Beyond Ensemble Averages: Leveraging Climate Model Ensembles for Subseasonal Forecasting

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Orlova, Elena, Liu, Haokun, Rossellini, Raphael, Cash, Benjamin A., Willett, Rebecca
Format: Preprint
Published: 2022
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866912029538779136
author Orlova, Elena
Liu, Haokun
Rossellini, Raphael
Cash, Benjamin A.
Willett, Rebecca
author_facet Orlova, Elena
Liu, Haokun
Rossellini, Raphael
Cash, Benjamin A.
Willett, Rebecca
contents Producing high-quality forecasts of key climate variables, such as temperature and precipitation, on subseasonal time scales has long been a gap in operational forecasting. This study explores an application of machine learning (ML) models as post-processing tools for subseasonal forecasting. Lagged numerical ensemble forecasts (i.e., an ensemble where the members have different initialization dates) and observational data, including relative humidity, pressure at sea level, and geopotential height, are incorporated into various ML methods to predict monthly average precipitation and two-meter temperature two weeks in advance for the continental United States. For regression, quantile regression, and tercile classification tasks, we consider using linear models, random forests, convolutional neural networks, and stacked models (a multi-model approach based on the prediction of the individual ML models). Unlike previous ML approaches that often use ensemble mean alone, we leverage information embedded in the ensemble forecasts to enhance prediction accuracy. Additionally, we investigate extreme event predictions that are crucial for planning and mitigation efforts. Considering ensemble members as a collection of spatial forecasts, we explore different approaches to using spatial information. Trade-offs between different approaches may be mitigated with model stacking. Our proposed models outperform standard baselines such as climatological forecasts and ensemble means. In addition, we investigate feature importance, trade-offs between using the full ensemble or only the ensemble mean, and different modes of accounting for spatial variability.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2211_15856
institution arXiv
publishDate 2022
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Beyond Ensemble Averages: Leveraging Climate Model Ensembles for Subseasonal Forecasting
Orlova, Elena
Liu, Haokun
Rossellini, Raphael
Cash, Benjamin A.
Willett, Rebecca
Machine Learning
Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics
Producing high-quality forecasts of key climate variables, such as temperature and precipitation, on subseasonal time scales has long been a gap in operational forecasting. This study explores an application of machine learning (ML) models as post-processing tools for subseasonal forecasting. Lagged numerical ensemble forecasts (i.e., an ensemble where the members have different initialization dates) and observational data, including relative humidity, pressure at sea level, and geopotential height, are incorporated into various ML methods to predict monthly average precipitation and two-meter temperature two weeks in advance for the continental United States. For regression, quantile regression, and tercile classification tasks, we consider using linear models, random forests, convolutional neural networks, and stacked models (a multi-model approach based on the prediction of the individual ML models). Unlike previous ML approaches that often use ensemble mean alone, we leverage information embedded in the ensemble forecasts to enhance prediction accuracy. Additionally, we investigate extreme event predictions that are crucial for planning and mitigation efforts. Considering ensemble members as a collection of spatial forecasts, we explore different approaches to using spatial information. Trade-offs between different approaches may be mitigated with model stacking. Our proposed models outperform standard baselines such as climatological forecasts and ensemble means. In addition, we investigate feature importance, trade-offs between using the full ensemble or only the ensemble mean, and different modes of accounting for spatial variability.
title Beyond Ensemble Averages: Leveraging Climate Model Ensembles for Subseasonal Forecasting
topic Machine Learning
Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2211.15856