In the fall of 2016, the new Cheyenne supercomputer was installed at the NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center. This is a video screen grab.

Key projects at Boulder's National Center for Atmospheric Research will now be supported by a powerful new supercomputer capable of more than three times the amount of scientific computing performed by its predecessor.

The new cyber-wonder is called Cheyenne, and it takes its name from Cheyenne, Wyo., the city where it is housed within the NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center.

Projects that will be supported by the new supercomputer include studies of wind energy, long-range, seasonal-to-decadal forecasting, extreme weather, climate engineering and space weather, giving scientists a better understanding of solar disturbances that can affect the operation of power grids, satellites and global communications.

"Cheyenne will help us advance the knowledge needed for saving lives, protecting property and enabling U.S. businesses to better compete in the global marketplace," Antonio Busalacchi, president of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, said in a prepared statement. "This system is turbocharging our science."

NCAR is managed by UCAR on behalf of the National Science Foundation.

Cheyenne is one of the world's most energy-efficient and powerful supercomputers, a 5.34-petaflop system capable of more than triple the amount of scientific computing than that performed by Yellowstone, which was NCAR's previous supercomputer. Additionally, it is three times more energy efficient.

A petaflop is the ability of a computer to perform one quadrillion floating point operations per second. Cheyenne is currently the 20th-fastest supercomputer in the world and the fastest in the mountain west.

Since the 2012 opening of the NCAR-Wyoming Super Computing Center, more than 2,200 scientists from over 300 universities and federal laboratories have used it, according to a news release.

Charlie Brennan: 303-473-1327, brennanc@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/chasbrennan

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Boulder's NCAR boasts powerful new supercomputer at Wyoming site - Boulder Daily Camera