Right now, artificial intelligence is mostly known for its common uses like generating texts and images, but other useful applications have been developed for it. AI has been used to improve predictions in agriculture, and now, Google has used it to predict floods before they happen.
Using AI for Flood Forecasts
In the tech company's latest announcement, it says that it managed to successfully use AI to predict riverine floods, which have been known to cause harm such as infectious diseases, trauma, and even drowning.
With the use of AI, Google can predict a natural crisis up to seven days before it happens, which can give people within the area enough time to prepare for the impending disaster. The technology allowed the company to provide such data for 80 countries.
According to the blog post, this can help around 460 million people who live in the affected areas. It's important to note how helpful this can be, especially since Google Search is the leading search engine that people use to stay informed.
Even in general, this advancement is significant since accurate flood forecasting at scale has always been difficult, mostly because of the lack of resources and data, as well as the complexity of the natural disaster.
The AI is fed a variety of information so that it can process the data for a more accurate reading. Details that were used include historical events, river level readings, terrain, and elevation in specific areas. The forecasting models will then create a prediction considering every given factor.
Google started by testing the tool in India's Patna region back in 2018, as is it located in one of the county's flood-prone states. After being provided with the needed data, Google generated maps and ran hundreds of thousands of simulations to create the river flood forecasting models.
A year later, the AI forecasting model gas expanded its coverage, becoming capable of sending out 800,000 alerts to affected areas. Since then, Google has been collaborating with academic researchers to improve the tool.
The seven-day allowance before disaster hits is a huge leap, especially since every minute counts in extreme situations like this, and the fact that Google only managed to provide forecasts up to 48 hours in advance before.
AI in Agriculture
Unfortunately, climate change does not only affect how we predict floods. Agriculture has also been impacted by the erratic weather and climate, which is a huge disadvantage especially when crops' survival relies on certain climate conditions.
Interesting Engineering reports that a team of scientists in Senegal called Africa Agriculture Watch has developed an AI tool that will help farmers determine conditions in the area, which gives them insight as to when it's best to be productive.
The tool uses satellite data and images, which help farmers study growing conditions and whether they are optimal for planting. It can even analyze the climate's effects on the crops and the fertility of the soil, which is just as essential as the data that tells them when they can begin planting.
