Gaussian Framework and Optimal Projection of Weather Fields for Prediction of Extreme Events

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Mascolo, Valeria, Lovo, Alessandro, Herbert, Corentin, Bouchet, Freddy
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866916650050125824
author Mascolo, Valeria
Lovo, Alessandro
Herbert, Corentin
Bouchet, Freddy
author_facet Mascolo, Valeria
Lovo, Alessandro
Herbert, Corentin
Bouchet, Freddy
contents Extreme events are the major weather-related hazard for humanity. It is then of crucial importance to have a good understanding of their statistics and to be able to forecast them. However, lack of sufficient data makes their study particularly challenging. In this work, we provide a simple framework for studying extreme events that tackles the lack of data issue by using the entire available dataset, rather than focusing on the extremes of the dataset. To do so, we make the assumption that the set of predictors and the observable used to define the extreme event follow a jointly Gaussian distribution. This naturally gives the notion of an optimal projection of the predictors for forecasting the event. We take as a case study extreme heatwaves over France, and we test our method on an 8000-year-long intermediate complexity climate model time series and on the ERA5 reanalysis dataset. For a-posteriori statistics, we observe and motivate the fact that composite maps of very extreme events look similar to less extreme ones. For prediction, we show that our method is competitive with off-the-shelf neural networks on the long dataset and outperforms them on reanalysis. The optimal projection pattern, which makes our forecast intrinsically interpretable, highlights the importance of soil moisture deficit and quasi-stationary Rossby waves as precursors to extreme heatwaves.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2405_20903
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Gaussian Framework and Optimal Projection of Weather Fields for Prediction of Extreme Events
Mascolo, Valeria
Lovo, Alessandro
Herbert, Corentin
Bouchet, Freddy
Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics
Data Analysis, Statistics and Probability
Extreme events are the major weather-related hazard for humanity. It is then of crucial importance to have a good understanding of their statistics and to be able to forecast them. However, lack of sufficient data makes their study particularly challenging. In this work, we provide a simple framework for studying extreme events that tackles the lack of data issue by using the entire available dataset, rather than focusing on the extremes of the dataset. To do so, we make the assumption that the set of predictors and the observable used to define the extreme event follow a jointly Gaussian distribution. This naturally gives the notion of an optimal projection of the predictors for forecasting the event. We take as a case study extreme heatwaves over France, and we test our method on an 8000-year-long intermediate complexity climate model time series and on the ERA5 reanalysis dataset. For a-posteriori statistics, we observe and motivate the fact that composite maps of very extreme events look similar to less extreme ones. For prediction, we show that our method is competitive with off-the-shelf neural networks on the long dataset and outperforms them on reanalysis. The optimal projection pattern, which makes our forecast intrinsically interpretable, highlights the importance of soil moisture deficit and quasi-stationary Rossby waves as precursors to extreme heatwaves.
title Gaussian Framework and Optimal Projection of Weather Fields for Prediction of Extreme Events
topic Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics
Data Analysis, Statistics and Probability
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.20903