The WeatherPod AI Special, Episode 4: Digital Twins of Planet Earth

The WeatherPod
The WeatherPod
The WeatherPod AI Special, Episode 4: Digital Twins of Planet Earth
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In this episode of The WeatherPod, hosts Alan Thorpe and David Rogers invite Irina Sandu, Director of Destination Earth at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts – the ECMWF – into the studio.

Irina Sandu is the Director of Destination Earth (DestinE) at ECMWF, a flagship initiative of the European Union to develop a digital twin of planet Earth. Prior to taking the lead of ECMWF’s involvement in DestinE in summer 2023, she was Science Lead for the initiative from January 2022.
Irina joined ECMWF in 2010 as a scientist working on the representation of turbulent processes and then lead the Physical Processes team for several years. Through the work carried out at ECMWF, Irina played an instrumental role in improving understanding of the impact of surface drag, as well as the representation of both stable and cloudy boundary layers in the Integrated Forecasting System (IFS).

Irina has also coordinated polar prediction related activities at ECMWF for several years, most prominently in the context of the ongoing WMO Year of Polar Prediction and the H2020 project APPLICATE. Irina is also the co-lead of the H2020 nextGEMS project, which develops the next generation of storm and eddy resolving models which underpin the DestinE climate digital twin.

More recently, Irina has helped shaping the science plan for DestinE and led the DestinE science activities at ECMWF. Irina is now leading the implementation of the activities ECMWF is responsible for delivering in DestinE by working closely with partners throughout Europe, related to the first two high priority digital twins and digital twin engine.

The WeatherPod AI Special, Episode 3: ECMWF’s strategy for using AI predictions

The WeatherPod
The WeatherPod
The WeatherPod AI Special, Episode 3: ECMWF's strategy for using AI predictions
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The guest this episode is Florian Pappenberger, Deputy-Director General & Director of Forecasts at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, the ECMWF.

Hosts David Rogers and Alan Thorpe delve into the ECMWF’s use of AI and how this may impact it’s future products and services, especially when it comes to their use in the developing countries by meteorological services and other customers.

Florian leads the ECMWF’s Forecast Department which is responsible for the production of weather forecasts, forecast quality control, and the development of novel forecast products.

ECMWF has for a while been experimenting with using deep learning to produce a data-based AI weather prediction model and last October Florian played a key role in the launch of the Artificial Intelligence / Integrated Forecasting System. This is the ECMWF’s first forecasting system incorporating a machine learning prediction module.

The WeatherPod AI Special, Episode 2: Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence

The WeatherPod
The WeatherPod
The WeatherPod AI Special, Episode 2: Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence
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In this special AI Episode, hosts Alan Thorpe and David Rogers invite Amy McGovern into the studio to discuss the meaning of “trustworthy AI”.

Amy is Director of the National Science Foundation AI Institute for Research on Trustworthy AI in Weather, Climate, and Coastal Oceanography – or AI2ES for short.

She’s also a Professor at Oklahoma University’s School of Computer Science and School of Meteorology.

Working under the University of Oklahoma’s leadership, AI2ES brings together researchers in AI, atmospheric science, ocean science, and risk communication. The thinking is that accelerated AI research in the environmental sciences can improve understanding of the rapid changes taking place in weather patterns, oceans, sea level rise, and disaster risk.

Amy’s research focuses on developing and applying machine learning and data mining methods for real-world applications, with a specific interest in high-impact weather.

Much of this work involves weather analytics or physical data science and she and her students are developing physics-based trustworthy AI methods as well as explainable AI. Their aim is to apply their work to high-impact weather phenomena, including tornadoes, hail, severe wind events, flooding, drought, and aircraft turbulence.

A key aim is to help build a diverse and flexible science, technology, engineering, and mathematics workforce. Amy’s thinking is that diversity will bring new ideas to the forefront, while flexibility is crucial to dealing with rapid changes in technology. To help this process, Amy and her team have developed outreach projects to encourage students to pursue STEM careers.

This work aside, Amy also directs the Interaction, Discovery, Exploration and Adaptation – or IDEA – Lab at Oklahoma University. The Lab’s focus is on developing and applying data science, AI and machine learning techniques for high-impact real-world applications.

The WeatherPod Episode 27: A Global Interactive Forecasting System

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The WeatherPod
The WeatherPod Episode 27: A Global Interactive Forecasting System
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In this episode of The WeatherPod, hosts Alan Thorpe and David Rogers invite David Richardson of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts – the ECMWF – into the studio.

About David Richardson

David Richardson has over 35 years’ experience in weather forecasting research and operations at the UK Met Office and, until recently, as Head of Evaluation at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts or ECMWF.

His work on ensemble prediction includes the configuration of ensembles to represent the uncertainties in the initial conditions and modelling systems, development of products and tools for forecast users, and evaluation of forecast performance.

Previously, he worked for the WMO where he played a key role in establishing the THORPEX Interactive Grand Global Ensemble or TIGGE project on global ensemble forecasting – a project which led to improved understanding of predictability and also to improvements in forecasting skill.

David has chaired several WMO committees, and is currently chair of the WMO Standing Committee on Data Processing for Applied Earth System Modelling, Prediction & Projection (SC-ESMP). SC-ESMP leads and co-ordinates the WMO Integrated Processing and Prediction System (WIPPS) which facilitates the provision of numerical earth-system model forecasts, including ensembles, to all WMO members.

AI Special Episode 1: Using AI for weather forecasting

The WeatherPod
The WeatherPod
AI Special Episode 1: Using AI for weather forecasting
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In this episode of The WeatherPod, hosts Alan Thorpe and David Rogers open a new series of discussions which focus specifically on the use of AI across the weather enterprise. In this first discussion, our hosts invite Professor Kirstine Dale of the UK Met Office into the studio.

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Episode 26: Anticipatory Action

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The WeatherPod
Episode 26: Anticipatory Action
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In this special episode of the WeatherPod, hosts Alan and David have invited into the studio Irene Amuron of the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, Paul Davies of the UK Met Office, and Terrence Fernando the University of Salford, to debate the question: “How do we improve outcomes for everyone at risk from the impact of hydrometeorological hazards?”

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Episode 25: The ECMWF Copernicus Climate Change Service

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The WeatherPod
Episode 25: The ECMWF Copernicus Climate Change Service
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In this episode of The WeatherPod, hosts Alan Thorpe and and David Rogers invite Carlo Buentempo into the studio.

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The WeatherPod Episode 24: What next for Weather Forecasting?

The WeatherPod
The WeatherPod
The WeatherPod Episode 24: What next for Weather Forecasting?
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In this episode of The WeatherPod, hosts Alan and David meet Paul Davies, Chief Meteorologist and Principal Research Fellow of the UK Met Office, to discuss the implications of ‘impact-based forecasting’ for the future of weather forecasting and of the weather forecaster.

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The WeatherPod Episode 23: Predicting the Uncertain World

The WeatherPod
The WeatherPod
The WeatherPod Episode 23: Predicting the Uncertain World
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In this episode of The WeatherPod hosts David and Alan talk to Tim Palmer to explore some of the thoughts developed in his new book ‘The Primacy of Doubt’ (Basic Books) and their potential implications for weather forecasting.

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The WeatherPod Episode 22: Perspectives from early career scientists on the evolution of the Global Weather Enterprise

The WeatherPod
The WeatherPod
The WeatherPod Episode 22: Perspectives from early career scientists on the evolution of the Global Weather Enterprise
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In this episode of the WeatherPod, hosts David and Alan talk to Dr Shipra Jain and Dr Marisol Osman about their experience as early career scientists of working within the global weather enterprise. Both Shipra and Marisol are members of the Young Earth System Scientists (YESS) community.

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