Global Weather and Pollution Forecasting Within a Minute - Aurora Can Do It
Posted 1 year ago
Islamabad
May 05, 2024
Microsoft has developed an Artificial Intelligence based computer program called Aurora. It can tell us about the weather and air pollution worldwide in less than a minute.
Several big tech companies are making similar programs. Google DeepMind in London has one called GraphCast, and Nvidia in California has one called FourCastNet. But what makes Aurora unique is that it can predict air pollution globally quickly, which researchers think is pretty groundbreaking and provides an opportunity for future research on climatic conditions and their impact on living.
Typically, weather forecasts and predictions use complicated math and physics about the air, land, and sea. Scientists usually combine this math with some machine learning to guess how polluted the air will be. But Aurora is different. It's the first computer program that only uses AI to predict global pollution, which is way more complicated than just figuring out the weather.
It is important to mention that Aurora can predict six major air pollutants worldwide in less than a minute. These include carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, ozone, and particulate matter for five days.
Aurora's predictions are just as good as the usual methods, a promising development. This is particularly significant as policymakers can leverage these predictions to safeguard us from health issues like asthma, heart disease, and memory problems, all of which are intricately linked to air pollution.
Aurora can do all this based on the immense data from six weather and climate models. Recent refinements have enhanced Aurora's capability to provide a ten-day weather forecast and tell us about air pollution globally.
Scientists believe that more time and research are needed to recognize Aurora as the most reliable program compared with other such programs like GraphCast. However, Aurora gives us hope to better understand our planet Earth through supercomputing.
Prof. Dr. Muhammad Mukhar, Vice Chancellor of the National Skills University Islamabad, recognizes this as an opportunity for the world to work together to overcome global warming and associated environmental research. Cumulatively, this and other inventions benefit humanity to understand each other in a better way.
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