Nvidia’s Earth-2 UAE AI Partnership to Mitigate Climate Disasters
The UAE AI sector has partnered with Nvidia to leverage its Earth-2 platform to address climate change and predict future weather challenges by using advanced simulations and predictive modeling to better understand and respond to climate-related threats.
The partnership of G42 with Nvidia in what is now called the UAE US AI collaboration acts as a starting point to reflect the shared goals related to the development of technology to tackle some of the key global challenges, including the adoption of AI for climate change.
Cloud Seeding Doubts
In April 2024, Dubai experienced heavy rainfall leading to heavy floods and disruptions. The UAE has been actively working on cloud seeding efforts for years to enhance rainfall in its arid climate.
Driven by AI, cloud seeding has been used by the UAE for years to fight water scarcity. The application of such technology by the Emirates has sparked debates among experts on its capacity and potential side effects, especially when addressing cloud seeding’s contribution to the excessive rainfall and flooding witnessed in April of this year.
Meteorologists have attributed the heavy rainfall in April 2024 to a ‘mesoscale convective system’ – a large cluster of thunderstorms associated with rain showers.
This system, along with the natural variability of weather patterns in the region, combined to produce the intense rainstorms. While cloud seeding efforts have been debated, experts point to this meteorological phenomenon as the primary cause of the excessive rainfall and flooding.
The recent partnership with the Nvidia Earth-2 platform could endorse the Emirati strategy’s goals while accentuating the UAE’s commitment to apply advanced technology, such as AI, to optimize predictions and manage future weather complications.
Earth-2 To Learn from the Past
Nvidia Earth-2 is supposed to help in the creation of AI solutions for climate change and mitigate such disastrous climate change in the form of floods, droughts, and extreme weather conditions. Since its launch in March, Earth-2 uses AI combined with physical simulations to predict weather patterns at high precision.
Nvidia’s AI model, CorrDiff, will generate high resolution weather models with a 12.5 increase in capacity and 3,000 times more energy efficient system than the current UAE-owned systems that will predict harsh weather events weeks in advance with improved accuracy.
CorrDiff’s capabilities extend to predicting phenomena such as strong winds and street-level turbulence, which are already being applied in urban planning to reframe how cities manage environmental challenges and plan for future developments.
The UAE Nvidia partnership is part of the UAE AI broader ambitions to make itself a global player in AI chip manufacturing and solutions through the Nvidia semiconductor.
The UAE has also established an AI partnership framework with Big Tech giants, Microsoft, Google, and Meta through the office of the UAE’s minister of state for AI, Omar Al Olama.
“The only way this will work is if we’re able to build sustainable and long-term partnerships with countries like the United States where we are able to build cutting-edge chips,” said Mr Olama in May.
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