The Israeli government has announced the approval of NIS 20 million ($5.6 million) over the next five years to be spent on a supercomputer that is capable of creating sophisticated models and forecasts for the effects of climate change.
According to a joint statement from several ministries and the Water Authority, the data will be available to the entire region all of which will be sharing the cost.
Reports show that the Middle East and North Africa are known as climate hotspots because temperatures are rising faster than the global average.
Read also: EU lawmakers back energy efficiency target in response to Russian war
Accurate forecasting is however said to be critical to mitigating the effects of extreme weather events such as heatwaves by enabling policymakers to plan their response. The Israel Meteorological Service has long suffered from inadequate computer facilities.
But the new equipment โwhich will form the centrepiece of a National Center for Climate Calculation โ will be operated by the IMS, within the Transportation Ministry.
It is expected to be supervised by a steering committee comprising the chief scientists of the relevant ministries and the climate committee chairperson of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities. That latter role is currently filled by Prof. Dan Yakir of the Weizmann Institute of Science.
Story was adapted from the Times of Israel.
