The 10-teraflop supercomputer being built by the National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) will be 10 times more powerful than the USbuilt Cray supercomputer in use at the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF), based in the Delhi suburb of Noida.

A teraflop machine does one trillion calculations per second.

The machine is expected to be ready by 2009. "It is more versatile, (will provide) better accuracy and modelling (of weather data)," said A.R.

Upadhya, director of NAL.

A scientist at the NCMRWF , who did not want to be named, said a country as large as India that experiences complex weather patterns because of monsoon vagaries needs more powerful machines and also trained personnel to use the machines.

"For (building) new models, you need people who understand them (supercomputers)," he said.

The new supercomputer, which is to be linked with the proposed integrated Indian weather forecasting system, could help in both long-range forecasts and short-range predictions of extreme weather events such as the early monsoon being witnessed in parts of India.

The country is also launching new remote-sensing satellites such as Megha Tropiques and Oceansat to understand cloud patterns around the tropics, crucial to provide accurate weather forecasts.