UH Sea Level Center<\/a>. Widlansky and Nemanja Komar, co-author on the study and the software engineer behind the project, then equipped IDEA with specialized instructions, essentially a digital user manual for interpreting sea level data. When a user asks a question, the AI generates computer code, which is then safely executed on a secure UH computer.<\/p>\nInvestigating coastal changes, new adaptations<\/p>\n
To showcase IDEA\u2019s potential, the researchers developed a prototype application called the Station Explorer Assistant (SEA). SEA serves as a working example of how the IDEA system can be used to analyze global sea level data. It enables both scientists and students to investigate coastal changes simply by asking questions.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the Station Explorer Assistant, users don\u2019t need to write a single line of code to analyze tide gauge data, track sea level rise, or assess flooding occurrence,\u201d said Widlansky. \u201cAn exciting part of this work is how easily the IDEA framework can be adapted to explore new datasets,\u201d added Komar. \u201cWe even shifted from sea level records to dust storms on Mars\u2013just by changing the instructions and data source.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tools to assist, not replace<\/p>\n
Still, the researchers caution that AI-generated analyses aren\u2019t foolproof. \u201cSEA and other IDEA-based applications can make mistakes, like miscalculating a trend,\u201d Widlansky noted. \u201cThat\u2019s why human oversight remains essential\u2014we\u2019re building tools to assist scientists, not replace them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Flexibility is central to IDEA\u2019s design. As an open-source, general-purpose framework, it can be customized for different research problems, from ocean forecasting to land use change, or even planetary science. Although still a prototype, the SOEST researchers made SEA available online for scientists or university students to try out and test. Developers are encouraged to explore the IDEA framework on GitHub and experiment with adapting it to their own data or using it with other large language model services. The team welcomes feedback and collaboration to help improve IDEA and expand its scientific applications.<\/p>\n
Users of SEA and IDEA can provide feedback by emailing idea-dev-grp@hawaii.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Reading time: 2 minutesThis artist\u2019s concept illustrates a Martian dust storm. (Photo credit: NASA) A new artificial intelligence…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8190,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[291,8195,8210,8217,8215,8202,8205,7844,18,8196,8190,19,8191,17,8212,8206,610,8218,8219,8204,8193,8214,8194,8209,8216,8211,307,8197,8220,8199,133,8208,8203,8200,8207,8213,8198,8201,8192],"class_list":{"0":"post-8189","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-ai-assistant","10":"tag-ai-for-science","11":"tag-ai-research-tool","12":"tag-coastal-change","13":"tag-cooperative-institute-for-marine-and-atmospheric-research","14":"tag-dust-storms-on-mars","15":"tag-earth-science","16":"tag-eire","17":"tag-geoscience-data","18":"tag-idea-ai","19":"tag-ie","20":"tag-intelligent-data-exploring-assistant","21":"tag-ireland","22":"tag-journal-of-geophysical-research","23":"tag-large-language-model","24":"tag-machine-learning","25":"tag-manoa-excellence-in-research","26":"tag-manoa-research","27":"tag-mars-atmospheric-conditions","28":"tag-matthew-widlansky","29":"tag-natural-language-processing","30":"tag-nemanja-komar","31":"tag-no-code-data-analysis","32":"tag-ocean-forecasting","33":"tag-open-source-ai","34":"tag-openai","35":"tag-planetary-science","36":"tag-publication","37":"tag-school-of-ocean-and-earth-science-and-technology","38":"tag-science","39":"tag-sea","40":"tag-sea-level-rise","41":"tag-soest","42":"tag-station-explorer-assistant","43":"tag-tide-gauge-data","44":"tag-uh-manoa","45":"tag-uh-sea-level-center","46":"tag-university-of-hawaii-at-manoa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8189\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"illustration\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/manoa-soest-ai.jpg\")
This artist\u2019s concept illustrates a Martian dust storm. (Photo credit: NASA)<\/p>\n![\"sea](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/manoa-soest-ai1-257x300.jpg\")
One of the 94 sea level gauges maintained by the UH Sea Level Center is stationed in Micronesia.<\/p>\n