IBM Helps Preserve Germany’s 40 PETABYTE Climate Data Archive

It is the largest trove of climate data in the world.

Source – Scientific Computing 

IBM will run a 40-petabyte robotic tape library to archive climate simulation data generated by supercomputers at the German Climate Computing Center (DKRZ). It is the largest trove of climate data in the world. According to Scientific Computing, the archive has more than 40 petabytes of data and is projected to grow by roughly 75 petabytes annually over the next five years. The High Performance Storage System software solution managing the data was developed by IBM and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

“Addressing the challenges of climate change and its impact on the environment and daily life for everyone on the planet requires gathering, storing and analyzing massive amounts of data,” said Professor Thomas Ludwig, director of the German Climate Computing Center. “We rely on the technology and the expertise of IBM to help us provide this essential service to the world’s foremost climate and environmental research institutions.”

“At IBM, one of the values we try to live up to daily is providing innovation that matters for our company and the world,” said Markus Koerner, vice president, IBM Global Technology Services. “I can think nothing that matters more than helping to effectively predict and mitigate the impact of climate change, and we believe the technology and services we provide for this Big Data challenge will significantly help advance the science of climate change.”

According to IBM, the archive includes data on:

•  Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
• Oil Spill Impact Simulations
• The impact of climate change on West Africa, the Mediterranean, Central Europe, Indonesia
• Air traffic routes
• 3D models for city construction
•  Weather prediction

The organizations which will use the archive include:

• European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts
• Karlsruhe Institute for Technology
• German Meteorological Service
• Rechenzentrum Garching of the Max Planck Society
• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
• Max-Planck Institute for Meteorology
• University of Hamburg
• Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht Center for Materials and Coastal Research
• Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research
• West African Science Service Center on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use
• The Coordinated Energy and Water Cycle Observation Project
• Program For Earth System Modeling

Photo: Creative Commons, Wikimedia (IBM)

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