, and by developing advanced techniques for analyzing data to discover how the twisters move in both space and time.

To run each of McGovern’s simulations, graduate student Brittany Dahl is using 6,000 processor cores and 10 compute service units (hours) on the Kraken supercomputer. Read the Full Story.