Question:

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:

(a) the manner in which two newly installed supercomputers enhance the capabilities of
the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology and the National Center for MediumRange Weather Forecast (NCMRWF);
(b) the significance of supercomputers in tackling climate research challenges and
advancing numerical weather research in India;
(c) the technological features that will be incorporated into the supercomputers to enhance
their performance for weather and climate modelling; and
(d) the manner in which the Ministry plan to leverage their expertise and technological
ecosystem to strengthen India’s position as a frontrunner in the high-performance
computing industry, particularly in the field of weather modelling and climate
research?

Answer

(a) At existing computing facility at NCMRWF is 2.8 Petaflops and at IITM is 4 Petaflos
respectively. The present augmentation has the capacity to enhance the computing
power at NCMRWF to 8.3 Petaflops and at IITM to 13 Petaflops respectively. This
augmentation of computational infrastructure is necessary for running higher
resolution models to improve accuracy of weather forecasts, running of Global
Ensemble Prediction models for giving probabilistic forecasts, generate future climate
scenarios and development of appropriate applications.

(b) The Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) has a mandate to carry out research and
development activities to develop and improve capability to forecast weather, climate
and hazard related phenomena for societal, economic and environmental benefits
including addressing climate change science and developing climate services. Weather
and climate plays a pivotal role in the economy of the country as which directly affects
the livelihood of people. Accurate prediction of weather and climate is important to
safeguard both life and property. State-of-art equipment like High Performance
Computer System (HPCS) is an indispensable tool of the forecasting business.

(c) These systems which are based on Eviden’s BullSequana XH2000, has the combined
power capacity up to 21.3 Petaflops. Supercomputer at NCMRWF with an 8.3-
Petaflop computing capacity for Weather and Climate Modelling is designed as such
to support advanced numerical weather prediction (NWP) research. This platform is
integrates 2,100 CPU nodes with AMD EPYCTM7643 processors, 18 GPU nodes and
2PB all flash and 20PB disk-based storage. The supercomputer dedicated to the Indian
Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM, Pune) has the capacity to provide 13
Petaflops of computing power for atmosphere and climate research and to integrate
3,000 CPU nodes using AMD EPYCTM 7643 processors and 26 GPU nodes and will
have 3PB all flash and 29PB disk based storage.

(d) With the rapid advancements in AI/ML technologies, weather and climate forecasting
has reached a cutting-edge level. These innovative tools allow us to analyze vast
amounts of data and make accurate predictions, revolutionizing our understanding of
weather patterns and long-term climate changes. Dedicated scientists in the ministry
are working tirelessly to bring significant improvements to weather and climate
research. Through their rigorous studies and data analysis, they aim to enhance the
understanding of atmospheric phenomena, such as monsoons, cyclones, and climate
variability. The ground breaking research conducted plays a crucial role in advancing
meteorological science and empowering us to make more informed decisions in the
face of changing weather patterns and climate challenges.