How to combat climate change with data and cloud computing?

Climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions is an emergency that affects every country in the world, disrupting national economies and harming human lives. In fact, a United Nations report released in October 2021 noted that the planet is headed for a dangerous rise of 2.7 degrees because greenhouse gas emissions have not been cut sufficiently so far.

In this context, data is critical to measure, model, and monitor how changes in climate affect the planet, communities, and productive activities. Given the complexity and sheer volume of information, only those institutions with access to massive computational storage and analytical capabilities can take advantage of them.

The Amazon Sustainability Data Initiative (ASDI) seeks to accelerate research on sustainability and innovation by minimizing the cost and time required to acquire and analyze large databases on the subject. SIDA works with governments and scientific organizations to identify, host and deploy key databases in the cloud.

Following this line, the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Institute presented its report "Six Innovative Solutions for Climate Change and the Environmental Conversation", which highlights how AWS customers use cloud technology to address the effects of climate change. climate change. Next, we highlight three examples developed in the report:

Despite covering more than 70% of the earth's surface, 95% of the oceans remain unexplored. The lack of data, especially on key indicators such as predators, undermines conservation efforts.

For this reason, the OCEARCH organization collects satellite telemetry data on shark movements and makes it available through open source at ocearch.org and through its free OCEARCH Tracker App. Based on this, more than 180 scientists from 90 Institutions around the world are advancing 23 different research projects to help determine the overall state of the ocean, promote sustainable fisheries management, and contribute to initiatives focused on public safety.

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Peru contains about 68% of the mass of tropical glaciers; however, in the last four decades it has lost a little more than half. Highly vulnerable populations live in the Andean mountains facing flash floods from glacier avalanches and lake outbursts.

INAIGEM, a state institute that investigates how to reduce the impact of future natural disasters, installed the first real-time monitoring system in the Palcacocha glacier lake cryospheric system in 2017. With this information, the organization analyzes the data recorded using machine learning and artificial intelligence to generate avalanche detection tools and calculate the probability of large waves and floods that could harm people living at the foot of the mountain.

Saildrone builds and operates a fleet of unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) designed to collect high-resolution oceanographic and atmospheric data in remote oceans. The information is transmitted in real time via satellite to inform climate models and for the prediction of extreme weather events, knowledge of the maritime domain and the sustainable management of resources.

In 2019, Saildrone completed the first autonomous circumnavigation of Antarctica, an ocean so inhospitable that even large ships avoid it. After eight months of mission in the winter of the Southern Ocean, the USVs returned with decisive data on a territory that had not been sampled before. The information is publicly available on the Saildrone Data Portal.

As these cases demonstrate, data is useful for better understanding the dangers of climate change and managing risk in communities, as well as for taking action to protect lives and the environment.

Here you can consult the complete report in Spanish from the AWS Institute with six innovative solutions for climate change and the environmental conversation.