A decade of parallel meteorological computing on the Flosolver

Meteorological computations have been conducted on the Flosolver series of parallel computers since 1988. The models implemented range from a zonally symmetric model to a spectral weather-forecasting GCM. The parallel models are being used to study the various facets of monsoon variations. Our experience over this period indicates that parallel platforms provide a competitive, cost-effective method of carrying out simulations of global as well as regional atmospheric calculations. Also, when the same basic code is run on different platforms, the differences between outputs (which in isolated areas of the globe may not be entirely negligible) are less due to degrees of precision in computing than due to differences in standards specifying implementation of floating point computations, especially between microprocessor-based and high-power single processor systems13