One of its key uses will be to advance weather forecasting, enabling more precise forecasts and helping to refine forecasting of climate extremes and hazardous events.
"Improved weather forecasts will enhance the ability of critical services, such as Fire and Emergency New Zealand, to both identify and manage hazards," Woods said.
"It will also help farmers and environmental managers make more informed decisions using the best information available."
The facility had the ability to carry out data-intensive research at a vast scale, through to specialised software to underpin research on machine learning and artificial intelligence.
"This investment of $23 million represents some of the world's most advanced supercomputing power and has been made possible by a strong collaborative initiative between Niwa and NeSI, the New Zealand eScience Infrastructure," Woods said.
"The capabilities and potential have extended enormously since Niwa received country's first supercomputer almost 20 years ago."
