Space agency launches crowdsourced weather forecasting project

ESA project aims to harness power of smartphones to match atmospheric conditions to weather on ground

Even with supercomputers, accurate weather forecasting is still one of science's most difficult challenges. We are all familiar with the feeling of being let down having planned a trip based on the forecast only to find it was wrong. In response to criticisms, a useful caveat, these predictions may change", seems to have crept into the three-day-ahead weather outlook.

The power of smartphones equipped with GPS is now being harnessed to try to improve on this. The idea is that thousands of people holding their phones still and pointing at the sky can interact with satellites to match atmospheric conditions and the actual weather on the ground at that location. Artificial intelligence then mashes and processes all the data. This will be used to improve future weather forecasts on Earth and also monitor the weather in space. Understanding space weather is helpful for better satellite operations and communications.