In an announcement on Monday, officials said that one of the world’s most powerful computers dedicated to weather, climate change and other earth science study is going to be replaced next year by an even faster machine.

Presently, the Yellowstone supercomputer in Wyoming is among the 60 fastest in the world. The National Center for Atmospheric Research said that the new supercomputer, to be dubbed Cheyenne, is going to be at least 2 1/2 times more powerful,

Cheyenne can do 5.3 quadrillion calculations, or petaflops, in a second. It will be nearly 100,000 times faster compared to a typical home computer. The center said that the speed gives extraordinary detail in predicting climate-change, such as regional modeling of effects.

Rich Loft, the center's director of technology, said using a more powerful computer, researchers will be able to see finding in higher resolution, for example a higher density of pixels sharpens pictures on a television or a more powerful telescope can focus on a greater number of remote galaxies.

Since 2012, scientists have been using the Yellowstone supercomputer near Cheyenne for research work, including modeling air pollution and ocean currents.

The atmospheric research center is looking forward to install Cheyenne by the end of this year, putting it put it to work in the beginning of next year. Some of the questions that might get answers include.

The status of California drought, whether it is a fluke or a result of global climate change? It might answer whether scientists will be able to predict the intensity of solar flares at the time of an upcoming solar cycle? Another major question that will be answered is how might climate change raises the changes of drought and alters the arctic sea ice extent from decade to decade?