Tuesday, August 15, 2017

How AI Predicts Melting of Sea Ice

Arctic sea ice that once foiled bold explorers and led sailors to their deaths is melting as the Earth warms. But instead of making seafaring safer, melting ice creates new perils for ships, and the people in northern communities who depend on them for food, fuel and other goods. To change that, Martin Richard, a professor at Memorial University of Newfoundland, is tapping GPU-powered AI to predict when and where ships are likely to encounter dangers in the Arctic ice. 

“The changing climate makes long-term forecasting of sea ice and icebergs more difficult because ice conditions vary more than in the past,” said Richard. That has the potential to change lives and livelihoods for people in northern regions, including Richard’s base in the province of Newfoundland/Labrador, where he is a senior researcher at Canada’s National Research Council.