Tel Aviv Univ. Research: Cellphone Towers Can Predict Next Flood

Researchers from Tel Aviv University say they have found a novel, cheap, effective, and reliable way to help predict the intensity of the next big flood, using common cell phone towers across the United States. Their model, which analyzes cell phone signals, adds a critical component to weather forecasting never before available.

Cell phone towers emit radio waves that are diminished by moisture in the air, a factor that can be used to improve model warnings on flood levels. In addition, the researchers measured the rainfall distributions and were able to accurately estimate the size of impending floods before they struck. This was demonstrated in post-analysis of two case-studies of floods in the Judean Desert in Israel, where cell phone towers ― and flash floods ― are abundant.

Using real data measurements collected from the towers, the researchers demonstrated how microwave links in a cellular network correlated with surface station humidity measurements. The microwave data used in this study was supplied by two cellular providers Cellcom and Pelephone in Israel.

“Our method provides reliable measurement of moisture fields near the flood zone for the first time,” notes Prof. Pinhas Alpert, a geophysicist and head of Tel Aviv University’s Porter School for Environmental Education, who also works with NASA on developing models to study global warming weather patterns. This new tool, he says, can add to the bigger picture of understanding climate change patterns in general.

Because hundreds of thousands of cell phone towers are already in place, the Tel Aviv University invention can be adopted quickly, and cell phone companies are already collecting the data anyway.

Source: Israel National News