U Penn Initiative Taps Earth Networks for Advanced Weather Data Research

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and around the world will now have access to advanced weather and lightning data, thanks to a collaboration between the Wharton Customer Analytics Initiative (WCAI) and weather data company Earth Networks.

Earth Networks runs a proprietary weather observation network comprised of more than 10,000 weather stations that provide live data every two seconds. In addition, the company's Total Lightning Network boasts 1,500-plus sensors in more than 90 countries. The data from both networks will power a broad range of use cases at WCAI, such as:

  • Data analytics for weather-influenced industries, including aviation, insurance and others;
  • Research projects for undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Pennsylvania and around the world;
  • Development of analytic models and commercial software solutions; and
  • Weather-related course curricula and materials.

"Our relationship with Earth Networks is a game-changer in providing our faculty and student researchers with access to real-time weather data and analytics," said Eric Bradlow, chairperson of Wharton's Marketing Department and co-director and co-founder of WCAI, in a statement. "The combination of Earth Networks weather intelligence data and our data analytics resources will spur the development and application of new applied predictive models for a wide range of commercial sectors, and offer the University of Pennsylvania community unprecedented weather data access."

About the Author

Rhea Kelly is editor in chief for Campus Technology, THE Journal, and Spaces4Learning. She can be reached at [email protected].

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