NEW: Testing data available for download here.
The AMS Committee on Artificial Intelligence is pleased to announce an AI competition to be held in conjunction with the 7th AI Conference and the 2009 AMS Annual Meeting 
in Phoenix, AZ.
The task for the 2008 AI competition is to use the supplied data sets to classify the observed precipitation type at the ground into one of three categories: liquid, frozen, or none. These data come from meteorological analyses of environmental conditions close in time and space to the actual observations, along with data from a polarimetric radar. Data (download links below) are divided into two parts: training and testing. There are 847 observations in the training data set and 363 in testing data set. To be scored, participants must provide their classification for each test observation along with the associated index. Classifications without the associated index will not be scored.
The winning submission will be the one that yields the highest Peirce Skill Score (PSS), also known as the Kuiper's performance index, Hansen-Kuipers score, and the true skill statistic.
To participate in the competition, teams should:
- Send an email to Kim.Elmore@noaa.gov by Sept. 30, 2008 indicating interest and reserving a speaking slot.
- Download the dataset below. Details about the dataset are in a README.txt file in the zip file and available below.
- Train a classifier.
- Submit the results of your classifier as described above.
- Write and submit a paper for the AI conference. (To be considered, an entry should be accompanied by a description of the technique followed in the form of an AMS paper.)
Further details about the AMS Annual Meeting are available at http://www.ametsoc.org/MEET/annual/index.html .
Results must be sent as plain, ASCII, commode (csv) files to Kim.Elmore@noaa.gov no later than 0000 CST 20 December 2008.
Information on polarimetric radar may be found here: http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/research/radar/dualpol.php.
The multi-category form of the Pierce Skill Score (sometimes called the Hansen-Kuipers Skill Score or Trues Skill Score) may be found here: http://www.bom.gov.au/bmrc/wefor/staff/eee/verif/verif_web_page.html .
