Data and storage will continue to be fundamental to unlock the potential of technology and achieve the ambitious goals of weather forecasting today and into the future
Data has the potential to change the world; when collected, stored, and analyzed, it can positively impact lives. From simple decisions about what products to showcase in a store display window to critical decisions such as those taken by a healthcare practitioner can all be refined by data. The positive influence of data utilized to form better, faster, and more accurate decisions has been felt across industries. As per a report, data-driven organizations have experienced over 30% annual growth. The potential of data can no longer be ignored.
Timely and Accurate Weather Forecast
Data can also help forecast and predict weather patterns and events. Today, the world is witnessing dramatic changes in the weather. From sweltering heat to floods and fires, different countries are currently beset by various challenges. The current torrential rains in the northern parts of India and the severe heatwave suffered by almost the entire country have impacted lives and daily routines adversely.
Accurate weather forecasts and giving advanced warnings can be extremely helpful in such scenarios. Advanced weather information can also help farmers, who mainly depend on the weather. Knowing what to expect can help them plan activities such as plowing, planting, irrigating, and fertilizing in a much better and more efficient manner.
Machine learning (ML), a subset of artificial intelligence (AI), can play an important role in weather forecasting by looking for patterns in big piles of historical data. Moreover, ML-driven methods can create forecasts in just seconds, as opposed to hours taken by the traditional forecasting models that are dependent on big and complex computer algorithms.
AI or ML can potentially democratize weather forecasting, leveling the meteorological playing field for nations around the globe. However, AI or ML-driven weather forecasting models will not replace the traditional models but complement them to make predictions more accurate and faster. Capturing, reliably storing, and analyzing heaps of data is fundamental for robust AI. For example, AI-driven models may be trained on tens of thousands of terabytes of weather data to make accurate predictions.
Bits and Bytes
Droves of data collected from satellites, ground weather stations, ocean and stationary buoys, ships, balloons, and more are processed and turned into coherent weather forecasts. According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO there are some 160 meteorological satellites in orbit today, creating about 80 million satellite observations per day. All of this data requires big, high-capacity, cost-effective storage.
Senior Director – Marketing, India, Middle East & TIA,
Western Digital
One such example is Western Digital’s industry-leading, high-density hard disk drives (HDDs) with up to 22TB that help store massive amounts of data reliably, cost-effectively, and energy efficiently. These drives are designed for optimal power supporting a variety of workloads. Moreover, storage platforms such as JBOD and JBOF, or ‘Just a Bunch of Disks’ and ‘Just a Bunch of Flash’, address the ever-expanding needs in a complete, high-density storage enclosure. The Western Digital Ultrastar Data102 storage platform (JBOD) is configured with up to 102 HDDs in a compact and efficient form factor and offers up to 2.65PB* of raw storage in 4U height solution. In testing against a competitive enclosure, the Ultrastar Data102 storage platform required just over half the cooling power per drive slot to get the same average drive temperatures. Overall, the analysis shows the Ultrastar platform will deliver more than 25% lower cost per terabyte than competing solutions.
Over the years, the weather forecasting models have improved drastically. A modern five-day forecast is as accurate as a one-day forecast in 1980. There is a razor-sharp focus on radically improving weather forecasting to avoid major disasters. Data and storage will continue to be fundamental to unlock the potential of technology and achieve the ambitious goals of weather forecasting today and into the future.
