UVic climate research gets a super-boost

by Valerie Shore

Weaver and the newly arrived supercomputer system

UVic researchers have a new, $12.3-million tool in their quest to understand Earth's past, present and future climate.

Last month, UVic climatologist Dr. Andrew Weaver took delivery of a NEC SX-6 supercomputer—one of the world's fastest—as the centrepiece of a new regional facility for advanced research on climate change.

The supercomputer was acquired through a $7.46-million in-kind donation from computer manufacturers NEC Corporation and Cray Inc., $2.42 million from the Canada Foundation for Innovation, and $2.42 million from the B.C. Knowledge Development Fund.

"This exceptionally powerful machine will allow us to examine climate questions that haven't been addressed by anyone, anywhere," says Weaver, who is the Canada Research Chair in atmospheric science. Weaver and his team will model the climate system over the last 135,000 years to understand its influence on human evolution—and human influence on climate.

"The high sustained perform-ance and ease of use of the NEC supercomputer SX series were instrumental in Dr. Weaver's choice of this system," says Tadao Kondo, NEC senior vice president. "NEC is excited to provide support to UVic and the climate community in Western Canada for this study."

"This new supercomputer represents a strategic boost to UVic's research capabilities and it will further enhance Canada's capacity to compete effectively in the global technology arena," says Dr. Eliot Phillipson, president and CEO of the Canada Foundation for Innovation."

"The provincial government continues to support this kind of research, as it puts B.C. and Canada at the forefront of climate change research, and will be a major asset to Canada in international climate treaty negotiations," says Oak Bay-Gordon Head MLA Ida Chong.

Weaver and his colleagues are world leaders in climate modelling. Over the last 10 years, they have developed an earth systems climate model—made up of sophisticated ocean, sea ice and land ice components—that is now used by researchers around the world.

The new supercomputer—which is made up of 12 components the size of large refrigerators—will help researchers move beyond modelling the physical aspects of climate change toward models that represent the interactions of economic, social, technological and biogeochemical factors, says Weaver.

"There is new and stronger evidence that most climate warming observed over the last 50 years is due to human activities," he says. "This supercomputer will allow us to refine models to answer with greater certainty the specific questions posed by industry and government so that they can develop realistic policy options for the future."

This is the first vector-based supercomputer in Western Canada. Vector computers process data and fetch information from memory in large chunks, as opposed to parallel computers, which process information bit by bit. Vector computing is a huge advantage when dealing with the many variables involved in climate modelling.

The supercomputer will speed up climate simulations by a factor of 20. For example, a recent simulation spanning 20,000 years took six months of real time to complete on the UVic group's current computer system. The NEC supercomputer would process it in a week.

The supercomputer will be used by faculty, post-doctoral fellows, research associates and graduate students at UVic, researchers from other universities in Western Canada, and scientists within the Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis (CCCma), a division of Environment Canada housed at UVic.

UVic's climate modelling group consists of three faculty members, seven research associates and 14 graduate students. Members come from diverse backgrounds in physics, mathematics, engineering, oceanography and geology and from all over the world.

Japanese computer manufacturer NEC Corporation is one of the world's leading providers of Internet, broadband network and enterprise business solutions dedicated to meeting the needs of its global base of customers. For more information visit www.nec.com.

Cray Inc. designs and manufactures supercomputers used by government, industry and academia worldwide for applications ranging from scientific research to product design and testing to manufacturing. Cray is a re-seller of NEC SX series supercomputers in North America.

The Canada Foundation for Innovation is an independent corporation established by the federal government to strengthen the ability of universities, colleges, research hospitals and non-profit research institutions to carry out world-class research that will benefit Canadians.

The B.C. Knowledge Development Fund provides capital funding for research equipment and facilities for public postsecondary institutions, teaching hospitals and affiliated non-profit agencies. It is administered through B.C.'s Ministry of Advanced Education.