India Is Building a $60 Million Monsoon-Predicting Supercomputer

A country in dire need of some good weather forecasts.

In India, the vast majority of the year's rainfall happens during the monsoon season. When, where, and how much rain falls is vital to the country's agriculture and economy. But predicting the monsoon is notoriously difficult; it's considered the most complex weather phenomenon in the world. The country currently relies heavily on statistical predictions that are shaky at best. So in a bid to finally solve the weather, India is investing $60 million (₹4 billion) in buying a supercomputer to predict monsoons.

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Government officials wouldn't say what company is supplying the supercomputer, but did say it would be ten times more powerful than India's existing supercomputer, supplied by IBM. The computer will create 3D models of the region and use weather information collected by balloons, airplanes, and satellites to predict the monsoon as early as possible.

It's a critical task. Farmers need to know when to till the soil, when to plant, and when to apply fertilizer, and rely on monsoon predictions to do that. Agriculture makes up about 16 percent of India's GDP, and more than half of Indian households rely on agriculture as their primary source of income. Bad forecasts can drastically affect the quantity and price of crops, and failing to predict droughts can lead to famines and death.

The Indian government hopes that the new supercomputer will be able to predict monsoons a few months in advance, and it's expected to provide a 15 percent boost to the country's agriculture production. This would certainly be an economic boon to the second largest agricultural producer in the world. 

Source: Reuters

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