The Met Office is investing in a new supercomputer to improve the precision of weather and climate models.
The UK’s national weather service the Met Office is refreshing its compute capabilities thanks to a new deal with Microsoft to build a billion-dollar supercomputer that is expected to boost the precision of weather forecasting and climate change modelling. With a total bill reaching £1.2 billion ($1.7 billion), and which will be government-funded, Microsoft will be tasked with upgrading the Met Office’s current supercomputing capabilities over a ten-year period, with the new system expected to become operational in July 2022. This is the largest investment in the 167-year long history of the Met Office, and scientists hope that the supercomputer will enable more accurate warnings of severe weather, while also improving the models that predict the longer-term impact of climate change on the planet. The new system, which will be built in the South of England, will be in the top 25 supercomputers in the world, and is expected to be one of the most advanced devices dedicated to weather and climate, according to Microsoft. Clare Barclay, CEO at Microsoft UK, said: „The potential of the deep expertise, data gathering capacity and historical archive of the Met Office, combined with the sheer scale and power of supercomputing on Microsoft Azure will mean we can improve forecasting, help tackle climate change and ensure the UK remains at the forefront of climate science for decades to come.
