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In computers, the term <keyword id="22518" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="flop">FLOP</keyword> stands for Floating Point Operations Per Second, telling you exactly how many operations a processor is capable of performing each second. A teraflop means one million million FLOPs, while a petaflop represents one thousand million million FLOPs. Remember this as you read further. Around 2007-08, the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) was conducting <keyword id="6359992" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="weather">weather</keyword> research using a 7 teraflop computer. In 2018, it uses the power of <keyword id="3658" type="COUNTRY" weightage="20" keywordseo="India">India</keyword>'s fastest <keyword id="6537818" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="supercomputer">supercomputer</keyword>, named Pratyush, and its whopping 6.8 petaflops of power. That's 6800000000000000 FLOPs, in case you were wondering. It's mind-boggling math, Isn’t it? So much power Contrary to what many believe, Pratyush is composed of two different High Performance Computing (HPC) units. The name Pratyush is given to the unit at IITM, while there's another unit (called Mihir), at the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWA) in Noida, Uttar Pradesh. Together, the two HPCs, contribute 4 petaflops and 2.8 petaflops respectively, bringing the total power up to 6.8 petaflops. This is the fourth fastest supercomputer in the world in the weather and climate domain. And all of this power is used to predict the weather as accurately as possible. Why weather? Weather in India is no small talk. The inclement weather events are fast mutating the economic misfortunes of the country. The Indian <keyword id="6358301" type="DEFINITION" weightage="20" keywordseo="monsoon">monsoon</keyword> is a critical driver for the country's farm-dependent $2 trillion economy, as at least half the farmlands are heavily dependent on rain. With the recent spate of unpredictable weather events, climate change stakes are becoming real for India. According to an economic survey published in 2017, these weather events are costing India anywhere between $9-10 billion annually and climate change is projected to impact agricultural productivity with increasing severity from 2020 to the end of the century. And to make matters worse, the Indian monsoon is one of the most complex climate systems of the world. The geographic location of India make the system more difficult to simulate and predict. Pratyush with its super computational capacity, though, has been able to make it significantly accurate. Its vast computing ability helps map regions of the country at a 12km resolution for weather forecasts. Why do you need a supercomputer to predict weather? A few years ago, scientists at IITM had to wait for about six hours for calculations to be completed. With their brand new computer, this takes four hours. "Weather and climate forecasting are computationally intensive," says Dr. Suryachandra A. Rao, Project Director at Pratyush. You're probably wondering why two hours matter, right? Well, it likely doesn't. Not without context anyway. The supercomputer allows scientists to predict the weather significantly more accurately and in lesser time, which is what matters. Weather forecasting is done using equations, Rao explained. These equations are solved at different imaginary points on the globe. Earlier, the IITM used to predict data using points placed at every 200 square kilometre, which was later brought down to 100 sq. km. With the help of Pratyush, they have now brought the distance down to 12 square kilometres. These points are akin to pixels on a camera sensor, represented by megapixels. Higher megapixel count (theoretically) allows better quality images. Similarly, closer the dots are placed, more accurate the weather forecast can be. And just like pixels are to cameras, this is just one aspect of weather forecasting. Furthermore, the Earth's atmosphere consists of different layers, 64 to be precise, and the equations have to be run for each of these layers. So, the equations aren't just performed at each dot, but at different layers on these dots. The dots are spread over the entire globe, meaning the actual number of combinations is unimaginable. In fact, Rao says there are 40 levels of the ocean that aren't considered at the moment. To take those into account, the computational power required will be even more, and weather prediction would be more accurate too. See why all that power is required? No? There's more. Scientists don't just run the calculations once. That would be most inefficient. The calculations are run 20 to 30 times, changing variables like temperature, humidity etc. This is done to reduce uncertainty and keep predictions as accurate as possible. But the supercomputer is just a kernel of the weather forecasting process. Reams of data that is sputtered out is then matched with the human computational genius, when chief scientist Rao and his team rack their heads to interpret and compare this data. A rare scene where big data and humans do not bristle, but align to reach a common goal. With a supercomputer worth a whopping Rs. 450 crores (approx. $65 million) brought on and tasked to do weather forecasting, weather conversations should bump itself up from their ‘small talk’ status.

Here's how the  fastest supercomputer in India helps predict the weather

By Shakoor Rather New Delhi, Feb 6 () The recent locust outbreak along the India-Pakistan border may have been driven by the longer-than-usual monsoon rains across the region, and frequent cyclones in the Indian Ocean, scientists say. In India, the outbreak -- the biggest in 26 years -- began late last year in Gujarat and Rajasthan states, and recently Punjab was also affected. In Pakistan, the government declared national emergency last week to eliminate the attacking swarms of desert locusts, which were destroying crops on a large scale in the country's Punjab province. "The current locust outbreak is the biggest in 25 years in Ethiopia and Somalia, 26 years in India, 70 years in Kenya," Keith Cressman, locust forecasting officer at the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) told . "The outbreak started after heavy amounts of rains over east Africa and the Arabian Peninsula," Roxy Mathew Koll, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) in Pune added. According to the FAO, locusts are the oldest migratory pests in the world. These insects differ from ordinary grasshoppers in their ability to change behaviour, and form swarms that can migrate over large distances. The most devastating of all locust species is the Desert Locust (Schistocerca gregaria), according to FAO. The locusts, which are considered to be among the most dangerous pests known to humanity, reproduce fast -- 20-fold within three months, the FAO experts noted. An adult locust can eat quantity equal to its weight daily, and just a single square kilometer of swarm can contain up to 80 million adults, they said. Koll noted the heavy rains which drove the locust outbreak occurred due to intense storm activity sourced from the Arabian Sea during the last two seasons. "Heavy rain triggers growth of vegetation in arid areas where desert locusts can then grow and breed," he said. Koll explained that recently climate change accentuated the phenomenon called the "Indian Ocean Dipole", with warmer than usual waters to its west, and cooler waters to its east. "On top of that, the rising temperatures due to global warming made the Western Indian Ocean particularly warm," he said. Cressman added that the current locust invasion in India by an unprecedented number of swarms originated in southern Iran from their breeding in spring last year. "Summer breeding along both sides of the Indo-Pakistan border was much higher than normal due to the swarm invasion and the monsoon rains lasting one month longer than normal, allowing up to three generations of breeding," Cressman said. The outbreak originated from two cyclones (May and Oct 2018) that allowed three generations of breeding - from June 2018 to March 2019 -- in the Arabian Peninsula, and caused an 8,000-fold increase in locust numbers, he added. According to Cressman, this was followed by further breeding after unusually heavy rains in Iran and Yemen, and finally another cyclone in the Horn of Africa in early December 2019. "Generally enhanced convection (cloud formation and rains) and cyclone activity follows the warm waters as they derive the energy and moisture from the ocean," Koll explained. As a result, he said, regions surrounding the warm western Indian Ocean -- such as East Africa, Arabian Peninsula and Indian subcontinent received a lot of rains during the last two seasons. "Along with that, the cyclone activity over the west Indian Ocean was also exceptional -- we saw the largest number, and the strongest cyclones this year -- releasing more rains. This might have triggered the locust outbreak," he said. India has not witnessed any full-blown locust cycles after 1962, however, they experts said, large-scale upsurges were observed during 1978 and 1993. Globally, Cressman said, the current generation of swarms formed shortly after last season's crops were harvested, but there has been considerable damage to pastures -- a primary livelihood in the Horn of Africa. "It is not only warm temperatures that favour locusts but also rainfall. The latter is not expected to occur is sufficient quantities until the start of the summer monsoon in Rajasthan which is usually in July, therefore, breeding now is not very likely in India," he said. "Climate models do show that the number and intensity of Indian Ocean Dipole events -- like the one we saw in 2019 -- are going to increase further in the future," Koll added. SAR VIS AKJ SARSAR

Prolonged monsoon in Indo-Pak region drove recent locust outbreak: Scientists

<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=World+Health+Organization">World Health Organization</a> has marked <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Delhi+">Delhi </a>as the most polluted globally. In case you’re visiting the city or are a resident, you must be privy to the Capital city’s dangerous <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=air+pollution">air pollution</a>. So bad is the condition that doctors are suggesting chronic patients to leave the city. 
 
At the face of imminent disaster, the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) in Pune launched a web app to check the air quality back in February this year. The app, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=SAFAR">SAFAR</a>-Air is currently only available only on <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Android">Android</a>. 
 
Here’s how you can use it to save yourself: 
 
1. The service is available in Pune, Mumbai and Delhi. 
 
2. Choose your nearest locality if yours is not on the list. 
 
3. Here’s what the terms mean: 
 
AQI: Air Quality Index (AQI) is an index for air quality. It tells us how clean or polluted the air really is. 
 
PM: Particulate Matter (PM) is the general term for solids or liquids that pollute the air. The list includes aerosols, smoke, fumes, dust, ash and pollen. 
 
4. The forecast will help you plan your next day better. 
 
5. Share it with your friends and neighbors. Increase overall awareness about Pollution! 
 
Image credit: Indiatimes

You Searched For "IITM Forecast" and got 3 results

Here's how the fastest supercomputer in India helps predict the weather

Prasid Banerjee

Prolonged monsoon in Indo-Pak region drove recent locust outbreak: Scientists

PTI

Delhiites and Visitors, here’s how to use the Air Pollution Checker Safar app

BI India Bureau

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