On May 9, 2025, the Asian Nowcasting Intercomparsion of the WMO Artificial Intelligence Nowcasting Pilot Project (AINPP) was successfully launched in Shenzhen.
As WMO’s first global AI pilot project, AINPP aims to revolutionize the nowcasting system through AI technology, establish global AI meteorological application guidelines, advance the implementation of the "Early Warnings for All" initiative, enhance early warning capabilities for extreme weather events, and minimize loss of life and economic damage.
All the online and onsite participants.
The AINPP covers three regions: Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Among them, Asia boasts the richest AI technical resources and the largest number of participants, including not only leading AI institutions such as the China Meteorological Administration(CMA), Korea Meteorological Administration(KMA), U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration(NOAA), Hong Kong Observatory(HKO), RIKEN (Japan), and Harbin Institute of Technology (Shenzhen), but also developing countries like Thailand, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The Asian nowcasting Intercomparsion has carefully selected nowcasting products from these advanced institutions to conduct concentrated comparisons of radar echo, precipitation, and lightning forecasts for southern China and parts of Southeast Asia. After the activity, top-performing products will be promoted to developing countries to help enhance their weather warning capabilities.
The launch meeting of the Asian Nowcasting Intercomparsion was held at the Shenzhen Meteorological Bureau(SMB) in a hybrid (online and offline) format. Attendees included Yuki Honda, Chief of WIPPS Section of WMO; Zeng Qin, Director of the International Cooperation Department of the CMA; Dai Kan, Deputy Director of the National Meteorological Center; Liu Defeng, Director of the SMB; Yu Jun, Officer of the WMO Regional Office for Asia and the South-West Pacific; and experts from meteorological departments of China (including HKO), Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, India, Iran, UAE, Saudi Arabia, etc. Additionally, researchers from universities and enterprises such as Sun Yat-sen University, Harbin Institute of Technology (Shenzhen), and Microsoft actively participated.
The meeting was chaired by Dai Kan and Lan Hongping, Deputy Director of the SMB. In their speeches, Zeng Qin, Liu Defeng, Yu Jun, and Yuki Honda highly affirmed the significance of the project, expecting it to set a benchmark for the standardized application of AI technology in the global meteorological field, particularly to provide strong support for regions prone to extreme weather and effectively reduce economic losses from disasters. Dai Kan, Co-Chair of the AINPP Executive Team, announced the official launch of the Asian Nowcasting Intercomparsion.
Dr. Wang Weiwei from the SMB systematically introduced the core objectives, phased achievements, and future plans of Asian Nowcasting Intercomparsion. Dr. Waikin Wong, Senior Scientific Officer of the HKO, Dr. Hyesook Lee, Director of the AI Research Institute of the KMA, and Dr. Dong Haiyu from Microsoft respectively shared their latest research progress of AI-based nowcasting models.
The conference concluded successfully amid warm discussions among online and on-site participants.
