Using AI to Prepare for Severe Weather
CEE Professor Auroop Ganguly predicts that AI will play a significant role in predicting and preparing for future weather and climate disasters.
This article originally appeared on Northeastern Global News. It was published by Cesareo Contreras. Main photo: People walk their dogs during a break between rain showers near the Golden Gate Bridge and Fort Point in San Francisco. AP Photo/Eric Risberg
AI will play a bigger role in predicting weather and climate disasters in the US in 2024, experts say
Hurricane Idalia and the Hawaii firestorm were the most notable weather disasters in the U.S. in 2023, but they were far from the only ones.
In 2023, 25 weather or climate disasters caused at least $1 billion in losses and the deaths of 482 people, according to the National Centers for Environmental Information.
In 2024, artificial intelligence should play a bigger role in predicting those events and saving lives, Northeastern University faculty experts predict.
“In the next 12 months, we are going to see more and more efforts where data-driven systems and artificial intelligence come together,” says Auroop R. Ganguly, professor of civil and environmental engineering and director of AI4CaS (AI for Climate and Sustainability) focus area within Northeastern’s Institute for Experiential AI.
For years, scientists have been using climate prediction models based largely on the rules of physics and chemistry to forecast weather patterns, Ganguly says.
Recently, new hybrid-based models have been developed that also take into account machine learning and other generative AI tools. These models in turn have helped climate scientists create even more accurate and precise systems.
That trend will continue in 2024, Ganguly says, as prediction models continue to improve and as the need for accurate climate data becomes more dire.
“AI will be used with our existing knowledge of physics and processes to help us get better at anticipating and preparing for the disasters of the future,” he says.
You don’t have to look far for an example of the impact of these new hybrid based systems. Doctorate students at Northeastern are working with officials from the Tennessee Valley Authority to provide a more accurate hybrid-based flood prediction system than the one they are using that is based solely on physics.
“In the next 12 months, we are going to see more and more efforts where data-driven systems and artificial intelligence come together.”Auroop R. Ganguly, professor of civil and environmental engineering and director of AI4CaS within Northeastern’s Institute for Experiential AI
More regulations on AI on the horizon
In addition to helping better predict weather and climate disasters, government regulations on AI will continue to be refined over the next year, says Sina Fazelpour, assistant professor of philosophy and computer science at Northeastern.
“I think one interesting question for the year ahead will be, ‘What will be the regulatory landscape and the shape of the policies that will come in the U.S.?’” he says.
Read full story at Northeastern Global News