PM Modi dedicates three new supercomputers to nation

In addition, the computing power available for weather and climate research has been significantly upgraded by the setting up of High-Power Computing (HPC) systems the two atmospheric sciences institutes, one in Pune and the other in Noida, which already have a supercomputer each.

The two HPC systems dedicated for climate sciences are worth `850 crore. Together, they have elevated the computing capacity available with the Ministry of Earth Sciences from 6.8 Peta Flop five years ago to a total of 22 Peta Flops, the highest ever by far.

The three new supercomputers are all indigenously-built PARAM Rudra computers, developed under the National Supercomputing Mission, at a combined cost of about Rs 130 crores. One of them has been installed at Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) near Pune, which is one of the world’s largest and most powerful radio telescopes in the meter-wave range. The other two have been set up in Delhi-based Inter-University Accelerator Centre (IUAC), and the S N Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences in Kolkata. Both these institutions engage in high-energy physics research.

Prime Minister Modi was originally set to visit Pune and launch these High Performance Computing (HPC) systems on Thursday. However, due to inclement weather and heavy rainfall, his visit was called off.

The most powerful of these is the one installed at IUAC which has 3 petaflop capacity. GMRT has got one petaflop supercomputer, while the one at S N Bose institute has a capacity of 838 terraflops.

Arka system at IITM has a 11.77 Peta Flop capacity and will, for the first time, help improve the country’s horizontal resolution of its global weather prediction models to 6 km from the existing 12 km.  HPC Arunika comes with a 8.24 Peta Flop capacity. This HPC will prove beneficial in upgrading weather forecast resolution at block levels.