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Distributed Computing and Climate Change

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the talking-about-the-weather dept.

GraWil writes "The BBC are reporting the launch of climateprediction.net. The aim of the project is to investigate the approximations that have to be made in state-of-the-art climate models which frequently give rise to inconclusive predictions. More info on the current state of climate modeling is given by the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report which highlights the need to quantify uncertainties of climate projections. So now, in addition to finding ET or curing cancer, your PC can now contribute to our understanding of climate change."

5 of 178 comments (clear)

  1. No Linux by trolman · · Score: 5, Interesting

    No Linux version for "months." How about folding at home for those of you disappointed masses.

  2. No Linux - but they are trying hard by Angostura · · Score: 5, Interesting
    There may not be Linux port right now, but I have to say that I'm very impressed with the team's open attitude and the way that they are actively attempting to support various Unix flavours, including Mac OS X as quickly as they can. They take forum suggestions seriously, so get involved.

    I'm a SETI and Folding user, but I have to say that I find this project very compelling. We know that cancer is serious, and there are big businesses looking to find answers. The question of climate change is potentially more serious, in my opinion. But we need to find out for sure

  3. Re:Sounds great, but... by zaphodbblx · · Score: 2, Interesting

    While I run seti@home because its something positive to believe in, I won't run these other programs for one simple reason PROFIT. Most of these other programs doing a lot of big time number crunching on things that are probably going to be patented(well except the global warming thing) and they want US to do their work for them. Will we share in the profits..highly doubtful

    --
    "A towel is the most astounding Mind-boggleing useful thing in the universe, allways know where your towel is"
  4. Tomorrow's weather report isn't perfect either by Tau+Zero · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Right now the error bars on the climate projections are huge, something close to a 2.5:1 ratio between the best-case and worst-case projections. Even if the only accomplishment is to cut the error bar in half, that would be great progress.

    It's kind of like knowing that you have a 60% chance of rain tomorrow, and knowing that the rain will be as heavy showers and will blow through between 1:30 and 4:45 PM. The latter information is far more useful for planning your day than the former.

    --
    Time is Nature's way of keeping everything from happening at once... the bitch.
  5. Good distributed computing client software? by InvisiBill · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Has anyone come up with a decent client program for any of these projects? I've been running distributed.net's RC5 client for years. Of all the projects I've tried, it's the only good program I've come across. It actually runs as a service with 0 priority, so it really does use unused cycles, unlike the screensavers which only work when you're away from your PC (and if you use a screensaver). Have the other programs gotten better, or are they the same as when I looked at them way back?