NASA’s Discover supercomputer is capable of simulating the world’s weather at extremely fine resolutions. This high-res global atmospheric model, showing winds at a 6 mile (10 km) resolution, will help scientists better understand Earth’s complex and tumultuous climate system.
NASA’s Goddard Earth Observing System Model (GEOS-5) can simulate worldwide weather down to 2 miles (3.5 km).
Looking at the image above, surface winds (0 to 40 meters/second) are shown in white (including Atlantic and Pacific cyclones). Upper-level winds (250 hectopascals) are colored by speed (0 to 175 meters/second), with red indicating faster.
Here’s a higher resolution image (click for bigger picture):
The supercomputer has to take a wide variety of variables into account, including biomass burning, volcanoes, and human-made sources.
[ NASA ]
