New supercomputer to improve meteorological forecasting for emergencies

December 6th, 2016  |  News

An exclusive CBC story has revealed that Environment Canada contracted IBM in May 2016 for $430-million to produce a supercomputer that will improve precision in meteorological forecasting. Though CBC’s article is the first public reporting on this development, scientists with Environment Canada have already been testing the supercomputer for some time.

It will replace the supercomputer that is currently in use, a 10-year-old IBM machine that spans two tennis courts in size. Per the terms of the contract, the government will also receive various storage and software benefits as well as an option to either abandon the deal after eight-and-a-half years or extend for another two-and-a-half. Those storage and software perks are a departure from previous contracts, where such features were acquired separately rather than consolidated into one deal.

In a country where natural resources are of critical economic importance, better preparation against extreme weather scenarios would allow Canada to benefit greatly from an economic standpoint—and of course a safety one as well.

A representative from Shared Services, the government’s IT agency who will be leasing the supercomputer, has said that it will be fully operational in April 2017. It will be located relatively close to the Canadian Meteorological Centre headquarters in Dorval, Quebec.