Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Weather
Predictions
Do
they
affect
our
society?
Coding
Culture
Paper
Max
van
der
Pluijm
3727726
Trimester
4,
2011/2012
July
2,
2012
Teacher:
Johannes
Pamann
ABSTRACT
Numerical
weather
predictions
nowadays
rely
on
the
representations
and
numerical
modelling
of
the
atmosphere
by
a
computer
model.
Since
mathematical
equations
that
are
being
used
in
order
to
govern
the
atmospheric
outlines
are
not
precise,
they
also
tend
not
to
represent
the
real
atmosphere
entirely
and
accurately.
Seen
from
a
critical
point
of
view
this
is
a
big
shortcoming,
since
numerical
weather
predictions
are
positioned
at
the
basis
of
modern
meteorology.
Nevertheless
we
rely
much
upon
these
computer
simulations,
which
are
being
used
in
order
to
prevent
certain
catastrophes
or
simply
stating
that
it
is
going
to
be
nice
weather.
This
paper
investigates
some
specific
problems
within
the
field
of
numerical
weather
predictions.
Computer
simulations
can
be
seen
as
powerful
tools
if
understood
and
used
properly.
The
introduction
starts
off
with
a
definition
and
historical
perspective
surrounding
numerical
weather
predictions.
Then
goes
through
a
centralised
case
about
various
weather
forecasts
that
have
a
great
impact
upon
economical,
political
and
cultural
structures.
This
will
also
be
the
main
problem
addressed
within
this
paper,
in
what
way
the
outcomes
of
computer
simulations
that
are
being
used
to
produce
numerical
weather
predictions
affect
our
society.
Throughout
the
paper,
there
is
an
on- going
discussion
on
issues
concerning
the
use
of
computer
simulation
within
everyday
life.
Connected
to
this
the
issues
will
be
put
onto
a
globally
put
level.
INDEX
Abstract
.................................................................................................................................
1
1.0
Introduction
.................................................................................................................
3
2.0
The
case:
the
21st
of
june,
a
warning
was
given
................................................
5
2.1
Issues
regarding
numerical
weather
predictions
part
one
.............................................
6
2.2
The
eruption
of
the
Eyjafjallajkull
Icelandic
volcano
..........................................................
8
2.3
Issues
regarding
numerical
weather
predictions
part
two
.............................................
9
1.0
INTRODUCTION
Weather
forecasting
is
an
important
controlling
factor
in
many
activities
within
our
society,
such
as
air,
road
and
water
traffic,
the
planning
of
gas
and
electricity
production,
drainage
purposes,
air
quality,
tourism
and
agriculture.
Numerical
methods
play
a
major
role
in
the
realization
of
the
forecast.
A
century
ago
weather
forecasting
was
a
random
process,
it
was
very
imprecise
and
most
of
all,
very
unreliable.
The
observations
that
were
made
back
in
the
early
days
were
very
irregular
and
the
methods
used
or
practiced
held
a
kind
of
crude
notice.
Forecasters
made
use
of
rough
techniques,
knowledge
of
the
local
weather
conditions
and
foremost
it
was
an
art
of
guessing.
Nowadays
it
is
unthinkable
that
modern
meteorology
would
be
successful
without
the
help
of
powerful
computing
facilities.
Since
the
early
days
people
made
use
of
the
mathematical
models
of
the
atmosphere
and
oceans
present
at
hand
based
on
the
current
weather
conditions.
In
other
words
we
are
now
talking
about
numerical
weather
predictions.
The
idea
of
weather
predictions
based
on
numerical
conditions
is
not
something
that
is
new.
The
central
idea
is
that
you
could
predict
the
weather
by
solving
physical
mathematical
equations.
For
in
fact
the
basic
equations
were
formulated
in
1904
by
Vilhelm
Bjerknes,
a
Norwegian
physicist
and
meteorologist
who
did
much
to
the
founding
of
modern
practice
of
weather
forecasting
(Gramelsberger
2006,
78;
Lynch
2008,
3432;
Tisler
2006,
7).
Although
Bjerknes
was
ahead
for
his
time
by
developing
a
qualitative,
graphical
method,
it
was
not
until
the
British
mathematician
Lewis
Fry
Richardson
that
this
was
pushed
on
to
the
next
level
(Lynch
2008,
3433).
In
his
published
book
Weather
Prediction
by
Numerical
Process,
Richardson
addresses
in
the
preface
a
pure
dream,
which,
in
light
of
this
written
paper,
stands
out
quite
nicely
(Richardson
1922,
xii).
The
dream
Richardson
spoke
of
was
focused
on
the
possibility
to
advance
computations
faster
than
the
weather
advances,
which
became
possible
(Lynch
2008,
3433).
As
we
know
now,
weather
forecasts
are
produced
on
regular
basis
while
running
algorithms
on
computers,
sometimes
even
supercomputers,
which
are
very
similar
to
the
ideas
thought
of
by
Bjerknes
and
Richardson.
This
was
due
to
the
important
work
of
John
von
Neumann,
who
was
one
of
the
leading
mathematicians
of
the
previous
century.
Von
Neumann
experimented
a
lot
with
complex
numerical
equations
and
for
him
it
was
more
than
clear
that
very
fast
automatic
computing
machinery
was
required
(Ibid.,
3435).
Though
the
complete
history
of
the
computer
shall
not
be
discussed
here,
it
is
still
clear
that
with
the
rise
of
the
computer
the
process
of
numerical
weather
predictions
accelerated
effectively.
This
is because researchers started the implementation of models within computer simulations and thus in recent years we can now simulate all sorts of meteorological conditions. From the predicaments of typhoons, snowy weather forecasts up to the global warming and melting of the icecaps. The aim of this written paper is to look into some specific problems that present themselves with the use of computer simulations benefitting numerical weather predictions. Instead of only looking onto the positive side of these uses, we should consider the possible downside(s) that are connected to it. Recent events have shown that with the use of computer simulations we tend to overreact at some levels and decisions have been made based on computer simulations for some time now. In this paper we address a central question, which will be discussed throughout the theoretical standpoint and foremost the case that will be used. The central question of this paper is; in what way do the outcomes of computer simulations that are being used to produce numerical weather predictions affect our society? I will make clear that with the use of computer simulations regarding numerical weather predictions, we rely too much on the information given by these computer simulations. Although history has shown us that they could be of great use, the opposite also has occurred. This research consists of two main sections divided in several sub layers. The first section is mainly covered by the case, which will be discussed extensively. The centralised case, which is about the extreme weather forecasts within the Netherlands of the past several years, will serve as a good example of the possible factors that could go wrong with the interpretation of computer simulations. Furthermore there will be an extra element within the case that exemplifies the thoughts on a more global perspective. This will be met by taking the eruption of the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajkull as a fine example. Through the use of theoretical backgrounds the arguments will be made clear. Where the second section will consist of the conclusion, supplemented by the discussion, regarding the centralised question. It is important to note that within the elaboration of the case, issues regarding political systems, economic structures and capitalism will be addressed. Since these are all connected to major events and decisions regarding extreme weather forecasts, they are implemented within this paper. Knowing what consequences numerical weather predictions has on the political, economical and cultural structures within a society would help one person. By stating the underlying aspects of the use and trust
researchers have in computer simulations we can address even the higher educational segments of the discourse we are positioned in. Thus we can start off with the centralised case, which holds various examples of numerical weather predictions that led to some big decisions with vigorous consequences towards the different structures within societies.
In the end the weather was not that bad, certainly not an orange tinted warning.
Thus all the preparations and the uproar were for nothing. Nonetheless, all the discussed organisations had made preparations and thus spent a lot of money, or even perhaps lost a lot of money in the case of the Dutch Railway Corporation. Mainly because they advised people to avoid the use of their services and even advised people to stay indoors. So in retrospect, the weather forecast, the weather simulation that had been run that day by the Royal Dutch Meteorological Institute had caused a pretty intense uproar within the Netherlands.
As Gabriele Gramelsberger, a philosopher who is interested in the influence of computation on science and society, points out that with the rise of computational science there is a twofold epistemological function to recognise (Gramelsberger 2006, 84). On the one hand you have the computer-based simulations, which describe the matter at hand, and on the other hand they determine their object of research. For example, the numerical weather predictions that were produced by the Royal Dutch Meteorological Institute. Gramelsberger reflects upon unexpected insights, where for instance she talks about the world as a computer simulation, which is enclosed in the memory of her USB stick (Ibid., 87). The interesting aspect of this example is that a simulation of the world, in terms of global climate changes, can in fact be stored on a USB stick. But without the help of supercomputers and fast numerical equations, and dont forget the necessary batch files, she had nothing to put on her USB stick. The reason why I point this out is because of the fact that the scientific world has become dependent on the fast growing industry that produces the needed supercomputers. It is perhaps an inevitable path that will be walked upon, except, spoken on a more philosophical level, who says the supercomputers are always right. I do see the benefits of the use of supercomputers, I also use computers every day, but the question could be asked whether or not computers define our perception of the world. Gramelsberger also addresses this particular issue when she talks about her third and final surprise. When a super computer like the Japanese Earth Simulator unveils a perforated worldmissing pieces as big as entire countries and time gaps of hours and daysones perception of the world could be altered (Ibid., 78). It also can be related to the choices that were made when starting the computer simulation when people decide which variables are applied (Quiggin 2008, 204). Nonetheless, this issue can be solved up to a certain degree when applying narrative concepts, explaining computer simulations via the use of a storys. The most simplified example we can think of is the weather forecast during the daily news broadcast. People explain the computer simulations through a story and most of the time with the help of semiotic concepts. This is no different from the scientific stories that are held. Scientific stories are a special type of narration since they are successful and believable. The scientist is perceived as being a romantic and his narration is the simplified version. Simulation models (the mixture of computer simulations and the models as components), as Gramelsberger points it out, are based on such narrations but they add realistic details to the abstract core (Gramelsberger 2006, 80). This resembles the characteristics of story telling a lot that we all know contains drama, actors, interesting 7
locations and an enormous catastrophic potential (Ibid., 80). Except, what happens is that these stories tell us a lie. The moment when a computer simulation has been run all sorts of tools are used in order to diagnose its validity, accuracy and try to uncover mistakes. In the end these simulations give a false pretence, a false story about the world. This is no different from the case we are dealing with. Since the story of our case was leaning towards a dreadful afternoon and evening, full with rain, lightning and possible hail, in the end it was a lie. The reason eventually that it was a lie, had to do with the many variables that are related to the ever changing weather. The words ever changing already stipulates it a bit. As Pilkey and Pilkey-Jarvis made clear, a computer simulation of a natural process over time and space may involve hundreds of lines of equations (Pilkey and Pilkey-Jarvis 2007, 26). They pose a very interesting question whether or not the software or computer code actually model what the authors say it models and in the end if it comes true (Ibid., 26). In our case it did not. The warning, or the story, that had been released right after the simulations had been run was not correct. Though it has to be said that a lot of variables are needed to be taken into account. Pilkey and Pilkey-Jarvis explained it in a reasonable sense. Though perhaps the most important reason that quantitative predictive mathematical models of natural processes on earth are doomed to fail, had to do with ordering complexity (Ibid., 32). When one variable changes within the complexity that is numerical weather prediction, another one may change exponentially. Several variables may even change simultaneously, which makes it even harder. So one could ask to what length a system can cope with this, these never-ending changes that take place.
that numerical weather predictions have a significant impact on the politics and economics of a company and in the end the cultural field. This is not something that is so different from the past. With a slight form of hindsight we can state that this is a returning aspect. The example given about the 21st of June 2012 is still our centralised case, however, to point out an example of the impact that numerical weather predictions could have, there is another fine example that took place on a much larger scale. The eruption of the Eyjafjallajkull Icelandic volcano during the period 14 April to 21 May 2010 caused an unmatched disruption to the European airspace. This was caused due to the massive amounts of volcanic ash particles that were spread across Europe. It is said that when volcanic ash particles appear in the engines of airplanes they become damaged, damage flight control systems and cause jet engines to fail (Neal and Guffanti 2010, 1). Of course this is a very dangerous aspect and has to be prevented at all times. Although the ash cloud was not observable by the naked eye, nevertheless it was there and had a massive impact on the European aviation. Aircrafts were grounded in most parts of Europe for more than five days. The air traffic bans for the different parts of Europe were mostly based on the forecasted ash cloud dispersion run by computer simulations. Thus, the forecasting, or numerical weather predictions, of the dispersion of the ash clouds had become a major public issue, which affected a much broader perspective than only the aviation industry (Emeis et al. 2010, 2690).
particles within the sky, it is bound to fall down eventually, so this aspect was rather important as well. Results emitted by several institutes and unions showed us that for air traffic security, the combination of a good dispersion model with special profiling measurements means they could predict the dispersion of the volcanic ash cloud (Bartnicki et al. 2010, 7; Emeis et al. 2010, 2699). This lead to the closure of several big airports, thus leading to a lot of missed incomes. It has to be said that it was a good thing that these predictions were made, for the better part of the safety of course, but it also meant a tremendous amount of impact on economical, political and cultural levels. The economic aspect was already stipulated in the previous paragraphs, but it is also important to note that the ash cloud on a global perspective affected the world. The International Air Transport Association made an estimate regarding the losses of a roughly 160 million euros a day, which meant 1,3 billion in total during an eight day period ("Iceland volcano..." 2012). This was not the only economical impact that the ash cloud had. When airports are closed, logically transport of goods are also suspended, air transport that is. Thus, resulting that companies had to import or export their goods via alternative channels. A good alternative, that is, when there is no economical pressure to it. So the different aspects of an economical backstab were present. Political speaking, tensions between different parts of the world, which is an on going phenomenon for centuries nowadays, meant that meetings had to be cancelled or rearranged. Although people can have the decency to wait a couple of days when the ash clouds would lay down, nonetheless a lot of summits and visits of ministers and royaltys had to be cancelled. And of course, people have little patience when they are under pressure, so one could fill the blanks in for themselves when someone would state that the tensions between different countries would only become higher. And last but not least we can speak of a cultural impact. The ash clouds disrupted television broadcasts because planned guests could not appear on television due the cancelling of flights ("Iron Man 2 premiere 2010). The music industry had to deal with a massive blow because a lot of artist could not realise their appearances on the stages due to the cancelling of flights ("Whitney Houston, John Cleese 2010). Besides the music and the television industry, the ash clouds also affected the sports industry, again because of the cancelling of all the flights. Once more it has to be stipulated that without the numerical weather predictions, the risk of casualties would be way to high. The fact that a computer simulation can render a very precise schematic of the route the ash clouds would take is amazing enough. But, the predictions were also a forecast, which meant that they were 10
run before the actual trajectory of the ash clouds were set in motion. This is something that reoccurs almost every time. To put it bluntly, data is being gathered, put into a numerical model and run by a computer simulation. This variables with which we have to deal with are enormous and very unpredictable up to a certain degree, so when we link this particular example to the centralised case we can see a very clear resemblance, the fact that numerical weather predictions are made of equations and tell us a story which can alter any possible minute. Nothing new to that, but they could have a massive impact on economical, political and cultural levels. Thus, in the next chapter we will discuss the centralised case, in relation to the main question that has been asked in the beginning of this paper.
3.0
CONCLUSION
The
numerical
weather
predictions
made
by
the
Royal
Dutch
Meteorological
Institute,
the
eruption
of
the
Eyjafjallajkull
Icelandic
volcano
and
all
the
consequences
that
were
connected
to
these
events
showed
us
a
perfect
example
of
how
computer
simulations
have
an
impact
upon
society.
It
became
clear
that
with
the
important
responsibilities
that
the
various
institutes
have,
a
certain
degree
of
shift
within
a
country,
or
even
globally
seen,
becomes
affected.
By
taking
the
centralised
case
we
saw
that
with
the
computer
simulations
that
were
run,
in
order
to
apprehend
numerical
weather
predictions,
a
lot
of
consequences
are
connected
to
the
outcomes.
This
is
of
course
not
a
bad
thing,
but
when
the
predictions,
in
the
case
of
21st
June
of
2012,
are
not
proceeding
as
foreseen,
a
lot
of
levels
within
society
are
being
tested.
The
fact
that
the
Dutch
Railway
Corporation
had
made
a
lot
of
last-minute
plans
in
order
to
prevent
a
certain
infrastructural
catastrophe
was
paired
with
a
lot
of
losses
in
terms
of
money.
Which
in
the
end
was
not
necessary
at
all.
Although
it
is
hard
to
predict
the
weather,
or
to
put
it
in
a
better
sense
of
words,
the
climate,
computer
simulations
play
a
very
big
role
in
this
particular
event.
We
translate
these
computer
simulations
into
a
story,
which
makes
it
a
lot
easier
for
the
better
part
of
the
people
to
understand.
These
stories,
however,
can
be
deceitful
when
looking
at
a
strict
level.
It
is
not
so
much
the
fact
that
they
often
do
give
us
a
reliable
feed
of
information;
it
is
more
the
part
that
they
have
a
rigorous
impact
upon
various
fields
we
all
move
in.
As
explained
in
throughout
this
paper,
the
computer
simulations
run
daily
affect
economical,
political
and
social
structures.
By
discussing
it
on
a
simpler,
a
more
concrete
level,
it
is
now
possible
to
lift
it
to
a
broader
context
of
speaking.
11
an author to stipulate my point, it can also be transferred upon other scientific fields such as economics, political, medicine and a many more. This is because of the fact that within computer simulations we have to take into account the various variables. As we have seen with the case we started with and the discussed consequences of the volcanic eruption, variables are always playing with the outcomes of a computer simulation. It is very hard to program it into the software, but the underlying fact is, we still translate the outcomes of the computer simulations and follow or act upon them. This phenomenon then takes us to a new level of awareness. All the examples that were put forth within this paper help us in understanding a bit of the consequences, which computer simulations can have. In the case of the eruption of the Icelandic volcano, which meant a lot of ash clouds, the computer simulations were put to the test in order to predict the trajectories. But again, variables such as winds and pressure areas can alter the trajectory that easy. These variables then cannot be foreseen at the moment of simulating the Numerical weather predictions. To put it quite bluntly, in light of the described events within this paper, we can ask ourselves in which way computer simulations are valid enough to rely upon. The economical, political and social consequences can be quite dramatic at times. Then again, without the computer simulations that can be run and used, we cannot foresee the trajectory of the ash clouds for instance. Connected to this particular example, airplanes for instance, would be damaged and in some cases even crash, which would lead to a lot of casualties. Numerical weather predictions in the end are a good thing to make us aware of the possible events that might happen. Although the events sometimes neglect to appear in real life, they do have an impact. An impact, which can be measured upon economical, political and social structures. Someone might say that we do rely most of the time on the outcomes of these computer simulations and to put in a more philosophical light one might ask; in what way do these simulations control us? Of course this is a very broad and difficult field to do research on, but in a way, computer simulations do control our lives, decisions and major predictions subdued to big consequences. In light of this written paper and the more philosophical question put forward in the end we can conclude that simulations, whether we like it or not, are important for the wellbeing of our civilisation. Perhaps these new insights will show that the problem at hand with computer simulations is closer than one might think. Either way, uncertainty about the future does not justify inaction in the present.
12
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