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Main Authors: Parthipan, Raghul, Anand, Mohit, Christensen, Hannah M, Vitart, Frederic, Wischik, Damon J, Zscheischler, Jakob
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.18023
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author Parthipan, Raghul
Anand, Mohit
Christensen, Hannah M
Vitart, Frederic
Wischik, Damon J
Zscheischler, Jakob
author_facet Parthipan, Raghul
Anand, Mohit
Christensen, Hannah M
Vitart, Frederic
Wischik, Damon J
Zscheischler, Jakob
contents Regularization is a technique to improve generalization of machine learning (ML) models. A common form of regularization in the ML literature is to train on data where similar inputs map to different outputs. This improves generalization by preventing ML models from becoming overconfident in their predictions. This paper shows how using longer timesteps when modelling chaotic Earth systems naturally leads to more of this regularization. We show this in two domains. We explain how using longer model timesteps can improve results and demonstrate that increased regularization is one of the causes. We explain why longer model timesteps lead to improved regularization in these systems and present a procedure to pick the model timestep. We also carry out a benchmarking exercise on ORAS5 ocean reanalysis data to show that a longer model timestep (28 days) than is typically used gives realistic simulations. We suggest that there will be many opportunities to use this type of regularization in Earth system problems because the Earth system is chaotic and the regularization is so easy to implement.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2503_18023
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Regularization of ML models for Earth systems by using longer model timesteps
Parthipan, Raghul
Anand, Mohit
Christensen, Hannah M
Vitart, Frederic
Wischik, Damon J
Zscheischler, Jakob
Chaotic Dynamics
Machine Learning
Regularization is a technique to improve generalization of machine learning (ML) models. A common form of regularization in the ML literature is to train on data where similar inputs map to different outputs. This improves generalization by preventing ML models from becoming overconfident in their predictions. This paper shows how using longer timesteps when modelling chaotic Earth systems naturally leads to more of this regularization. We show this in two domains. We explain how using longer model timesteps can improve results and demonstrate that increased regularization is one of the causes. We explain why longer model timesteps lead to improved regularization in these systems and present a procedure to pick the model timestep. We also carry out a benchmarking exercise on ORAS5 ocean reanalysis data to show that a longer model timestep (28 days) than is typically used gives realistic simulations. We suggest that there will be many opportunities to use this type of regularization in Earth system problems because the Earth system is chaotic and the regularization is so easy to implement.
title Regularization of ML models for Earth systems by using longer model timesteps
topic Chaotic Dynamics
Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.18023