The Union Ministry of Earth Sciences’ premier agency — Earth Science System Organisation (ESSO) — Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) here will soon be operating through a brand new high-powered super computer enabling quicker computations and thereby more accurate forecasts for ocean waves and tsunami alerts.
The new high-powered supercomputer of 34 teraflops capacity, estimated to have cost ₹4 crore, including five years maintenance period, is being currently shipped from Singapore. This one will be replacing an older version which has a capacity of just 7.8 teraflops.
The existing high-powered computer has completed its life cycle of eight years and is ‘coming apart’ inside the INCOIS’ sprawling facility at Pragatinagar near Kukatpally necessitating the procurement of a new one.
Exclusive use
“This supercomputer will be exclusively for us. The current one has outlived its service after operating for seven years with 99% accurate results. Since the capacity of computers is increasing each year, we sought one with higher computing power,” explained Director Satheesh C. Shenoi.
The new supercomputer is to be made operational within a month of arrival (expected later this month) after feeding the available forecasting model that INCOIS has developed over the years as in tracking the ocean wave currents, real time Tsunami alerts and so on, in a more precise manner with a higher resolution and for a larger terrain.
The agency is currently able to predict the estimated tsunami landfall for up to three metres of wave heights only.
