The more volatile weather on the Danish horizon has prompted the national weather forecaster DMI to invest in a new super computer that is about ten times more powerful than those it operates today.
The super computer – called a High Performance Computer (HPC) – will be moved from its location on Lyngbyvej in Copenhagen to Iceland, where it will run on affordable green energy.
”With more calculation power, DMI's meteorologists will have a better handle on the uncertainties in the prognoses,” Rasmus Helveg Petersen, the climate and energy minister, said in a press release.
”Among other things, this will mean more precise weather predictions and more exact warnings.”
READ MORE: Climate change bringing extreme weather to Danish horizon
Iceland a cool bet
Petersen was in Iceland yesterday to sign a co-operation agreement with the Icelandic climate minister. The benefits of placing the computer in Iceland is that power on the island is produced via water power and geothermal energy, and is thus 100 percent CO2 neutral.
The computer is also cheaper to cool due to the generally cool weather in Iceland, and the move saves 440 MWh per year.
DMI tends to invest in a new super computer every six years because a continuous increase in calculation power will benefit the Danes in terms of more precise weather prediction models. The super computers cost around 40 million kroner.
A bidding round for the computer will occur later this month, while it is expected that the new computer will be installed and ready to run in the fourth quarter of 2015.
