ACADEMIA
Boulder’s NCAR opens Wyoming weather supercomputer center
The Boulder-based National Center for Atmospheric Research on Monday opened its $74 million supercomputer center on a 24-acre site near Cheyenne, housing one of the world’s most powerful computer systems for scientific work.
The NCAR Wyoming Supercomputing Center’s computer system — dubbed Yellowstone — will use sophisticated modeling to aid in research of how the climate behaves. The center also will be a data-storage facility, housing what NCAR says are irreplaceable historical climate records.
The center will be managed by the Boulder-based University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR).
“This center will help transform our understanding of the natural world in ways that offer enormous benefits to society,” UCAR President Thomas Bogdan said in a statement. He predicted the center “will lead to improved forecasts and better protection for the public and our economy.”
The center was built in partnership with the University of Wyoming, the state of Wyoming, Cheyenne’s economic-development agency, the Wyoming Business Council, and Cheyenne Light, Fuel and Power.
Denver’s H+L Architecture and Gold River, Calif.-based California Data Center Design Group were lead members of the design team, which also included RMH Group, Rumsey Engineers and Martin/Martin.