Google\u2019s philanthropic arm will spend up $5 million (\u20ac4.46 million) on high-tech weather forecasting and climate research in Ireland, aiming to improve local forecasting of severe storms, flash flooding and other weather events. <\/p>\n
The commitment from Google.org includes \u20ac2.5 million in funding for the Aimsir Centre and the Climate + Co-Centre \u2013 the organisation\u2019s largest funded initiative in Ireland \u2013 and will also see the creation of a new schools-based network of weather stations. <\/p>\n
The investment will fund a four-year research initiative that combines Google Earth AI, satellite imagery and real-time weather observations from 560 solar-powered weather stations deployed at schools across the State, known as the Climate+ School Weather AI Network (Swan). <\/p>\n
Overseen by UCD\u2019s Aimsir Centre in partnership with Met \u00c9ireann and the Climate+ Co-Centre, the stations will measure temperature, atmospheric pressure, rainfall, humidity, wind speed and wind direction at one-minute intervals. <\/p>\n
The project will combine that data with historical weather patterns to build \u201cnowcasting\u201d models that can detect severe weather events earlier. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis combination of central research and the distributed gathering of information, working with the network of 560 schools, is not something we\u2019ve done anywhere else in the world,\u201d said Kent Walker, president of global affairs at Google and Alphabet. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a shift in the way the Irish weather forecasting services are doing it. They are used to having a small number of very high end data points. This is a distributed model we have, and lots of very localised data points. In the aggregate, it may lead to better forecasting for the whole country.\u201d<\/p>\n
The data will also be freely available online. Teachers will be provided with training and lesson plans to help students get the most out of the data. The initiative is also being supported by the Irish Schools Sustainability Network, the Irish Science Teachers\u2019 Association, and education portal Scoilnet. <\/p>\n
The project will roll out a pilot phase to 20 schools initially, to test the equipment\u2019s function and longevity over the winter months. It then plans to install around 200 weather stations a year in secondary schools around the State. <\/p>\n
The stations will connect via wifi, meaning they need to be close enough to a building to pick up the connection, but far enough away that they pick up good wind and rain data. <\/p>\n
Aimsir\u2019s Prof Andrew Parnell said the programme was prioritising Deis schools. The stations can also be adapted for different school needs, such as adding air quality sensors for schools in urban areas. <\/p>\n
Head of Google Ireland, Vanessa Hartley said the initiative showed how AI could be used to address a real-world challenge. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhat makes this initiative particularly impactful is that communities across the country will play an integral role,\u201d she said. \u201cWith weather stations located in schools across Ireland, students and teachers will have the opportunity not just to learn about weather and AI, but to contribute directly to a nationwide \u2013 and potentially global \u2013 scientific initiative.\u201d<\/p>\n
The project was welcomed by Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin. <\/p>\n
\u201cIreland has built a strong international reputation for innovation, research and technology and initiatives such as this demonstrate how those strengths can be applied to challenges facing communities across the country,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Google\u2019s philanthropic arm will spend up $5 million (\u20ac4.46 million) on high-tech weather forecasting and climate research in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":653830,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,1711,61,60,1191],"class_list":["post-653829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-google","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-met-eireann"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=653829"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653829\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/653830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=653829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=653829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=653829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}