Weather scientists demand more power
8 May 2008 | 12:12 BST
To the lab, Igor
STORM-CHASING BOFFINS met in that little-known hothouse of scientific discovery, Reading, today to discuss how they are going to save the population of the planet from cyclones typhoons and tsunami.
And it seems that the answer to all of the world's weather problems can be solved if they're allowed to have a bigger computer (NASA have got a brilliant one and all the other scientists bully us 'coz ours is rubbish... and we need new trainers, innit).
The boffins, who use the machines to model weather patterns globally, say they need a centre with computing power of 100 petaflops – two thousand times greater they have access to today, according to The New Scientist.
But they will have to convince governments that a potential investment of hundreds of millions of dollars will be paid back in the form of tangible benefits like better water supplies, the prediction of droughts and increased yield in crops.
The current computers used to predict weather patterns aren't really up to the job. Atlantic hurricanes, European droughts and the behaviour of glacial ice flows have continued to elude them. µ
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