MET OFFICE
108 ingly machines are trying to make a decision that is only partly about the weather . We are actively researching to understand how to better communicate the weather and future climate to these systems . Human beings are constrained in terms of how more statistics help better decision making , AI does not have that particular constraint ,” he says .
Elsewhere , by applying Google Deep Mind , the office is hoping to research the realm of ‘ nowcasting ’ a form of weather prediction which uses radar returns and other observations to show how the weather may apply to more short-term localised regions . “ If you watch this morning ’ s weather forecast and it says there ’ s likely to be heavy showers at 10 o ’ clock you might look out your window at that time to see no rain . It might be a very near miss spatially ; it might rain in 20 minutes but not exactly at 10 o ’ clock . Nowcasting , as opposed to forecasting , applies statistics to see how the weather may evolve in the short term .”
Whilst technology plays a key role in the Met Office ’ s digital transformation roadmap , Ewen asserts that it ’ s the people that are at the crux of its
JANUARY 2019