Centennial data: IMFD Innovation and Chile's Meteorological Directorate sign collaboration agreement

May, 2023 - With the objective of joining efforts to link research and development, the Chilean Meteorological Directorate and the Innovation Directorate of the Millennium Institute Foundational Research on Data signed a collaboration agreement that will allow linking data science knowledge with the invaluable climatological and atmospheric information of the Meteorological Directorate.

The Meteorological Directorate of Chile, under the General Directorate of Civil Aeronautics, is the agency responsible for meteorological work in the country, whose purpose is to meet the information and weather forecasting needs of all national activities.

The entity has been collecting information uninterruptedly since 1914, with data such as hourly/daily observation of the respective meteorological variables (atmospheric pressure, temperature, relative humidity, wind direction and strength, among others), and has a national meteorological archive, which dates back to 1868 and contains the original data records of each station in the country, safeguarded in accordance with international ISO quality standards, under adequate classification and storage conditions.

"In the first instance, we will review and diagnose these data, their formats, supports and processing methods, looking for ways to work with them using the data science tools we have at the institute, and also projects that we can carry out together that generate benefits and knowledge," explains Jazmine Maldonado, director of IMFD Innovation.

The director of the DMC, Reinaldo Gutiérrez, said that this agreement will allow the DMC to seek opportunities to improve internal processes, obtain new products and use the large amount of data available to the institution.

"It will allow us to explore other sources of information related to meteorology, such as the reports that People make on social networks regarding the impacts generated by meteorological phenomena," said Reinaldo Gutiérrez.

The head of the Meteorological Studies Office, Ricardo Abarca , pointed out that this agreement arose from the concern of DMC professionals, who observed a kind of deluge of data from the area of atmospheric sciences and/or related to them.

"It is not always possible to fully analyze all of this valuable information that is available. Thus, this opportunity was presented to IMFD, who we know have both the theoretical and practical knowledge of what is known as data science," said the meteorologist.

The signing of this agreement marks the beginning of a collaborative effort that will use state-of-the-art tools to use one of the oldest systematized data lines in the country.