WindBorne Systems, an environmental and weather intelligence company, has recently unveiled its groundbreaking AI forecasting model, WeatherMesh. This innovation holds significant promise for the re/insurance industry, offering improved risk assessment and enhanced claims management capabilities.
WeatherMesh sets a new standard for accuracy in real-time, 24-hour global forecasts, surpassing Google DeepMind’s GraphCast by 11% in predicting a key metric: the 500-millibar geopotential height.
WeatherMesh also outperformed the gold-standard in traditional weather modelling held by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecast’s (ECMWF) medium-range model, by 6%-14% for five-day forecasts.
WindBorne’s breakthrough is attributed to its innovative machine learning architecture, modelling techniques, and comprehensive data sources. Generating forecasts with one-hour resolution, WeatherMesh is ideal for real-time applications, distinguishing it from other models that offer forecasts with six-hour resolution.
WeatherMesh predicts a range of meteorological parameters including temperature, pressure, wind speed and direction, dew point, cloud cover, incoming radiation, and precipitation.
WindBorne’s breakthrough is further underscored by its capabilities in collecting atmospheric data. WindBorne explains that they design, build, and operate “the only technology that can capture in-situ atmospheric profiles everywhere, including over oceans and the Earth’s most remote places. Each balloon can maintain or transition between any altitude from sea level to 20 km, autonomously flying for weeks at a time.”
The introduction of WeatherMesh could be pivotal for the insurance and reinsurance sector, particularly as extreme weather events become more frequent and severe due to climate change.
With highly accurate forecasts, WeatherMesh equips re/insurance companies with essential information for assessing and managing risks associated with such events, enabling better disaster preparedness and response, and ultimately enhancing the protection of policyholders and the efficient management of claims.
As John Dean, WindBorne’s co-founder and CEO, emphasises, “WindBorne has a critical opportunity to make forecasts more trustworthy for everyone, including individuals and governments navigating how to prepare for and manage disasters”.
Thus, by offering unparalleled weather intelligence, WeatherMesh has the potential to revolutionise decision-making in the re/insurance sector and beyond, paving the way for a safer and more resilient future.
