March 28, 2024

Technologies for predicting terrible natural disasters

Technologies for predicting terrible natural disasters

On the ninth of October 1780 the strongest begana hurricane in the history of the North Atlantic basin. The Great Hurricane reached a wind speed of 320 km / h and took the lives of 27 thousand people who were unaware of the need for evacuation. After more than two centuries, mankind has developed technologies that can warn of natural disasters in advance.

Radar

Radar is a basic and indispensable tool that is used to determine the weather. The history of radar stations dates back to 1905, when it was first patentedradar technology. 

Centuries later, hundreds of thousands of modernstations, a significant increase in which began in the nineties and early 2000s. In determining the weather, radars at first showed only the intensity and degree of precipitation. Then came the Doppler radar, which gave weather forecasters the opportunity to track information about how precipitation moves in a storm. It was the Doppler radar that helped weather forecasters identify potential tornadoes and detect the conditions of wind displacement, the possibility of freezing rain and track storm systems in several fields of scanning.

Technological advances radar soaccurate that provide information on what type of precipitation is expected: snowflakes, ordinary rain or ice hail. By scanning the width and height of the hydrometeor (a set of raindrops), the radars provide information about the size of raindrops and snowflakes, as well as information about whether ice balls or hail are falling or circulating inside the clouds.

Satellites

In 1989, the most advanced meteorologicalImages from space made it possible to obtain images of the Earth every 30 minutes, their resolution was approximately 1 square kilometer per pixel. After 30 years, the new satellites GOES-16 and GOES-17 increased the resolution by 4 times and the frequency of imaging by 3 times. If necessary, it is possible to accelerate the frequency even up to 30 seconds per shot. 

Technologies for predicting terrible natural disasters

5G meteorological scandal

This technology can be useful anddestructive at the same time. The advantages of 5G lie in the speed of data transmission, but the problem is that in order to organize the operation of 5G networks, an important part of the electromagnetic spectrum is taken away from satellites. We are talking about the frequency range around 24 GHz, which is used by satellites to observe atmospheric phenomena.

NASA said that 5G really causesinterference that could slow the arrival of an important evacuation signal by as much as 3 days. As a result of this phenomenon, a paradox arises in which the latest technology throws back achievements in forecasting hurricanes and floods to the level of 1980.

The solution to the problem is associated with the 3GPP specification5G NR, in which data from satellite meteorological services will be protected by reducing the emission levels of adjacent 5G signals between 24.25 and 27.5 GHz.

The importance of the computer in weather modeling

The weather forecast is not made by one computer,a consists of a mixture of the forecaster's personal knowledge and experience and the useful guidance generated by computer weather models. The more power a computer has, the more data it can process per unit of time. 

The US National Weather Service has already 3uses supercomputers that perform 5.78 quadrillion operations per second. Having this kind of power significantly expands the number and types of data models available for processing. 

The achievement indicator of a supercomputer isensemble forecasting. This type of forecasting is resource-intensive because it performs multiple runs of the weather model, one at a time or simultaneously, each with minor changes to the model settings and the weather data entered into them. Comparing the results from each ensemble gives forecasters a better understanding of the likelihood of any one outcome. 

Technologies for predicting terrible natural disasters

Internet of Things (IoT)

Many have watched the movie "Tornado" 1996year, in which the goal of the main characters was to get sensors inside a huge tornado to obtain the most accurate data about it. Now this problem is being solved with the help of IoT devices, which provide benefits at all stages of a disaster. 

One vivid example of IoT's applicationThe fight against the elements could be observed in September, when Hurricane Dorian was raging in the Bahamas. IoT devices were involved in the HURREVAC evacuation planning system.

In addition, the sensors have proven useful incalculations of damage caused by the disaster. Work to install 350 storm surge sensors on bridges, piers and other structures was carried out by employees of the US Geological Survey. 

Sensors collect water pressure readings thathelp determine the depth, duration and time of a storm surge. Some of them are located in long sections perpendicular to the coast to help measure how local topography, natural features and land use can reduce or increase the height of the waves and, as a result, flood damage.