HPC from A-Z (part 16) - P

P is for predictions

In the past year we’ve seen the devastation that weather can cause - from terrible floods to tornados to forest fires caused by intense heat. The need for better weather forecasts has never been greater. When meteorologists have the means to better predict the weather, people have more time to prepare.

High performance computing can help meteorologists crunch weather and climate data from satellites to provide an accurate and real time view of developing weather patterns. HPC can also help research climate change, a complex and controversial topic. If you imagine all the different data sets that climate modelling must take into account, high performance computing is vital in order to make sense of the data and predict climate changes. While much of our future is uncertain, HPC can at least help us have some visibility of what is likely to happen to our weather and climate.

In addition to the weather, HPC can also help to predict a whole host of other matters. For example it can help identify the best location to drill for oil, or be used to create predictive analytics for financial purposes or traffic flows. Somewhere along the line I expect HPC could help predict how long we might live, by crunching our genetic and lifestyle data to make an informed calculation.