COUNTRY FOCUS : UK
Met Office and Microsoft join forces to build world ’ s most powerful weather and climate forecasting supercomputer in the UK .
Supercomputing leap in weat climate forecasting
Aerial panorama of Sheffield city at sunset
The Met Office has signed a multimillion-pound agreement with Microsoft for the provision of a world-leading supercomputing capability that will take weather and climate forecasting to the next level and help the UK stay safe and thrive .
This new supercomputer – expected to be the world ’ s most advanced dedicated to weather and climate – will be in the top 25 supercomputers in the world and be twice as powerful as any other in the UK .
The data it generates will be used to provide more accurate warnings of severe weather , helping to build resilience and protect the UK population , businesses and infrastructure from the impacts of increasingly extreme storms , floods and snow .
It will also be used to take forward ground-breaking climate change modelling , unleashing the full potential of the Met Office ’ s global expertise in climate science . The precision and accuracy of its modelling will help to inform government policy as part of the UK ’ s fight against climate change , and its efforts to reach net zero by 2050 . It follows the announcement by government in February 2020 which committed £ 1.2 billion of funding to develop this state-of-the-art supercomputer .
Business Secretary , Kwasi Kwarteng , said : “ This partnership between the Met Office and Microsoft to build the world ’ s most powerful weather and climate forecasting supercomputer is a ringing endorsement for the UK ’ s credentials in protecting our environment , as we prepare to host COP26 later this year .
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