Predicting weather as we know is difficult, some say just a gamble. Meanwhile climate change science, disaster management, agriculture and energy hedgers and really all of us seek accurate assessments. Will 5G help give us more accurate weather reports?
Predicting weather as we know is difficult, some say just a gamble. Meanwhile climate change science, disaster management, agriculture and energy hedgers and really all of us seek accurate assessments. Will 5G help give us more accurate weather reports?
There are the obvious benefits from giving faster and more reliable data from 5G but there is a downside that meterologists are warning about. The electromagnetic spectrum that weather models use is about to get a massive tampering.
The 5G network upgrades may unintentionally cause interference with their predictions. Natural gas and grain traders wryly quip , well maybe that is a good thing given weather watchers have been notably wrong for the most past over recent years.
The rationale for the concern lies around the electromagnetic spectrum used by meteorologists to track atmospheric conditions using satellites. The electromagnetic spectrum is also used by 5G, so now we have 5G and weather monitoring relying on the same spectrum.
The problem lies in crowded waves.
The natural and nearby frequencies measured by satellites need to be kept free of man-made signals as the noise from these can leak into other areas on the spectrum. If 5G encroaches into the weather satellites space then it creates an interference. This interference can block or blind weather monitoring systems. In such a competitiive space as telecommunications and indeed countires, think Houwai from China companies are trying to access and control ever increasing amounts in the spectrum as new networks are introduced.
“These frequency bands are used to monitor climate change,” says Eric Allaix, chair of the World Meteorological Organisation’s steering group on radio frequency coordination. “All the observations made in the last decade by the satellite will not be able to be used anymore in the future if they are interfered with. It’s really a shame.” Wired magazine reports.
Limits Placed On 5G Not Enough Say Meteorologists
At the World Radiocommunication Conference in Egypt, limits were placed on 5G radio frequency. However this is not as strict as meteorologists wanted. Water vapour naturally emits a radio frequency of 24GHz, this frequency needs to be clear or unpolluted by mobile telecommunications signals.
Meteorologists suggested a buffer of -42dBW outside the 24GHz band for 5G, therefore limiting the risk of noise on that frequency, however the conference set a less harsh restriction of -33dBW. This narrower gap between 5G and natural frequency weather monitoring requires has escalated concerns as the risk of noise leaking into the space weather satellites increases.
The concern given the speed of technology change is that not only is the band lower than requested 5G has eight years to tighten to -39dBW in eight years.
Studies by Nasa and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration show the limit should go as far as -52.4dBW in order to maintain a safe distance for tracking and predicting where, for example, hurricanes will land.
There May Be Benefits However From 5G
The UK’s national weather service, the Met Office says limits on 5G set in Egypt could be a great boon for meteorologists. Their reasoning is that when it rains the air gets denser.
Dense air is harder for a 5G signal to travel through. The Met Office hopes it can track dips in 5G signals to understand where it is raining and how hard.
“It could be an additional and unexpected benefit of the rollout of the 5G network,” says Met Office spokesperson Grahame Madge.
Presently rainfall is monitored by radar. In the UK there are 15 radar sites collecting data at one kilometre resolution. The Met envisages 5G could complement existing observations to provide a more precise real-time view of urban areas. “If they operate within the globally agreed limits that were discussed at the meeting in Egypt then everything should be fine,” says Madge.
Meteorologists Worry That Compromise Is Just The Beginning
The meteorologists from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) in Reading have concerns that the concessions made at the Egypt conference are only the beginning reports Wired.
“We are concerned about the future, that as soon as you lose one battle, it makes it much harder to to win the next battle,” says Tony McNally, principal scientist at the ECMWF.
He worries that this small loss of bandwidth will lead to further losses with the arrival of 6G.
“If we’re not careful our satellites become completely blind. That would be a very serious situation indeed. If we cannot give warnings people potentially could be losing their lives because of this,” McNally said Wired Reports
If you are worried about the validity of weather forecasts now there is a fine line to weather they improve or worsen going forward with 5G.
Source: Wired
From The TradersCommunity Research Desk