Outer Space-Based AI To Combat Climate Damage

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Satellites have been used for decades to forecast and track weather systems. The systems that are part of them have two problems. One is how data can be analyzed as it is downloaded. The other is how to create forecasts using complex models. A new technology has started to tackle each of their speed problems.

Next Climate Victim –Wine?

Spire, which has a global network that captures data from satellites, has announced that it will begin advanced weather modeling in collaboration with Nvidia, the world’s leader in AI chip manufacturing. The new technology can update weather forecasts faster and allow weather forces to extend to 45 days more accurately. The two companies wrote, “The biggest benefit is that we can run these in massive ensembles. An ensemble is essentially when you run a model with varying initial conditions and some noise in the actual model itself to create a distribution of possible outcomes.”

Data Gets Sold

Much of Spire’s revenue comes from institutional clients. These clients will use the new system to forecast commodity availability and prices. However, the system can also be used for “disaster management.” In short, that means forecasts of severe and dangerous weather events.

The number of deadly climate crises multiplies by the year. This technology will eventually allow forecasts that could affect predictions of the pre-catastrophe environment of hundreds of millions of people. It will make some of the most threatening weather events less threatening to people.