Intel Supercomputer Suggests Gulf Spill Could Hit Atlantic Coast
Intel Supercomputer Suggests Gulf Spill Could Hit Atlantic Coast
Posted 07/11/2010 at 7:09am
| by Pulkit Chandna
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Intel's New Mexico-based Encanto supercomputer has been very busy since the early days of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Once the third fastest supercomputer in the world (currently ranked No.32), the Xeon-based beast is now being used to track the flow of oil spewed by the Deepwater Horizon well. Researchers have already simulated half a dozen oil-spill scenarios using a 3-D ocean circulation model called the Parallel Ocean Program, and the results have led them to some grim possibilities.
The simulations suggest that the oil could hitch a ride on the gulf's Loop Current to hit Florida, and set up a rendezvous with the Atlantic Ocean's Gulf Stream current, which would then extend its “impact thousands of miles up the east coast of the United States.”
“The simulation showed a big mass of oil deep underwater that was moving very slowly. But up near the surface - from about 65 feet in depth and higher - ocean flows were swifter, showing the oil spiraling up near the Louisiana and Florida coastlines,” Intel's Phillip Roads wrote in a blog post. The simulations are said to have consumed more than 250,000 hours of computer time, with 1,000 cores running in parallel.
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violian
July 12, 2010 at 11:02am
I didn't need a supercomputer to predict this happening. I simulated everything in my head the 1st day of the oil spill, and I predicted this coming.
Keith E. Whisman
July 11, 2010 at 7:37pm
Crude oil is biological isn't it? Isn't it possible to convert it into something fish or shrimp can eat by binding some other chemical with the oil? Oil is just decayed ancient animal and plant material isn't it? Like being able to boil leather shoes makes them edible isn't there something that can be done to crude oil that will make it safe and appetizing to some fish or other sea organism? There has to be someway to benefit from the oil spill. Perhaps the large oil balls that are floating around under water can be sucked up. The tar balls on the beaches should be usable. The oil extracted chemically with the use of solvents.
PawBear
July 11, 2010 at 6:15pm
I say we let it ride. Looks like it'll all end up in England anyway.
"Either we conform the Truth to our desires or we conform our desires to the Truth."
violian
July 12, 2010 at 11:04am
You can't. It can see the future. It can predict every move you're about to do. So before you even press any buttons, you already lost.
Lhot
July 11, 2010 at 12:07pm
Like I need a computer to tell me that :/
...that's Gen. Berringer of NORAD ...from the movie War Ganes.
The "CLOUD" is the biggest mistake this country has made...EVER !
TechJunkie
July 11, 2010 at 2:51pm
Like we need anyone to tell us this. But they are going to anyways.....jerko's.
And your so right about the cloud being a HUGE mistake!
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