Climate Cast: University of Minnesota researchers use AI to improve climate models

Climate models all agree that the Earth will warm considerably this century. But predicting the precise magnitude of warming tells a lot more to climatologists about future extreme weather events and sea level rise.

Now researchers at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities are part of a new $ 25 million climate modeling center funded by the US National Science Foundation. Their mission: to use big data and artificial intelligence to create more accurate climate models that help us prepare for the inevitable disruptions to come.

“If you live in New York, should we build a sea wall and how high should it be?” If you live in California and Texas, what are the projections for water availability? Maybe we will have to choose different cultures [there]”said computer and engineering professor Vipin Kumar who is part of the team at UM’s new climate modeling center.

“There are a whole bunch of planning decisions people are going to have to make, and being able to understand what’s going to happen with climate change is extremely important,” he said.

To learn more about Kumar, click read on the audio player above or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast on Apple podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Where RSS.