Wx Labs
Ben Pickering
Ben Pickering's Story
Ben Pickering, who completed a PhD in Atmospheric Physics at Leeds, wants to increase the use of technology to enhance the complex process of forecasting the weather.
Ben has set up Wx Labs, which involves building technologies such as weather instruments and data collection systems to improve local monitoring of the environment.
Forecasting will also become ever more important as weather-dependent renewable energies like solar and wind replace fossil fuels. The more we rely on forecasting, the more we expect from it. Weather forecasting has a social impact too. For instance, many people use the forecast in their planning, whether it is for organising a full-scale event or simply a day out with the family.
"We rely on the forecast in so many ways. In just one example it is increasingly vital to the farmers’ economy as they now rely more heavily on forecasting to predict when to go out seeding, weeding and spraying. This enhances their efficiency as they can be more precise in how they operate. Cutting-edge weather data gives them that extra edge in an increasingly volatile climate."
Ben’s first main product is a 180-degree fisheye camera which can be embedded within a weather station to capture images of the whole sky horizon-to-horizon, giving richer visual insights alongside the standard data that is currently collected.
Those images can capture what percentage of the sky is covered in cloud and what the cloud type, shape and height is. Later he hopes to use the motion of clouds over time to estimate the winds aloft – a region of the atmosphere that is not well measured today.
These images would add to the data currently collected by local weather stations such as air pressure, air temperature and humidity, and be interpreted by human forecasters and researchers and through AI techniques. He is aware, however, that because of the volatility of the weather that has come about through climate change, our expectations of weather forecasting accuracy may have a limit.
"The more we rely on forecasting, the more we expect from it. There is more dependence on the weather forecast to make decisions than there was in the past. But this is also an opportunity, because the more value people derive from better forecast products, the more they are willing to spend."
Wx Labs is a continuation of Ben’s academic goals to improve forecasting through novel observations, and ultimately improve decision making at personal, industrial and governance levels. Ben received £10,000 as the first prize winner of the Nexus Innovation Award for Spark Supported Businesses.
This funding will help generate new customer leads through Wx Labs’ first exhibitor booth at a key industry conference this year. These conferences attract meteorological operational forecasters from around the world as well as academics and businesses from relevant industries such as agriculture, the energy sector and the aviation sector. Ben’s initial goal is to persuade interested parties to take up an offer of a three-month trial of the sky camera station, which can then be purchased or returned.
"I am delighted to receive the award, and this funding will help us generate new customer leads through our first exhibitor booth at a key industry conference this year. I hope to garner interest that will translate into real commercial opportunities."
His long-term goal is for the camera stations to become affordable enough for families to buy for their own homes.
"I have always been fascinated by the weather. I was struck with awe from a young age at how heavy snow transformed my neighbourhood and got scared by a very close thunderstorm – which is ironic now that I chase tornadoes for fun! It was my family that suggested I became a meteorologist as they could see how obsessed I was with the weather."
