Neil Jacobs on AI at NOAA and Improving Weather Warning Systems

AI Institutionalization at NOAA

• 💡 Dr. Jacobs views AI as a critical tool for NOAA, with opportunities ranging from improving fisheries assessments to enhancing numerical weather prediction.
• ⚡ AI models can replicate physics-based models, performing complex calculations in a fraction of the time, potentially reducing processing from minutes to seconds.
• 🧠 The I79 Tech Park in Fairmont, West Virginia, with its supercomputing assets like Hera and Rehea, is highlighted as a unique asset for supporting NOAA's AI adoption.

Procurement and Data Handling

• ☁️ The discussion touches on NOAA's need for a sufficient procurement process to access quality data sets and improve data storage, including a move towards cloud services.
• 📊 Private industry's interest in NOAA's freely available data creates a dynamic where companies may pay cloud providers to process this data, offering NOAA flexibility.

Extreme Weather and Warning Systems

• ⚠️ Following recent tragedies like the flooding in Kerrville, Texas, there's a focus on improving community engagement and warning systems.
• 🎯 Dr. Jacobs, drawing from his background in numerical weather prediction, emphasizes that the "last mile" of getting forecasts to people is crucial, even with perfect predictions.
• 📡 Modernizing NOAA Weather Radio and exploring satellite capabilities, such as CubeSat-based data transmission, are proposed as ways to distribute watches and warnings more effectively, especially in areas with poor cell coverage.
• 🛰️ An "all the above" approach to modernizing warning distribution is considered a top priority.