Case Study: U.S. National Science Foundation National Center for Atmospheric Research achieves critical twice-daily Antarctic weather forecasts with Altair PBS Professional

NSF NCAR's "Derecho" Supercomputer Enables Critical Twice-Daily Forecasts

The U.S. National Science Foundation National Center for Atmospheric Research (NSF NCAR) needed reliable, high‑resolution weather forecasts to keep personnel and researchers safe at Antarctica’s McMurdo Station, where extreme cold, high winds and limited visibility create hazardous conditions. To meet this challenge NSF NCAR uses the HPE Cray EX “Derecho” supercomputer and deploys Altair PBS Professional to monitor and manage energy usage and orchestrate the demanding atmospheric models that produce twice‑daily forecasts.

Altair PBS Professional orchestrates workloads on the 19.87‑petaflops Derecho system to run the Antarctic Mesoscale Prediction System (AMPS), improving utilization, productivity and administration of NSF NCAR’s HPC resources. As a result, NSF NCAR delivers critical twice‑daily AMPS forecasts that help protect more than 1,000 seasonal personnel, enable ongoing Antarctic science, and continue to expand performance and reach (including work to enable AMPS forecasting in the cloud) with Altair’s software supporting efficient, reliable operations.

U.S. National Science Foundation National Center

Irfan Elahi

HPC Division Director