High-Performance Computing in Meteorology under a Context of an Era of Graphical Processing Units

Abstract

This short review shows how innovative processing units—including graphical processing units (GPUs)—are used in high-performance computing (HPC) in meteorology, introduces current scientific studies relevant to HPC, and discusses the latest topics in meteorology accelerated by HPC computers. The current status surrounding HPC is distinctly complicated in both hardware and software terms, and flows similar to fast cascades. It is difficult to understand and follow the status for beginners; they need to overcome the obstacle of catching up on the information on HPC and connecting it to their studies. HPC systems have accelerated weather forecasts with physical-based models since Richardson’s dream in 1922. Meteorological scientists and model developers have written the codes of the models by making the most of the latest HPC technologies available at the time. Several of the leading HPC systems used for weather forecast models are introduced. Each institute chose an HPC system from many possible alternatives to best match its purposes. Six of the selected latest topics in high-performance computing in meteorology are also reviewed: floating points; spectral transform in global weather models; heterogeneous computing; exascale computing; co-design; and data-driven weather forecasts.

Keywords

• meteorology
• graphical processing unit (GPU)
• high-performance computing (HPC)
• heterogeneous computing
• floating point
• spectral transform