A Climate Supercomputer Is Getting New Bosses. It’s Not Clear Who. The National Science Foundation said management of the machine, used by researchers for forecasts, disaster warnings and pure science, would be transferred to a “third-party operator.”

The U.S. National Science Foundation said on Thursday that the management and operations of a supercomputer used by more than 2,000 climate and weather scientists across the country would be transferred from a leading research lab to an undisclosed third party. Science foundation officials said stewardship of the supercomputer, located at a National Center for Atmospheric Research facility in Cheyenne, Wyo., would “transition to a third-party operator” but declined to give details about the new operator or the timeline. The national center, known as NCAR, has 835 scientists and engineers at its headquarters in Boulder, Colo., and has managed the Cheyenne facility since it opened in 2012.