LAS VEGAS — The head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Rick Spinrad, emphasized the importance of innovative technologies like cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI) in improving the agency’s ability to predict and forecast weather events.
NOAA, which houses the National Weather Service and owns or operates 18 weather satellites, collects and archives massive amounts of environmental data every month, with 230 terabytes of data coming in each month. This data is then hosted by commercial cloud service providers and made available to the public and nascent climate industry through NOAA’s Open Data Dissemination program.
AWS, one of the cloud service providers, now hosts 32 petabytes of environmental information, or about half of NOAA’s holdings. This allows for improved access to critical weather data for incident meteorologists in the field, who can use Amazon’s AppStream 2.0 to access advanced weather information and interactive processing systems from anywhere.
Spinrad highlighted the significant advancements that have been made in forecast capability using AI, with a seven-year advancement in just a matter of months. He emphasized that this would not have been possible without the ability to assimilate new data types, such as autonomous systems, satellites, and surface-based robots.
The improved forecasting capabilities are particularly critical in light of recent weather events, including the 2024 hurricane season, which could exceed $50 billion in damage. Spinrad emphasized that the environmental world is not the same as it was in the past, with hurricanes, tornadoes, droughts, floods, and coastal inundation events becoming increasingly powerful and frequent.
NOAA plans to incorporate AI into more of its applications and provide tailored forecasts for industries such as agriculture, energy, construction, insurance, and retail. Ultimately, the goal is to improve lives, livelihoods, and lifestyles.
