Skip to main content

IBM is teaming up with NASA to combat climate change with geospatial AI

Web Hosting & Remote IT Support

Ahead of COP28, IBM has today announced a collaboration with NASA, Mohamed Bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence, the Government of Kenya, and the United Kingdom’s Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) Hartree Centre to throw its weight behind efforts to combat climate change.

The collaboration will see enhanced research and development into geospatial mapping and AI, in the hopes of developing a multi-modal foundation model for weather prediction.

Alongside weather prediction, the model will help combat climate change and its effects through analyzing heat islands, mapping reforestation efforts, and predicting the impact of extreme weather events.

 A rainy renaissance 

In the fight against climate change, new technologies can provide an edge in predicting and tackling extreme weather, alongside analyzing the impact of projects such as reforestation.

With this collaboration, IBM hopes to produce a tunable foundational model to help with weather and climate prediction that, when finished, will be open-source and publicly available to allow unhindered global research to take place.

Last year, the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting began using AI emulators with historical data to generate forecasts more accurately than ever before.

A screenshot of flood mapping

A screenshot from GeoFM, showing flooding in Port de Lanne, France. (Image credit: NASA)

It is worth noting that AI emulators are developed with the intention of performing one specific task from one data set, but provide the benefit of not requiring high performance computing (HPC) solutions. Instead, these AI emulators can be run on a desktop computer in a matter of minutes.

Therefore, by creating a foundational model trained on the 40 years of weather observations within the MERRA2 dataset, pre-trained AI emulators can be developed and distributed to researchers, resulting in faster scientific discoveries.

“Climate change is a real and pressing issue that we must find new ways to address as quickly and efficiently as possible, including through today’s most advanced AI technologies,” said Alessandro Curioni, IBM Fellow and Vice President, Accelerated Discovery at IBM

“AI foundation models utilizing geospatial data can be a game-changer because they allow us to better understand, prepare and address the many climate-related events effecting the health of our planet in a manner and speed never before seen.

“We are hopeful these technologies can help accelerate the rate at which we derive and apply solutions for a safer and healthier planet for future generations.”

More from TechRadar Pro



via Hosting & Support
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Web Hosting
Remote IT Support
Sites & Socials

Popular posts from this blog

The Samsung Galaxy Ring could go into production as soon as next month

Web Hosting & Remote IT Support With the dust beginning to settle from the huge Samsung Unpacked 2023 event, we can turn our attention towards what Samsung might have planned next: and a smart ring seems to be in the company's near future. As per a report from South Korean outlet The Elec (via SamMobile ), mass production on a Samsung Galaxy Ring could begin as early as August, with a decision imminent on the schedule for getting the wearable manufactured and out to consumers. A full launch is slated for some point during 2024 though, rather than 2023. The nature of the device means that it'll need to clear several regulatory hurdles before it can go on sale and start tracking various vital statistics. An early 2024 launch would put the Galaxy Ring on a similar schedule to the Samsung Galaxy S24 – and it would therefore make sense to launch both gadgets at the same time, perhaps in January or February if Samsung follows its 2023 routine. The story so far Rumors ar...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Apple Watch ban is lifted, on appeal – but the reprieve might only be temporary

Web Hosting & Remote IT Support The Apple Watch ban story has developed quickly over the last week and a bit, and there's now a new twist: the US Court of Appeals is putting a pause on the US sales and import ban while it reviews the case, which means the Apple Watch 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 can go back on sale for the time being. "We are thrilled to return the full Apple Watch lineup to customers in time for the new year," an Apple spokesperson told TechRadar. "We are pleased the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has stayed the exclusion order while it considers our request to stay the order pending our full appeal." The watches in question are now once again available from "select" Apple Stores, and will also be going on sale from the Apple website from 12pm PT / 3pm ET on Thursday, December 28 (that's 8pm in the UK, and early on December 29 in Australia). All Apple Stores should have stock by the weekend. As for how long t...
Post a Comment
Read more

These mobile games are just trying to steal your crypto hoard, FBI warns

Web Hosting & Remote IT Support The FBI has warned consumers about a newly-detected, fake "play-to-earn" mobile and online game that tricks victims into depositing cryptocurrency, only to later steal it.  In a public service announcement , the FBI said the elaborate scheme sees scammers first contact the potential victim and try to build a relationship with them.  After a little back-and-forth, the scammers would invite the victim to play an online or mobile game, in which players purportedly earn cryptocurrency rewards in exchange for some activity, “such as growing ‘crops’ on an animated farm” the FBI said.  Depositing cryptos But getting into the “game” isn’t free - the victims must first create a cryptocurrency wallet and deposit some money, which is where the real scam begins. The fraudsters would later also tell the victims that the more funds they deposit, the higher the gains will be. However, as soon as the victim stops depositing additional funds, the...
Post a Comment
Read more