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Government Data Management

HK Observatory installs high performance computing facility

By Jianggan Li | 24 December 2010

The Hong Kong Observatory (HKO) has replaced its old computing system with a new high-performance computing cluster (HPCC) in its data centre.

HKO runs the most popular government web site in the territory, which receives more than 1.4 million clicks on a daily basis.

The number goes up dramatically in summer where extreme weather conditions such as typhoons and rainstorms are common.

In 2008 during Typhoon Fengsheng the agency recorded 15.5 million visits to its web site within one day.

The new system, which provides 400 times the computing power of its predecessor, is expected to enable enhanced weather services to the Hong Kong public.

Forecasts on temperature, humidity, wind, rainfall and sea level pressure available on the HKO web site will be updated four times per day, up from twice daily.

Resolutions of weather models have been improved from 20kms to 2kms, allowing the public to assess more detailed weather information for specific areas within Hong Kong.

In addition, HKO’s Wind Forecast for Water Sport Activities page is now able to provide three day forecasts instead of one day, allowing water sports enthusiasts to plan further ahead.

The planning and installation took less than a few months, thanks to the close working relationship between HKO, Dell—which provided the solution—and a number of other key industry players in the HPCC field, including Intel and Red Hat.

Ng Ping-wing, Senior Scientific Officer at the HKO, said: “The mission of the Hong Kong Observatory is to deliver timely and useful metrological information to the Hong Kong public and upgrading the weather prediction system was critical for us.”

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