, Korea, Germany and Australia use the same computer, while Japan relies on the Fujitsu PrimeHPC FX100 and China on IBM’s Flex System P46.
The XC40 has allowed the UK to become “pretty good” at weather forecasting, says Kirkman. “There’s a real community of science that sits around this." Each decade, the Met can predict an entire day further into the future. While the new computer may not speed up forecasts, it will improve their accuracy.In the meantime a "human brain" supercomputer with 1 million processors has been switched on by British scientists for the first time, as a result of its creators at Manchester University's hope that it will be able to "unlock some of the secrets of how the human brain works".
"I think we can expect the quality of forecasting to improve a lot," says Mark Parsons, director of Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre at the University of Edinburgh. Weather is modelled by cutting the globe up into little blocks,” he explains. At one point the block size was 50 miles and whenever they buy a new computer they can reduce the size of the block, making predictions much more accurate.”
Currently, a model of the Earth is split up into squares that are 10km across. In the UK, forecasts by the Met are more accurate with squares at 1,500m across.Eventually, the new supercomputer could work at a resolution of just 100 million across, allowing forecasters to predict, for instance, if a particular road is at risk of flooding. Prof Mark Wilkinson at the University of Leicester says that the upgrade to the Met Office is “absolutely essential”.
“You can’t make the types of models that they’re developing without a supercomputer. You gather lots of data from satellites and ground stations but the data themselves don’t tell you what’s going to happen, you need a computer capable of modelling long into the future.” he says.
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Added by Michael Grove at 14:23 on February 18, 2020
furthest extent they had yet reached.
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In 927 AD he took York from the Danes, and forced the submission
of Constantine, King of Scotland and of the northern kings. All five
of the Welsh kings agreed to pay a huge annual tribute. He also
eliminated opposition in Cornwall. In 937 AD, at the Battle of
Brunanburh, Athelstan led a force drawn from Britain, and defeated
an invasion made by the king of Scotland, in alliance with the Welsh
and Danes, from Dublin.
A few pieces of very fine examples of Opus Anglicanum have survived,
including three pieces at Durham that had been placed in the coffin of
St Cuthbert, probably in the 930s, after being given by King
Athelstan; they were however made in Winchester between 909
and 916. These have been referred to as "works of breathtaking
brilliance and quality", including figures of saints, and important early
examples of the Winchester style, which were no doubt discussed by
both Alfred and Athelstan during their visits to Rome for meeting with
the Pope. Under Athelstan, law codes strengthened royal control over
his large kingdom; currency was regulated to control silver's weight
and to penalise fraudsters; buying and selling was largely confined to
the burhs, encouraging town life; and areas of settlement in the
Midlands and Danish towns were consolidated into shires. Overseas,
Athelstan built alliances by marrying off four of his half sisters to
various rulers in western Europe.
He was also a great collector of works of art and religious relics, which
he gave away to many of his followers and churches in order to gain
their support. He died in 939 AD at the height of his powers, and was
buried in Malmesbury Abbey. This was a fit burial place for him, as he
had been an ardent supporter and endower of the abbey.
Little is written of this man, who with the guidance of his grandfather
and an unbelievable depth and breadth of education - through strength
of will and negotiation, continued the work of his grandfather to
establish the code of legal civilisation which endures to this day.
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