MareNostrum 4 , the most powerful supercomputer in Spain and the seventh in Europe, is available to scientists across the continent. In order to use it, researchers must submit a request to the Spanish Supercomputing Network (RES) or to PRACE (Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe). Its main applications include research and development in computer science, biology, engineering, zoology, genetics, medicine, chemistry, nanotechnology, physics, astronomy, geology, oceanography, paleontology or meteorology. Seat, for its part, uses it to improve the aerodynamics of its cars, which in turn increases safety and reduces both consumption and emissions.
The supercomputer offers great performance , which although it is far from the 93,014.6 TFLOPS of the Sunway TaihuLight of the National Supercomputing Center in Wuxi (China), is still incredible. In addition, its managers never stop thinking about important improvements to cover interesting areas in the supercomputing segment.
In fact, the capacity of MareNostrum 4, which is located in the Barcelona Supercomputing Center – National Supercomputing Center (BSC) , is equal to that of no more and no less than 40,000 laptops working in unison. This power that it offers allows to carry out all kinds of simulations, from how a heart works to predictions about climate change, through environmental catastrophes or tests of drugs or surgical interventions. In the case of the collaboration project with Seat, it seeks to take advantage of the computing power of the supercomputer, 165,888 processors at the service of our cars.
Thus, the BSC facilities take advantage of both traditional air cooling and a liquid cooling system for each rack that helps keep the entire assembly at the proper temperature. Furthermore, in the new supercomputer we find not only conventional supercomputing technologies , but also other emerging supercomputing technologies.
MareNostrum 4 is located in the Torre Girona enclosure , which was built in 1860, being then the private summer estate of the banker Manuel Girona, appointed mayor of Barcelona in 1876. The Torre Girona chapel was built 80 years later, but over time it changed its use until it became the headquarters of the Rector’s Office of the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC).
