Google researchers use artificial intelligence to predict floods in India, potentially saving lives

With the recent boom in artificial intelligence (AI), people have begun to worry about the technology’s capabilities and potential, both for good and bad. Despite concerns at the highest levels about the huge risks involved with this technology, no one can stop this particular juggernaut! Google hopes to use artificial intelligence to benefit humanity, as evidenced by its recent partnership with Apollo Hospitals in India to support early disease detection. Now, researchers are tackling another problem – predicting floods. They hope to use artificial intelligence technology to predict floods and save lives.

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Google researchers use artificial intelligence to predict floods

in a study Paper Google researchers published an article in the journal Nature describing how they used artificial intelligence to achieve the goal of flood prediction. Machine learning (ML) is used to create hydrological simulation models that can be transferred to as yet unmeasured watersheds. To do this, the researchers said they are using version 4 of the Global Flood Awareness System (GloFAS) operated by the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). Comparing GloFAS to the latest river forecast models developed by researchers shows that it not only provides accurate forecasts earlier, but also covers “larger, more impactful events.”

“The flood forecasting program is part of our adaptation and resiliency efforts and reflects Google’s A commitment to combating climate change while helping communities around the world become more resilient. We believe artificial intelligence and machine learning will continue to play a key role in helping to advance scientific research on climate action.”

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The artificial intelligence model used in the study uses a long short-term memory (LSTM) network to predict daily streamflow over a seven-day forecast horizon. The researchers said the model was trained from a sample of 5,680 flow meters using “random k-fold cross-validation.” This means the Flood Hub system can provide river forecasts up to seven days in advance, covering rivers in 80 countries.

During their multi-year journey, the researchers “worked together to advance research over many years to build a real-time, actionable flood forecasting system that delivers alerts via Google Search, Maps, Android notifications, and Flood Center.”

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