In the face of increasingly devastating floods, Jean Bienvenido Dinga, head of the National Hydrological Service of the Republic of Congo attached to the Institute of Research and Studies in Natural Sciences (IRSEN) in Brazaville, and hydrological advisor of the Republic of Congo to the WMO, speaks to MTI about the key technologies and techniques he’s deploying to save lives and infrastructure on the front lines of the climate crisis.

As a physical chemist and hydrologist, I’ve spent my life examining water in all its forms and distributions. For the past 14 years, I’ve served as head of the National Hydrological Service of the Republic of Congo, working to improve our understanding of Congo’s hydrology and develop its operational services for the people who need them the most.

Continue reading OPINION: Equipping the world with accurate hydrological data at Meteorological Technology International.

Like many industries, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) will revolutionize weather forecasting in the coming years.

Scientific progress, including the development of solely AI-based weather forecasting models, has been continuing at pace in recent months. Organizations, including the Met Office, are publishing research, assessing opportunities and limitations, as well as developing and enhancing innovative AI-based models that can complement existing physics-based methods.

This includes the Met Office’s work with the Alan Turing Institute on the development of FastNet, an ML-based model using an approach known as a graph neural network, to predict weather patterns.

Continue reading OPINION: How will AI weather forecasts make maximum impacts for users? at Meteorological Technology International.

The Met Office Space Weather Operations Centre (MOSWOC) has been monitoring the Sun’s activity for over 10 years, but how exactly is space weather observed on the Earth’s surface? And what role does the UK have in this global monitoring network?

Space weather forecasting chiefly uses satellites to monitor the Sun’s activity and forecast events that could reach the Earth and cause impacts. These satellites include those that are always looking at the Sun, but also some that monitor particles in space, such as charged particles and matter from the Sun, as they get closer to our atmosphere.

Continue reading OPINION: Advancing the monitoring of space weather events at Meteorological Technology International.

The Finnish Meteorological Institute produces real-time forecast data on weather, sea, climate and space conditions and their impacts. Physical weather, sea and climate models are a key part of the forecast value chain. Statistical methods, including artificial intelligence (AI), have long been part of this chain. AI has been used to enhance the use of weather observations in forecast models, for example, or to create new impact forecasts so that they identify links between meteorological phenomena and their impacts.

The atmosphere can already be modeled with data-driven AI models. For example, the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) has developed a prototype of a data-driven global weather model that is no longer directly based on physical equations but on dependencies that the AI model has learned from a long data time series of atmospheric history, produced with a traditional weather model.

Continue reading OPINION: Are weather forecasts better with artificial intelligence? at Meteorological Technology International.

The World Economic Forum, organized annually in Davos, Switzerland, assesses future risks to the global economy at its January meetings. This year, the greatest risks in the 2030s were estimated to be extreme weather phenomena and climate change.

Undesirable records were broken in 2023

2023 was the hottest year yet. According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), we reached a temperature 1.45°C higher than that of the pre-industrial times. This was due, in particular, to the use of fossil fuels, which has increased exponentially since World War II and is a dominant factor in global warming.

Continue reading OPINION: Extreme weather phenomena and climate change require preparedness and risk management at Meteorological Technology International.

The impacts of climate change on the ocean are driving more frequent and intense extreme events at our coasts. International initiatives such as the United Nations Early Warning For All (EW4All) and the Global Ocean Observing System’s CoastPredict aim to revolutionize access to improved early warnings.

 In low-lying coastal regions, approximately 900 million people are now facing a 15-fold higher risk of perishing from extreme events compared to other areas. They are at the forefront of the climate crisis, and access to improved daily warnings can help protect these coastal communities from the escalating threat of natural disasters.

Continue reading OPINION: Ocean observation as a cornerstone for early warnings and coastal resilience at Meteorological Technology International.

Reflecting on the success of 150 years of international data exchange, WMO secretary-general Prof. Petteri Taalas stresses the importance of urgent and unified climate action, today

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the International Meteorological Organization – the forerunner to the World Meteorological Organization. It is also the 60th anniversary of World Weather Watch, which is arguably just as important in our daily lives as the better-known World Wide Web.

We are the second oldest UN agency and are proud that we have set a gold standard for international cooperation. For the past 150 years national meteorological and hydrological services (NMHS) have collected and standardized data that underpins the weather forecasts we now take for granted.

Continue reading OPINION: No time to waste at Meteorological Technology International.

Researchers from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) in Germany have used advanced simulations to identify two carbon emission tipping points for the Greenland Ice Sheet. Alarmingly, around 500Gt of carbon has been emitted into the atmosphere to date – half the amount needed to reach the first tipping point. Dennis Höning, a climate scientist at PIK, led the analysis of various anthropogenic carbon emission scenarios on the ice sheet.

What attracted you to the sector?
I have always been curious about understanding the world around us. That’s why I studied geophysics and worked as an Earth and planetary scientist for many years.

Continue reading Q&A: Understanding how CO² tipping points will impact the Greenland Ice Sheet at Meteorological Technology International.

To celebrate World Meteorological Day 2023, Florian Pappenberger, ECMWF director of forecasts, reflects on the importance of international collaboration for the future of weather, climate and water across generations

March 23 is the day every year when the whole meteorological community takes a moment to celebrate the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and raise awareness of its activities. Why, at a time when severe weather and changes to our climate take so much of our time and our energy, should we stop to think about the WMO? Because a lot of what we do would not be possible without the WMO.

Continue reading World Meteorological Day: International collaboration has and will continue to be the key to future success, says ECMWF director at Meteorological Technology International.

Ever-increasing impacts from climate change, including more frequent and intense bouts of extreme weather, are among the greatest challenges faced by mankind.

A changing climate is a daunting prospect. But, says the Met Office’s Theo McCaie, there is one ally standing increasingly firm in our corner: technology; in particular, the benefits from machine learning and artificial intelligence.

We are in the midst of an artificial intelligence revolution where the world’s fastest-growing deep technology has the potential to rewrite the rules of entire industries, fundamentally changing the way we work and live.

Data science advances – including machine learning and artificial intelligence – mean computers can now analyze, and learn from, vast volumes of information at high levels of accuracy and speed, providing exciting new opportunities.

Continue reading Counting on technology in a changing world at Meteorological Technology International.