Why is it in news?

India commissioned its High Performance Computer (HPC) system - named 'Mihir' (meaning Sun) - at the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting at Noida, Uttar Pradesh.

Details

• The facility of this computer 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.
• It is also said that the country will now also be ranked 4th - after Japan, UK and USA - for dedicated HPC resources for weather/climate community.
• Presently about 24 million farmers receive district-level agro-meteorological advisories with information of weather forecasts on district level through 130 agro-met field units. These services will now be extended to block level by establishing district centres (630 centres) with the help of ICAR's 'Krishi Vigyan Kendras' and it will be possible with this HPC. It is planned to reach out to about 45 million farmers by July 2018
• 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 is expected to improvehigh resolution seasonal/extended range forecasts of active/break spells of Monsoon, Very high resolution coupled models for prediction of cyclones with more accuracy and lead time, Ocean state forecasts including marine water quality forecasts at very high resolution, Tsunami forecasts with greater lead time, Air quality forecasts for various cities and Climate projections at very high resolution.

Source

The Times of India, Livemint