The big problem with precise weather simulations is that we don't have the sensors in 3D. They are all pretty much sitting on the surface, apart from some weather balloons. So we don't have precise data for wind, temperature, pressure apart from the surface. And all of these factors change A LOT with altitude.
For those that remember the James Burke show "Connections", he also did a program called "After the Warming" that's staged like a documentary that takes place in the future after humanity has solved the global warming crisis.<p>In that show, policy makers use a computer simulation of the world to quantify the limits that they set on emissions, and all of the nations in the world come together to make it happen and look back on this age as an important lesson.<p>I believe there's a low-res VHS rip of it available somewhere if you search, which gives the whole thing an eerie feeling of discovering an alternate-reality documentary.
“I have a map of the United States... Actual size. It says, 'Scale: 1 mile = 1 mile.' I spent last summer folding it. I hardly ever unroll it. People ask me where I live, and I say, 'E6.”
― Steven Wright
This is the latest in a particular thread in Earth science research.<p>Most prominently reminds me of the EU’s Destination Earth<p><a href="https://www.ecmwf.int/en/about/what-we-do/environmental-services-and-future-vision/destination-earth" rel="nofollow">https://www.ecmwf.int/en/about/what-we-do/environmental-serv...</a>
- another digital twin of Earth climate<p>NASA has another project <a href="https://esto.nasa.gov/earth-system-digital-twin/" rel="nofollow">https://esto.nasa.gov/earth-system-digital-twin/</a>
Nvidia has dabbled before in similar undertaking, Keyhole in 2001 raised first round funding from NVIDIA and Sony Digital Media Ventures, making official its existence as a standalone company. Keyhole’s first product, EarthViewer 1.0, was the true precursor to Google Earth.
Nvidia is really embracing the hype train I see...<p>I'm assuming this model is in the same vein as ECMWF, GFS, ICON, CMC, and NAVGEM.<p>Imagine if the NOAA or an academic lab released such a model called it "Earth 2.0" or "Earth's digital twin". It would just feel... like hubris? Not sure why (or how) Nvidia gets away with such messaging.