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Computers are being installed at the NCAR facility in Cheyenne

After a three year wait the NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing center is being pieced together as scientists get ready for what will be one of the fastest and significant computers in the world.  

Today workers in Cheyenne were busy putting the computers together.  Meanwhile, those affiliated with the project can hardly contain their excitement.  Marijke Unger will be among those running the facility.  She says it will study a range of things.

“And that spans everything from solar physics to ocean circulation models to climate simulations. ”

The computer system will be innovative in that it will have huge capabilities of data storage that includes historical climate records.  It also has a special system for visualizing scientific data.  NCAR’s Tom Engel says the sky is the limit for what it can do…

“What it can do is in the scientist’s imagination right now. ”

To be more specific, it should be able to do things other computers can’t.

“Design models, which will be able to predict where tornados are going to form, maybe minutes to an hour in advance. ”  

University of Wyoming researchers will have specific access to a portion of the computer.  It is scheduled to open October 15th. 

Bob Beck moved to Wyoming from Syracuse, New York, where he worked at WAER Syracuse Public Media as a news anchor, editor, and producer from 2023-2026. While at WAER, Beck was awarded the Syracuse Press Club-Best Public Affairs Program for 2025. Bob Beck also taught radio news for the Newhouse School at Syracuse University in New York.
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