release date June 22, 2024 1:46 PM
The United States has allocated $250,000 to build a new artificial intelligence model to improve the efficiency of wildfire forecasting.
As artificial intelligence (AI) emerges as a potential solution to many of the world's technological and environmental challenges, the United States is hoping it will make a big impact in fighting wildfires.
In May, the U.S. Department of Commerce and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced $250,000 in funding to support the creation of powerful new AI models to enhance fire weather forecasts through improved lightning predictions. The allocation is part of a broader Bipartisan Infrastructure Act (BIL) investment to improve fire weather research included in President Joe Biden's Invest in America plan.
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“This investment was made possible thanks to the President. [Joe] “Biden's bipartisan infrastructure bill will significantly improve NOAA's fire weather forecasts and protect firefighters who risk their lives every day to serve Americans affected by wildfires,” Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said in a news release issued in May.
(BC Wildfire Service)
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New technology to improve lightning prediction accuracy
The funding will enable researchers to build a customized version of LightningCast, an AI model that incorporates imagery and data from NOAA's geostationary satellites, the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) and Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM), to predict lightning strikes in specific locations, including around wildfires, over the next hour.
This version of LightningCast includes a new interface, more machine learning techniques and fire-related data to provide greater value in decision-making, NOAA said in a news release.
