Always the Japan faces natural disasters, given its particular location along an area where several tectonic plates meet. Torrential rains, floods, tsunamis, typhoons and earthquakes are a terrible example for the country of the Rising Sun and its inhabitants. And climate change has certainly not contributed to improving the situation.
Starting today, advanced supercomputer technology will give Japan the ability to predict rainfall, landslides and floods 6 to 12 hours in advance.
PRIMEHPC, the anti-disaster "seer".
The new supercomputer system just announced will be installed at the Fujitsu data center, will be used by Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) to predict the occurrence of linear rainbands. These are clouds capable of triggering heavy rains, leading to natural disasters such as landslides and floods.
The anti-disaster system is called "Fujitsu Supercomputer PRIMEHPC FX1000", and features the A64FX CPU, developed in collaboration with RIKEN, which guarantees high performance and reliability. How much? Very, very much. It is the same hardware as Fugaku, the most powerful supercomputer in the world, which entered service in Japan in March 2021.
How is the Fujitsu supercomputer made?
In summary, PRIMEHPC FX1000 combines formidable speed and calculation capacity. Its 24 racks can make it reach a peak of theoretical performance about 31,1 petaflops. Additionally, the storage system comprises a total capacity of 42,3 petabytes. Impressive numbers, which translate into the ability to provide more accurate and faster forecasts, allowing authorities to improve preparedness for heavy rain events and offer advance warnings in case of disasters.
But this is just the beginning.
Fujitsu plans to support further activities of the Japan Meteorological Agency, becoming the center of gathering climate data from all kinds of sources.
This will make it more and more prepared to face natural disasters, improving the security of the whole country. Good luck, champ.
