The Executive Yuan has approved the Central Weather Administration’s (CWA) plan to upgrade a weather observation station in Hsinchu County into the Hsinchu Meteorology Science Park, which would include a server room for a supercomputer to facilitate the use of artificial intelligence (AI) for weather forecasting.
The use of AI could enable the meteorology agency to provide more precise weather forecasts and develop more weather-related applications, but the CWA currently does not have sufficient computing power to run a supercomputer or the space to build a server room for it, CWA Administrator Lu Kuo-cheng (呂國臣) said.
A supercomputer server room must be able to carry 2 tonnes per square meter, Lu said.
Photo: Taipei Times
The CWA would build the supercomputer in Hsinchu, because the county has high-quality and high-speed Internet, he said.
Data, computing power and talent are three main elements that the CWA would need to be able to use AI in weather forecasting, he said.
“We have weather data accumulated over the past 100 years, but we need computing power to train large-scale weather forecast models and integrate them with existing models. We are working with the National Science and Technology Council and Nvidia Corp to learn new ways to develop high-resolution forecast models using AI,” he said.
The plan, which is named “Construction Project of High-Speed Computer for Weather Forecast,” has been approved by the Executive Yuan, with construction scheduled to be completed in 2027, Lu said.
The use of AI would increase the accuracy of global weather forecast models by 6 percent and projected paths for typhoons within 120 hours by 12 percent, Lu said.
The percentage of data processed through graphic processing units would gradually expand from 30 percent to 40 percent and 60 percent, CWA Remote Sensing Division deputy director Chang Bau-liang (張保亮) said.
The training time would be 1,000 to 1,500 times faster if the CWA uses AI to train computers to deep-learn atmospheric models, Chang said, adding that weather forecast results could be obtained within a few minutes.
Separately, the CWA said it would offer wind force forecasts for coastal areas this summer when briefing mayors and county commissioners about potential typhoons.
The administration said it would also bolster the monitoring of high-intensity short duration rainfall by installing weather radar systems in Yunlin and Yilan counties.
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