Can computing power prevent floods like those in 2021?
VUB climate scientists will also be making full use of the Tier1 supercomputer, which will be managed by the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) for the next six years. Thanks to the vast computing power of supercomputers, they can design and test models and apply them to all possible climate scenarios.
“The Tier1 supercomputer is a blessing for weather and climate research,” says VUB professor and climate scientist Lesley De Cruz. “In the past, I already used previous generations of Flemish supercomputers to run high-resolution climate simulations. That allowed me to ‘zoom in’ on specific regions and get a more accurate picture of local phenomena, such as the increase in heatwaves and extreme rainfall.”
“In recent years, our research has gained momentum thanks to AI,” De Cruz continues. “You often hear that AI is bad for the climate, but that mostly concerns the careless use of large language models (LLMs). In meteorology, AI actually helps reduce emissions by replacing complex and energy-intensive calculations with specialised, fast AI models. These models need to be trained first, and for that we need powerful GPUs, like those in the new Tier1 supercomputer. These processors are especially well-suited for performing massive numbers of calculations simultaneously — for example, in artificial intelligence, simulations and data analysis.”
Evacuating ahead of a water bomb
“We’re looking forward as a team to training our next ultra-fast forecasting model for local climate extremes – specifically heat and rainfall – on the new supercomputer,” says De Cruz. “The AI rainfall model learns from past radar and satellite images how rainfall is likely to intensify or ease over the coming hours. A model like this could give crisis managers the chance to carry out last-minute evacuations, for example, when a water bomb is looming, as happened in the Vesdre Valley in the summer of 2021.”
Supercomputer Sofia is part of the Flemish Supercomputer Centre (VSC) and will be used by researchers at all Flemish universities and universities of applied sciences, research institutions and companies. With its sustainable design and impressive computing power, the installation marks a major step forward for research and innovation in Flanders, and a milestone in the Flemish landscape of AI and HPC (High Performance Computing) systems.
