30-Jan-2018: India commissions high performance computer system Mihir

India commissioned its High Performance Computer (HPC) system - named ‘Mihir’ (Sun) - at the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting at Noida, Uttar Pradesh. The facility will improve India’s capacity in weather forecasting and help it to come out with weather forecast down to the block level (for about 6500 blocks) across the country later this year. At present, such facility is available at district level.

The new system will be India’s largest HPC facility in terms of peak capacity and performance and will propel India’s ranking from the 368th position to the 30th in the list of top 500 HPC facilities in the world. The country will now also be ranked 4th - after Japan, UK and USA - for dedicated HPC resources for weather/climate community.

The new facility will not only help in meeting the operational requirements of the MoES but also support research and development activities in the ministry and other academic institutions working on various problems related to Earth Science.

The new HPC facility will improve:

1. Weather forecasts at block level over India which can predict extreme weather events.
2. High resolution seasonal/extended range forecasts of active/break spells of Monsoon.
3. Very high resolution coupled models for prediction of cyclones with more accuracy and lead time.
4. Ocean state forecasts including marine water quality forecasts at very high resolution and
5. Tsunami forecasts with greater lead time.