Last Update: 04/05/2026 at 1:25 PM EST
Supercomputers Power Climate Projections
Coverage from Observer Voice, Coyote Gulch, and others
Articles
4
Latest Article
03/22
Active Days
26
Executive Summary
Climate models on supercomputers simulate Earth system changes and extreme risks, helping scientists assess future warming and guide adaptation decisions.
- Climate models divide the planet into 3D grids spanning atmosphere and oceans
- They track temperature, wind, humidity, sea ice, soil moisture and other variables
- Models run forward in time many times to simulate decades or centuries
- Ensembles use slightly different initial conditions to separate climate response from chaos
- Petaflop scale supercomputers are needed to perform the required calculations
- Shared experiments across modeling centers test scenarios like greenhouse gas changes and eruptions
- Results help inform flood protection, power grid resilience and water management
Quick Facts
- What: They run climate models to project future climate risks
- Where: At national and international research centers worldwide
- Why: To understand warming, extremes and guide adaptation decisions
- Who: Climate scientists, modelers and supercomputing centers
- When: Over decades to centuries in repeated simulation runs
Coverage Timeline: 26 Days
Featured Article
Researchers rely on climate models and supercomputers to project future climate and inform adaptation and policy decisions.
Additional Articles
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Researchers at NCAR in the United States use the Community Earth System Model on petaflop scale supercomputers to project climate under different emission scenarios in recent years.
Scientists use climate models to project future temperature and precipitation under different emission scenarios.
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NCAR and related institutions use physics-based climate models and CMIP intercomparison to run ensemble projections that support flood, drought, and grid planning.