The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Special Operations and Research Division (SORD) of the Air Resources Laboratory (ARL) in Las Vegas runs a high resolution weather simulation model on the UNLV's SGI Supercomputer daily. The weather simulation model, the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System, or RAMS, predicts the weather for the Southwestern United States including Nevada, California, Arizona, and Utah at resolutions down to 2 kilometers.

RAMS is a multi-purpose, non-hydrostatic, numerical prediction model designed to simulate atmospheric circulations from the hemispheric scale down to large eddy simulations of the planetary boundary layer. The model is primarily used to simulate atmospheric phenomena on the meso-scale (horizontal scales from 2 km to 2000 km) for purposes ranging from operational forecasting to air quality analysis to basic research. RAMS includes longwave and shortwave radiation physics, explicit microphysics for moisture and precipitation, boundary layer physics, and a soil model with land use and vegetative coverage schemes.

ARL/SORD uses the UNLV supercomputer capability to run atmospheric simulations at resolutions of 32, 8 and 2 km, covering the Southwestern US down to Las Vegas. These simulations are used to assist SORD forecasters prepare daily weather forecasts and to support Department of Energy projects at the Nevada Test Site for Homeland Security.

At the beginning of each model simulation, the NSCEE Computer connects to computers at ARL Headquarters in Washington, DC, and downloads model initialization data fields generated by the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP). The NSCEE computer creates initial data files for the model using a single processor. The 37-hour simulation, 3 resolution/domain model run begins at 10 pm each night using 12 processors of the NSCEE SGI and takes approximately 7 hours to complete. Once complete, the University computer again connects to ARL Headquarter computers in Washington, DC, and downloads model results. Locally, the ARL/SORD computers connect to the NSCEE and download the model result data files. These data files are then processed into graphics that are posted to the ARL/SORD website (www.sord.nv.doe.gov/home_models.htm) for use by forecasters and operation support meteorologists.