An artificial intelligence-powered weather prediction system called Pangu is garnering a lot of attention globally as it aims to revolutionize weather forecasting. Pangu, created by Huawei in China, creates high-resolution global forecasts for locations roughly 27 kilometers apart generated in under 10 seconds.
Tian Qi, the leader of Pangu’s research and development team, said it uses neural network models for weather forecasting systems and achieves higher prediction accuracy than other AI forecasting models. Accurate weather forecasting is of significant importance for wind power generation, precipitation forecasting, earthquake disaster reduction and guiding agricultural production, and Pangu provides a breakthrough in advancement of quality forecasting according to Tian.
The World Bank says global weather forecasting may generate economic benefits worth $162 billion a year. Research from the China Meteorological Administration indicates that approximately 40% of China’s GDP is related to weather and climate.
Tian provided an example of wind power generation. If they are able to reduce wind speed forecast errors by half a meter per second, it could save China economic losses of $3.22 billion a year and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 25 million metric tons.
The Pangu AI model has been shown to extend forecast lead time by 0.6 days while achieving the same level of accuracy as traditional forecasting. Traditional weather forecasting methods can extend the forecast time by about one day every 10 years. With the evolution speed of AI, experts believe that accelerated improvement to the model could be expected.
