Vodafone's volunteer computing app, DreamLab, has helped scientists learn more about typhoons. Researchers at Imperial College London used DreamLab data. They wanted to see how climate change is affecting extreme weather.
They found that human-driven climate change was 50% more likely to cause the winds of the recent Typhoon Gaemi. They also discovered that typhoons have become 14 km/hr, or 7%, faster.
If you haven't heard of it, DreamLab is an app that runs when your phone is almost charged. There are several projects users can contribute to, including the one mentioned here. It's a lot like BOINC for PCs but more user-friendly.
Vodafone says that DreamLab has 3.5 million downloads globally. Together, these smartphones create a virtual supercomputer. The network can then process billions of calculations in a short period.
DreamLab users have been contributing to Imperial College London's Storm Model (IRIS). It uses millions of synthetic storm tracks to study the link between typhoons and climate change. Vodafone said data from the model is also shared with at-risk communities.
Typhoon Gaemi (called Carina in the Philippines) affected the Philippines, Taiwan, and China in July. It killed 75 people and caused million of dollars of damage. It didn't make landfall in the Philippines. But, it caused widespread flooding in Manila, the capital.
The researchers said that, before human-induced climate change, strong typhoons hit Taiwan every 4 years. Now, the researchers say they will hit more often. The burning of oil, gas, and coal causes the warming of the planet.
Hopefully, with models like IRIS powered by DreamLab, communities will be able to see typhoons coming and better prepare. If this is the first you've heard of DreamLab and want to use it, you can find it in your respective app store. By default, it will only do computations once your phone is 80% charged.
Source: Vodafone - Image via Depositphotos.com
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