Numeric weather prediction model for the IBM SP2 parallel computer

Abstract

A limited-area numeric weather prediction model specifically targeted for parallel computers has been successfully implemented on an IBM SP2 distributed-memory parallel computer. The model employs an explicit finite-difference scheme and was parallelised using a simple domain decomposition technique. On a twelve processor SP2, a 24 hour forecast using archived operational data and including a sophisticated representation of physical processes was run at a range of resolutions between 150 km and 19 km and near-linear speedups were achieved. Major weather centres have indicated a requirement for regional prediction models to be run at resolutions of approximately 5 km by the end of the decade. Based on this work, it appears that this target can be achieved through the use of scalable parallel computers.