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New $100M computer will apply AI to boost NOAA's weather forecasting capabilities
UPI ^ | September 03, 2024 | Chris Benson

Posted on 09/05/2024 12:09:03 PM PDT by Red Badger

"Rhea," NOAA's new high-performance computer will join the HPC Hera supercomputer, which is currently operating at the NOAA Environmental Security Computing Center in Fairmont, W.V. Photo courtesy of NOAA Sept. 3 (UPI) -- A new $100 million high-performance computer system will advance research and development efforts by NOAA on a number of scientific and weather-related tasks, the federal government announced Tuesday.

The high-performance computer called "Rhea" will advance NOAA research on weather, climate, and ocean and ecosystem prediction at its new modular facility in Fairmont, W.Va., at NOAA's Environmental Security Computing Center, currently home of the Hera HPC supercomputer.

NOAA's Rhea computer was "named for the Greek goddess and mother of gods," the agency said.

"The Rhea high-performance computer system adds needed computing capacity for NOAA to expand critical research that supports the nation's climate resilience," Assistant Secretary of Commerce Michael C. Morgan wrote Tuesday in a news release.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, is a scientific and regulatory agency under the U.S. Department of Commerce that is tasked with a wide range of U.S. weather and other science-related duties.

Morgan says the new computer system "will strengthen NOAA's exploration and application of artificial intelligence and machine-learning capabilities," which he added will "ultimately improve weather, ocean and climate forecasting, ecosystem modeling and the use of satellite Earth observations to understand climate changes."

The Commerce Department relayed how the new $100 million state-of-the-art high-performance computer system was paid for by funding provided in President Joe Biden's $1.2 trillion bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act.

Funding for Rhea was awarded to General Dynamics Information Technology, a global technology company with headquarters in Falls Church, Va., that delivers a wide-range of services "to every major agency across the U.S. government, defense and intelligence community," according to GDIT.

The new computing capacity will also be used for weather and climate model development to improve drought, flood and wildfire prediction and forecasting. It will add about eight petaflops of computing speed and capacity to NOAA's existing capacity of 35 petaflops, bumping the total to 43 petaflops.

A petaflop is one thousand trillion, or one quadrillion, operations per second, and represents an extremely fast computing speed for a single machine, according to NOAA officials.

The agency said Rhea features graphics processing units that "will accelerate NOAA's use of AI/ML in a range of areas," which includes monitoring marine life species, weather forecasting and modeling of specific "environmental phenomena" such as atmospheric rivers, fire weather and hurricane intensification using Earth observations.

An NOAA official claims the investment in higher-performance computing "will result in significant scientific and economic impacts."

"The computer's installation at the NOAA Environmental Security Computing Center in West Virginia will strengthen NOAA's partnership with the West Virginia High Technology Foundation, which is committed to building a stronger, more diverse economy for the region," Zachary Goldstein, NOAA Chief Information Officer and director of High Performance Computing, said.

Rhea, once actively online, will be part of NOAA's Research and Development High Performance Computing System, which include the likes of four other research and development HPC centers in Boulder, Colo.; Princeton, N.J.; Oak Ridge, Tenn., and on the campus of Mississippi State University in Starkville.

According to NOAA, its Research and Development High-Performance Computing System already has helped the agency improve weather forecasting and climate projections.

By increasing the warning times for hurricanes, tornadoes and tsunamis, HPC "has helped researchers better understand ocean dynamics, our changing climate and its impacts and supported private enterprise with research to inform economic decision making."


TOPICS: Computers/Internet; History; Outdoors; Weather
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To: Theo

There it is. GIGO


21 posted on 09/05/2024 12:34:05 PM PDT by philman_36 (Pride breakfasted with plenty, dined with poverty and supped with infamy. Benjamin Franklin)
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To: Red Badger

I learned something-I did not know Robert Heinlein originated that quote! Very cool!


22 posted on 09/05/2024 12:34:06 PM PDT by rlmorel (J.D. Vance and The Legend of The MaMaw of The 19 Loaded Guns!)
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To: fireman15
Some expensive GIGO.
23 posted on 09/05/2024 12:35:38 PM PDT by philman_36 (Pride breakfasted with plenty, dined with poverty and supped with infamy. Benjamin Franklin)
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To: rlmorel

GoodReads Quotable Quotes has it for both Mark Twain and Robert Heinlein. But the attribution for Mark Twain has a (?) by it..........


24 posted on 09/05/2024 12:40:14 PM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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To: Col Frank Slade

I hate it when They say:

50% chance of rain..............

Isn’t that also 50% chance of Sunshine?..................


25 posted on 09/05/2024 12:42:21 PM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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To: rlmorel

https://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/06/24/climate-vs-weather/


26 posted on 09/05/2024 12:44:09 PM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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To: fireman15

Might as well dig out the plans for Stalag 13’s Gonculator.


27 posted on 09/05/2024 12:44:22 PM PDT by wally_bert (I cannot be sure for certain, but in my personal opinion I am certain that I am not sure..)
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To: Red Badger

Fake computer for more fake climate crisis AI created this time


28 posted on 09/05/2024 12:56:10 PM PDT by butlerweave
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To: Red Badger

Computer system was paid for by funding provided in President Joe Biden’s $1.2 trillion bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act.

When you have friends in high places money always flows in your favor.


29 posted on 09/05/2024 1:10:25 PM PDT by Vaduz
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To: Red Badger

I trust my weather rock much more than my weather app. My weather app lies. Sometimes it can’t even tell me the current weather conditions accurately. My weather rock is always correct.


30 posted on 09/05/2024 1:32:58 PM PDT by Dutch Boy (The only thing worse than having something taken from you is to have it returned broken. )
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To: Red Badger
Let me guess the full name:
“The Robert C. Byrd NOAA Environmental Security Computing Center”, Fairmont, WV.


31 posted on 09/05/2024 2:16:22 PM PDT by Governor Dinwiddie (LORD, grant thy people grace to withstand the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil.)
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To: rdb3; JosephW; martin_fierro; Still Thinking; zeugma; Vinnie; ironman; Egon; raybbr; AFreeBird; ...

32 posted on 09/05/2024 2:26:24 PM PDT by ShadowAce (Linux - The Ultimate Windows Service Pack )
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To: Red Badger

Poor predictions much quicker now. Most accurate “predictions” by NOAA a 24 hours after the weather event.


33 posted on 09/05/2024 2:58:41 PM PDT by RetiredTexasVet (We used to be a Republic, we are now a Fascist Klepto-Thugocracy.)
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To: Red Badger
The problem is that you can tell AI to put whatever spin you want on something.

For example, I will take the first few paragraphs and tell AI to be extremely critical and disbelieving of global warming.

NOAA’s latest stunt—a $100 million supercomputer named “Rhea”—is the perfect example of government waste disguised as scientific progress. They want us to believe this is some groundbreaking investment in climate and weather research, but let’s be real: this is just another expensive toy for them to continue selling their climate catastrophe narrative.

Here’s the truth: climate models have been laughably wrong for decades, yet they keep pushing the same panic button. And now, they want us to believe that by dumping millions into this new computer, they’ll suddenly figure it all out? Please. We’ve heard these promises before. They’ve been screaming about impending climate doom for years, and yet, where are we? The world hasn’t collapsed. The so-called “tipping points” have come and gone, and we’re all still here.

The naming of this supercomputer after the Greek goddess “Rhea” is a transparent attempt to add some divine gravitas to a machine that’s going to do nothing but run bad data faster. It’s like they’re trying to dress up their failures in mythological robes to make them seem more impressive. Sorry, but no amount of Greek mythology is going to hide the fact that their models are still based on flawed assumptions, cherry-picked data, and biased inputs.

How many of these “supercomputers” do they need before we start seeing some actual results? They’ve already got Hera, and now Rhea joins the mix—both apparently doing what? Generating more predictions that will either overestimate the warming or flat-out miss the mark, just like before. This isn’t science; it’s a taxpayer-funded doomsday cult, running on fear and expensive hardware.

Let’s talk about “climate resilience.” What resilience? What have they actually done? Every few years, it’s the same song and dance: a new model, a new prediction, more headlines about impending disaster, and yet… no disaster. Just more excuses, more delays, more “it’s worse than we thought” rhetoric. Meanwhile, they’re raking in billions of taxpayer dollars to fund their climate industrial complex, keeping the fear alive and making sure the money flows.

This supercomputer is nothing more than another cog in the climate change money machine. They’re not interested in solving real problems—they’re interested in perpetuating this crisis mentality because it keeps the funding coming. If the crisis ever ended, if they ever admitted they don’t know nearly as much as they claim, the whole charade would fall apart. So, of course, they need bigger, faster, more expensive machines to keep the lie going.

At the end of the day, this is about power and control—using fear of a climate apocalypse to justify more regulations, more taxes, more control over people’s lives. And now they’ve got “Rhea” to help them keep pushing that narrative. This isn’t science—it’s government-sanctioned fearmongering, and it’s time people woke up to the scam.

34 posted on 09/05/2024 3:05:33 PM PDT by Lazamataz (If you are upset the bullet missed, contact me immediately. I'll make sure your bullet doesn't.)
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To: Red Badger

Good well know when the next Ice Age is coming.


35 posted on 09/05/2024 3:10:53 PM PDT by WeaslesRippedMyFlesh (there will come a day when FR rejects articles from the NYT, et al. as "Commie trash, no thank you"e)
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To: Red Badger

The Chinese can fly balloons for much cheaper.


36 posted on 09/05/2024 3:19:55 PM PDT by Omnivore-Dan
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To: Red Badger

Rhea is a mother goddess in ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Titan daughter of the earth goddess Gaia and the sky god Uranus, himself a son of Gaia. She is the older sister of Cronus, who was also her consort, and the mother of the five eldest Olympian gods (Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Poseidon, and Zeus) and Hades, king of the underworld.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhea_(mythology)


37 posted on 09/05/2024 3:32:31 PM PDT by ViLaLuz (2 Chronicles 7:14)
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To: Red Badger

38 posted on 09/05/2024 3:47:09 PM PDT by martin_fierro (< |:)~)
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To: Red Badger

Cannot do worse.


39 posted on 09/05/2024 4:49:09 PM PDT by If You Want It Fixed - Fix It
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To: Red Badger

A Tornado Warning- Turnpike Troubadours


40 posted on 09/05/2024 5:23:21 PM PDT by Married with Children
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