MET OFFICE
Blending scientific expertise and technological prowess , the Met Office ’ s latest digital transformation is showing its peers how it ’ s done
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In the ‘ 60s , George Moore made a prediction that would set the pace of today ' s digital revolution . In a theory commonly dubbed as Moore ’ s Law , he forecast that the overall processing power of computers will double every two years or so . For the Met Office – the United Kingdom ’ s national weather service and climate agency – this prediction has proven to be a pertinent one . Processing vast amounts of climate and weather data from across the globe , Charles Ewen , CIO at the Met Office says that IT plays a critical role at the organisation , noting that his team aim to “ provide world-class technology to support world-leading science ”.
Without computers , weather forecasting as we know it would simply be impossible . Technology has played a pivotal role in understanding the weather for decades . In the 50s , the Met Office acquired its first electrical desk calculator and fast forward to today and the organisation have implemented the Cray XC40 supercomputer , or High-Performance Computer ( HPC ). At around 15 times the size of its predecessor , this mammoth machine is one of the most powerful supercomputers in the world , capable of completing 14,000trn calculations per second .
JANUARY 2019