Century-old data: Innovation IMFD and the Chilean Meteorological Directorate sign a collaboration agreement

May 2023. With the aim of joining forces in the area of research and development, the Chilean Meteorological Directorate and the Innovation Department of Millennium Institute Foundational Research on Data signed a collaboration agreement that will enable data science knowledge to be linked with the invaluable climatological and atmospheric information held by the Meteorological Directorate.

The Chilean Meteorological Service, which reports to the General Directorate of Civil Aviation, is the agency responsible for meteorological activities in the country, whose purpose is to meet the meteorological information and forecasting needs of all national activities.

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

"First, we will review and analyze this data, its formats, media, and processing methods, looking for ways to work with it using the data science tools we have at the institute, as well as projects we can carry out together that generate benefits and knowledge," explains Jazmine Maldonado, Director of Innovation at IMFD.

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

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

Meanwhile, Ricardo Abarca, head of the Meteorological Studies Office, pointed out that this agreement arose after concerns were raised by DMC professionals, who observed a deluge of data from the field of atmospheric sciences and/or related fields.

"It is not always possible to analyze all of this valuable information that is available. Therefore, this opportunity was presented to IMFD, who we know have both 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 seek to use cutting-edge tools to utilize one of the oldest systematized data lines available in the country.