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Microsoft to Provide Cloud Computing Capabilities to Support NOAA’s Climate Targets

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has partnered with technology company Microsoft to use cloud computing tools for climate and environmental intelligence.

Under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement, Microsoft and NOAA will work to advance five key goals over the next year. These are to use machine learning to improve NOAA’s climate and forecast models; integrate Microsoft computing tools to accelerate data collection, processing, storage and dissemination of NOAA Fisheries; create a searchable catalog of ocean observations; create a resilient and accessible weather modeling and forecasting system; and help NOAA’s Earth Prediction Innovation Center in implementing pilot projects for earth system modeling and research.

Microsoft will offer its Azure artificial intelligence suite and other high-performance computing offerings to meet CRADA requirements, NOAA said.

Azure AI is designed to support developers and data scientists in their research activities. Users can gain access to vision, speech, language and decision-making AI models and can create their own ML models using different tools and open-source frameworks.

Rick Wagner, president of Microsoft Federal and a Potomac Officers Club member, said Microsoft Azure AI and other HPC capabilities can help NOAA accelerate research into climate challenges and find innovative ways to combat them.

NOAA said the CRADA supports its vision of building a “climate-ready” nation by 2030. Under this 2030 goal, NOAA wants to secure the climate value chain by securing service delivery and decision support tools; improving modeling, prediction and projection capabilities; engaging in climate research and development; using the cloud to store and share critical data; and improving its observational infrastructure.

Other strategic targets under the Climate-Ready plan include equity and information-based economy development.