Innovative AI collaboration between Lockheed Martin and NVIDIA aids NOAA weather forecasting

Innovative AI collaboration between Lockheed Martin and NVIDIA aids NOAA weather forecasting
by Clarence Oxford
Denver CA (SPX) Jan 31, 2024

In a critical development for environmental monitoring, Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) and NVIDIA have collaborated to create an AI-driven Earth and Space Observing Digital Twin, demonstrating the potential to transform predictive forecasting in a period marked by record ocean temperatures reported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Lockheed Martin, a leader in advanced technologies and aerospace systems, has been working with NVIDIA, renowned for its expertise in AI and graphics processing, since 2022 on this pioneering project. The prototype they have developed is a significant stride in utilizing artificial intelligence to analyze and interpret environmental data.

The Digital Twin, as envisioned, processes live streams of weather data, employing AI and machine learning for analysis. It displays current global environmental conditions, integrating satellite and ground-based observations with outputs from weather forecasting models. A notable achievement of this project was its recent demonstration using NOAA's critical data pipeline, particularly sea surface temperatures. This demonstration effectively showcased the fusion of multi-sensor data from satellites and predictive models, emphasizing the detection of short-term temperature anomalies.

Lynn Montgomery, an AI research engineer at Lockheed Martin, explained the potential impact of their digital twin, stating, "A platform such as our digital twin could serve as a one-stop-shop for global weather monitoring and could enable more accurate initial conditions for predictive forecasting." Montgomery highlighted the vast amount of weather data NOAA receives daily from various space and Earth-based sensors, underscoring the project's capability to fuse this information for an accurate and timely global condition depiction.

The project leverages Lockheed Martin's OpenRosetta3D software in conjunction with the NVIDIA Omniverse development platform. These advanced technologies facilitate the aggregation of data in real-time, advancing 4D visualizations and presenting information in an easily digestible format.

Dion Harris, director of accelerated computing product solutions at NVIDIA, emphasized the significance of digital twins in climate and weather enterprises, saying, "From monitoring current environmental conditions to predicting them, digital twins can help climate and weather enterprises tackle their toughest AI and forecasting challenges." Harris elaborated on the collaborative effort, highlighting NVIDIA Omniverse's ability to synthesize NOAA data efficiently, thereby accelerating global weather monitoring and prediction.

Lockheed Martin plans to expand the capabilities of the Earth and Space Observing Digital Twin by incorporating additional data streams, such as space weather and sea ice concentrations, in the coming year. This expansion is expected to further enhance the tool's effectiveness in environmental monitoring and predictive forecasting.

This project is not a mission in itself but is part of a broader initiative funded by NOAA SAE Joint Venture Partnerships, exploring possibilities for future state-of-the-art environmental monitoring and forecasting systems.