Tarang, a new high-performance computing (HPC) facility, was inaugurated at the Hyderabad-based Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) on Tuesday. The Rs 90.70-crore facility was launched by M Ravichandran, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES). With a one petaflop computing capacity, Tarang will help ocean scientists run operational models to provide early warnings for tsunamis in India and 24 other countries located on the Indian Ocean rim. A petaflop is 1,000 trillion (or one quadrillion) calculations per second. Tarang provides 2 petabytes of storage and 3 petabytes of archival storage capacity. It also includes an additional standalone system for artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) applications with a capacity of 15.5 petaflops. According to officials at INCOIS, the newest HPC can further help run the next-generation ocean state forecast system by more accurately representing physical processes, non-hydrostatic dynamics, high-resolution nests for local forecasts, and advanced data assimilation techniques. With advanced AI and ML applications, Tarang can facilitate the development of sophisticated models whose applications can range from a variety of ocean services to the requirements of ocean service users. With the arrival of the new HPC, INCOIS said there could be a significant improvement in advisory services, preparedness, and response to the challenges posed by the ocean and extreme weather events. This is the third HPC system deployed at an institute operating under the MoES within two months. In September, HPC Arka was commissioned at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), offering an 11.77 petaflop capacity. Another system, HPC Arunika, installed at the Noida-based National Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting, offers 8.24 petaflop computing capacity.
