By John Mark Shaver, WV News
FAIRMONT, W.Va. (WV News) — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced one year ago that it would bring a $100 million supercomputer named Rhea to its Fairmont-based Environmental Security Computing Center, which officials believe will be transformative for north central West Virginia.
NOAA’s Marion County center, located in the I-79 High Technology Park, is used to collect and store climate and weather data, improve forecasting and monitor impending disasters such as droughts, floods and wildfires. West Virginia High Tech Foundation President and CEO Jim Estep said in March that he believes the introduction of Rhea to the center will be the catalyst for future economic growth in the area.
“This is one of the first big things that (the park) expansion was in preparation for,” Estep said. “(Rhea) is going to help NOAA in their exploration of using artificial intelligence and machine learning to improve the weather, ocean and climate forecast and ecosystem modeling.
