Advancing Seasonal Prediction of Tropical Cyclone Activity with a Hybrid AI-Physics Climate Model

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Zhang, Gan, Rao, Megha, Yuval, Janni, Zhao, Ming
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2025
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author Zhang, Gan
Rao, Megha
Yuval, Janni
Zhao, Ming
author_facet Zhang, Gan
Rao, Megha
Yuval, Janni
Zhao, Ming
contents Machine learning (ML) models are successful with weather forecasting and have shown progress in climate simulations, yet leveraging them for useful climate predictions needs exploration. Here we show this feasibility using Neural General Circulation Model (NeuralGCM), a hybrid ML-physics atmospheric model developed by Google, for seasonal predictions of large-scale atmospheric variability and Northern Hemisphere tropical cyclone (TC) activity. Inspired by physical model studies, we simplify boundary conditions, assuming sea surface temperature (SST) and sea ice follow their climatological cycle but persist anomalies present at the initialization time. With such forcings, NeuralGCM can generate 100 simulation days in ~8 minutes with a single Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), while simulating realistic atmospheric circulation and TC climatology patterns. This configuration yields useful seasonal predictions (July to November) for the tropical atmosphere and various TC activity metrics. Notably, the predicted and observed TC frequency in the North Atlantic and East Pacific basins are significantly correlated during 1990 to 2023 (r=~0.7), suggesting prediction skill comparable to existing physical GCMs. Despite challenges associated with model resolution and simplified boundary forcings, the model-predicted interannual variations demonstrate significant correlations with the observation, including the sub-basin TC tracks (p<0.1) and basin-wide accumulated cyclone energy (p<0.01) of the North Atlantic and North Pacific basins. These findings highlight the promise of leveraging ML models with physical insights to model TC risks and deliver seamless weather-climate predictions.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_01455
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Advancing Seasonal Prediction of Tropical Cyclone Activity with a Hybrid AI-Physics Climate Model
Zhang, Gan
Rao, Megha
Yuval, Janni
Zhao, Ming
Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics
Machine Learning
Machine learning (ML) models are successful with weather forecasting and have shown progress in climate simulations, yet leveraging them for useful climate predictions needs exploration. Here we show this feasibility using Neural General Circulation Model (NeuralGCM), a hybrid ML-physics atmospheric model developed by Google, for seasonal predictions of large-scale atmospheric variability and Northern Hemisphere tropical cyclone (TC) activity. Inspired by physical model studies, we simplify boundary conditions, assuming sea surface temperature (SST) and sea ice follow their climatological cycle but persist anomalies present at the initialization time. With such forcings, NeuralGCM can generate 100 simulation days in ~8 minutes with a single Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), while simulating realistic atmospheric circulation and TC climatology patterns. This configuration yields useful seasonal predictions (July to November) for the tropical atmosphere and various TC activity metrics. Notably, the predicted and observed TC frequency in the North Atlantic and East Pacific basins are significantly correlated during 1990 to 2023 (r=~0.7), suggesting prediction skill comparable to existing physical GCMs. Despite challenges associated with model resolution and simplified boundary forcings, the model-predicted interannual variations demonstrate significant correlations with the observation, including the sub-basin TC tracks (p<0.1) and basin-wide accumulated cyclone energy (p<0.01) of the North Atlantic and North Pacific basins. These findings highlight the promise of leveraging ML models with physical insights to model TC risks and deliver seamless weather-climate predictions.
title Advancing Seasonal Prediction of Tropical Cyclone Activity with a Hybrid AI-Physics Climate Model
topic Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics
Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.01455