A Japanese research team has simulated global atmospheric conditions with the world’s greatest precision using the “K” supercomputer, the team said Friday.

The Riken research institute and the University of Tokyo, among other researchers, said the calculations by the K supercomputer, which can replicate the inner structure of each cumulonimbus cloud, are expected to greatly contribute to resolving how typhoons and local torrential rains occur.

In the latest experiment, the researchers partitioned the Earth into 870-square-meter horizontal lattices and calculated atmospheric conditions in each grid to see how the conditions affect the other grid spaces on the K supercomputer, according to Riken.

In a previous experiment using supercomputers, calculations using 3.5-square-kilometer lattices were the best researchers could achieve.

The researchers also narrowed the vertical dimensions down to about 400 meters from the previous 800 meters.

The researchers learned if they used actual weather data, the K supercomputer was able to replicate locations where a powerful ascending air current develops inside cumulonimbus clouds, among other weather conditions, in addition to detailed forms of the clouds.