1.
FROM RESEARCH TO INDUSTRY:
How Earth system science enables private sector
innovation
Science Enabling Industry
Mary Glackin
Director, Science and Forecast Opera2ons | The Weather
Company
November 2017

2.
Weather Impacts Every
Consumer and Business TO BE
ESSENTIAL
Largest provider of atmosphere and
weather data globally
2nd largest location-based services
company – only Google Maps reaches
more
100 terabytes of third-party data, not
including our own proprietary data, is
ingested daily from more than 800
different data sources

3.
From Research to Industry
WE ARE IN THE DECISION BUSINESS
There is something that every person and business can do about the
weather
WE ARE NOT IN THE WEATHER BUSINESS

4.
From Research to Industry
• 2.2B
locations mapped
every 15 minutes
400TB
data processed
every day
45B
daily forecast calls
Sources: Qliksense internal report, April 2017; The
Weather Company internal data
The Weather Company
EMBRACED
THE COMPLEXITY OF BIG DATA
Processing more weather-based info than any other company

5.
From Research to Industry
THERE ARE
LOTS OF
WEATHER
FORECASTS

6.
From Research to Industry
BUT THE BEST
FORECAST USES
More than 162 models…
And is updated every 15 minutes

7.
From Research to Industry
Deep Thunder:
Global high resolution weather prediction
using next-generation models
Our continued investment means continuous
improvement
• Highest resolution global forecasts
for the day ahead
• 100M cell phone pressure
observations assimilated
• Leverage IBM’s Power 9
Architecture
+
First to run MPAS (Model for
Prediction Across Scale)
operationally and the thunderstorm
resolving model globally

8.
For a top 10 insurer, this
can be $14M per year.
WE’RE HERE FOR YOU
Insurance

9.
Insurance Applications of
TROPICAL
Customer Engagement
Optimize Response Time
And Resource Placement
Optimize Reserves and
Liquidity
Stop Fraud by Verifying
Claim Conditions

10.
From Research to Industry
!
Shared Safety
Mission
Redistribution of Alerts
Government Issued Alerts
ü Redistributed in Real Time
ü With Attribution
ü Without Alteration

11.
From Research to Industry
Watson / Presenta2on Title / Date
Federal Investment
Propels the
Economy
Key Physical and
Social Science
Questions
Remain
Public-Private
Partnerships
Play a Role
Key Takeaways