How can AI be used to predict ocean forecasting? This is what a recent study published in the Journal of Geophysical Research Machine Learning and Computation hopes to address as a team of researchers investigated how AI can be used to predict short- and long-term trends in ocean dynamics. This study has the potential to help scientists and the public better understand new methods estimating long-term ocean forecasting, specifically with climate change increasing ocean temperatures.
For the study, the researchers presented a new AI-based modeling tool for predicting ocean dynamics for the Gulf of Mexico, which is a major trade route between the United States and Mexico. The goal of the tool is to build upon longstanding physics-based models that have traditionally been used for predicting ocean dynamics, including temperature and changes in temperature.
In the end, the researchers found that this new model demonstrates improved performance in predicting ocean dynamics, specifically for short-term intervals of 30 days, along with long-term intervals of 10 years. The team aspires to use this new tool for modeling ocean dynamics worldwide.
“The ability to resolve the Gulf Stream and its dynamics properly, has been an open challenge for many years in oceanography,” said Dr. Ashesh Chattopadhyay, who is an assistant professor at UC Santa Cruz and a co-author on the study. “That’s why the Gulf of Mexico becomes an important test case whenever we’re trying to evaluate new algorithms and new models for high-resolution regional ocean dynamics.”
Along with the trade routes between the U.S. and Mexico, the Gulf of Mexico also serves as one of the largest offshore petroleum production regions in the world, estimated to comprise approximately 14 percent of the U.S. total petroleum production. Therefore, predicting the Gulf of Mexico’s short- and long-term dynamics could help prevent disasters for trade routes and energy production, along with helping aquatic plant and wildlife.
How will AI help researchers predict ocean dynamics in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and this is why we science!
As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!
Sources: Journal of Geophysical Research Machine Learning and Computation, EurekAlert!, Wikipedia
Featured Image: Storms off the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. (Credit: NOAA Weather in Focus Photo Contest 2015/ Stephanie Gentle)