To develop their forecasts, meteorologistsmeteorologists of Weather reportWeather report France use weather models. These are programs that simulate the evolution of the atmosphere based on the data they collect. To function, these models are based on supercomputers which process weather observation data and calculate the evolution of these parameters.
Météo France has decided to renew its two supercalculateurssupercalculateurs : « General public, civil security, air navigation, defense, agriculture, transport, construction… A supercomputer is profitable for society, because better forecasting makes it possible to reduce the impact of severe weather phenomena and optimize a number of sensitive activities to the weather and climate », Announces Météo France.
The forecasting organization therefore launched a call for tenders which “ will take place over the year 2025 for a first deployment in 2027 “, with additional computing power in 2029. “ On this date, compared to their current performance, the objective is for Météo France's supercomputers to reach a calculation capacity six times greater ».
Precipitation, wind and cyclones will be better evaluated
The precision will be greatly refined: 750 meters for the Arome weather model (compared to 1.3 kilometers currently) and 2.5 kilometers for the Arpège model (compared to 5 kilometers currently). “ For comparison, at the beginning of the 1990s, Météo France's first supercomputer worked on meshes of 35 kilometers”.
Concretely, these supercomputers will:
- To further anticipate orange and red alerts, with at least six hours' notice.
- An improvement of approximately 10% in the forecast of precipitationprecipitation and gusts.
- A more reliable forecast of cyclones and the risk of flooding in Overseas Territories.
- To improve the quality of air sector forecasts, and thus better manage traffic.
- To better anticipate climate change, the frequency and severity of extreme phenomena.
