Global leaders in science, technology and climate services will convene in Abu Dhabi this week to explore how AI can improve weather prediction in a three-day event organized by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the National Centre of Meteorology (NCM) of the United Arab Emirates.
The meeting will discuss the potential for AI to strengthen weather, climate, hydrological and marine services to help WMO members improve forecasting, hazard warning and data-driven decisions.
The WMO AI Conference: AI for Weather Prediction, Advances, Challenges & Future Outlook takes place September 9-11 at NCM’s headquarters in Abu Dhabi. More than 50 international experts will attend from the WMO, the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, national meorological and hydrological services (NMHS), academia and the private sector, including Google, IBM, Microsoft and Nvidia.
WMO president Abdulla Al Mandous said, “The world has seen a fundamental shift in the past three years. Artificial intelligence has moved out of the research laboratories and into our living rooms, classrooms and parliaments.
“We see forecasts powered by AI emerging at remarkable speed, driven in part by the collaboration between the private sector, academia and our own NMHSs in various parts of the world.”
WMO says it is already exploring the potential of AI to save lives and livelihoods. Its executive council agreed on an action plan on AI in June, including the establishment of a new joint advisory group, and it is piloting AI for flood forecasting in Nigeria, Vietnam, Uruguay and the Czech Republic.
WMO is also enabling regional climate centers in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific to apply AI in sub-seasonal forecasting. Together with the private sector, WMO is now piloting AI-based nowcasting tools across three continents, including Asia.
WMO deputy secretary-general Ko Barrett commented, “We see that we need to do more together to scale up this integration around the globe while ensuring that it advances in a scientifically sound way.
“We are clear that AI still has limitations, particularly for localized high-impact events, and these challenges must be resolved before large-scale deployment. This is another reason to join forces to ensure we can all trust what fuels our early warning systems.”
The conference will conclude with a statement titled ‘MO Call to the Industry to Collaborate on the Development of AI Models and Tools to Improve the Provision of Weather, Climate, Water and other Environmental Services’. This will serve as a shared vision and roadmap for AI and will inform discussions at the WMO Extraordinary Congress taking place on October 20-24.