IBM promises to offer hourly weather forecast for every country in the world by utilizing the capabilities of online devices with sensors.
Η American company IBM presented at the international exhibition of consumer electronics CES in Las Vegas a new weather forecasting system, which can update the forecast per hour for any part of the world.
The new system, called the GRAF (Global High-Resolution Atmospheric Forecasting System), announced in collaboration with the Weather Channel, uses IBM supercomputers to process hundreds of millions of meteorological data from around the world. He then makes predictions even for areas of only three kilometers or for individual storms.
The peculiarity is that the data on which the system is based, come not only from internationally scattered meteorological stations, but also from millions of 'smart' mobile phones equipped with atmospheric pressure sensors, as well as from online instruments of thousands of airplanes that record the weather conditions in flight. .
In the future, the system will continue to utilize more and more data, as more and more online devices with sensors collect useful weather data.
IBM is showing great interest in buying the weather forecast, according to analyst firm Forrester. That's why, according to the BBC, in 2016 it acquired the Weather Company, to which the Weather Channel belongs. It is possible that IBM's involvement with meteorology will lead to more accurate weather forecasts in the future.
The beginning is made with GRAF, which, according to its creators, "will be the world's first commercial hourly weather forecasting system, capable of predicting something as small as global storms." Of course, the accuracy of the forecast locally will depend on the amount and reliability of the data available for the specific area.
The Weather Company announced that the global forecasts of the GRAF system will be available later in 2019 to anyone who has "downloaded" the relevant Weather application.
Quantum computer for commercial use
In a second pioneering development, IBM introduced the world's first quantum computer designed for commercial use. It's called IBM Q System One and is not currently for sale, but the company's customers will be able to use it online to do quantum computing.
The computer has 20 quantum bits or bits (qubits), although most IT experts agree that a quantum computer really superior to conventional ones should have at least 50 quantum bits. In 2016, IBM introduced a five-qubits quantum computing system for online experimentation, but the new 20-qubits system is the first to be created for purely commercial purposes, according to New Scientist.
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