Fujitsu and Yokohama National University said they have achieved the world’s first real-time prediction of multiple typhoon-associated tornadoes using advanced supercomputing technology, significantly improving disaster preparedness.
The new technology utilises optimised large-scale parallel processing coupled with the enhanced Cloud Resolving Storm Simulator (CReSS), a weather simulator developed by Kazuhisa Tsuboki on Fujitsu’s Fugaku supercomputer.
This allows for a single, high-resolution simulations encompassing both large-scale typhoons and smaller-scale tornadoes, resulting in accurate, real-time predictions.
Previously, during simulations of Typhoon No. 10 tornadoes, which hit Japan’s Kyushu area in August 2024, it took more than 11 hours to predict whether or not tornadoes would occur, making the predictions not practicably applicable.
This technology was able to drastically reduce prediction time to 80 minutes, allowing the two partners to predict the occurrence of a tornado four hours in advance. This prediction calculation used only 5% of Fugaku’s computational resources, indicating the potential for even larger-scale and faster predictions in the future.
The two partners will release the enhanced CReSS to the research community within fiscal year 2024, significantly improving the prediction of severe weather events and enhancing disaster mitigation efforts.
About 20% of tornadoes in Japan occur alongside typhoons. In response to increasing tornado damage, Japan began issuing tornado warnings in 2008. However, compared to weather phenomena like precipitation, which can be predicted with high accuracy, tornadoes are difficult to predict due to their small scale and short duration.
Tornado warnings currently have a validity period of about one hour, and there is a demand for longer warning periods.
Fujitsu and Yokohama National University initiated a joint research project in November 2022, aiming to address societal challenges related to increasingly severe typhoons exacerbated by global warming.
This collaboration, conducted under the Fujitsu Small Research Lab’s Fujitsu-Yokohama National University Typhoon Science and Technology Research Center Collaborative Research Laboratory, focuses on understanding typhoon formation mechanisms and accelerating and improving the accuracy of typhoon prediction simulations.
“By advancing research in typhoon development prediction and prediction simulation, we aim to help mitigate weather-related disasters and lessen their impact, contributing to solutions for global environment, one of Fujitsu’s key materiality topics,” said Seishi Okamoto, Fujitsu EVP and head of Fujitsu Research.
Professor Hironori Fudeyasu, director of TRC, Institute of Multidisciplinary Sciences at Yokohama National University, said this breakthrough is expected to significantly contribute to disaster risk reduction while minimizing environmental consequences.
To accelerate research on meteorological disasters, including typhoons, Fujitsu and Yokohama National University plan to publicly release the large-scale parallel version of CReSS within this fiscal year.
Furthermore, based on these achievements, both organisations will work to further improve speed and prediction accuracy, leveraging AI technology. Through these efforts, we will contribute to solving global environmental issues, one of Fujitsu’s key materiality topics.
