Deep Learning Weather Models for Subregional Ocean Forecasting: A Case Study on the Canary Current Upwelling System

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Main Authors: Cuervo-Londoño, Giovanny A., Sánchez, Javier, Rodríguez-Santana, Ángel
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Cuervo-Londoño, Giovanny A.
Sánchez, Javier
Rodríguez-Santana, Ángel
author_facet Cuervo-Londoño, Giovanny A.
Sánchez, Javier
Rodríguez-Santana, Ángel
contents Oceanographic forecasting impacts various sectors of society by supporting environmental conservation and economic activities. Based on global circulation models, traditional forecasting methods are computationally expensive and slow, limiting their ability to provide rapid forecasts. Recent advances in deep learning offer faster and more accurate predictions, although these data-driven models are often trained with global data from numerical simulations, which may not reflect reality. The emergence of such models presents great potential for improving ocean prediction at a subregional domain. However, their ability to predict fine-scale ocean processes, like mesoscale structures, remains largely unknown. This work aims to adapt a graph neural network initially developed for global weather forecasting to improve subregional ocean prediction, specifically focusing on the Canary Current upwelling system. The model is trained with satellite data and compared to state-of-the-art physical ocean models to assess its performance in capturing ocean dynamics. Our results show that the deep learning model surpasses traditional methods in precision despite some challenges in upwelling areas. It demonstrated superior performance in reducing RMSE errors compared to ConvLSTM and the GLORYS reanalysis, particularly in regions with complex oceanic dynamics such as Cape Ghir, Cape Bojador, and Cape Blanc. The model achieved improvements of up to 26.5% relative to ConvLSTM and error reductions of up to 76% in 5-day forecasts compared to the GLORYS reanalysis at these critical locations, highlighting its enhanced capability to capture spatial variability and improve predictive accuracy in complex areas. These findings suggest the viability of adapting meteorological data-driven models for improving subregional medium-term ocean forecasting.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_24429
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Deep Learning Weather Models for Subregional Ocean Forecasting: A Case Study on the Canary Current Upwelling System
Cuervo-Londoño, Giovanny A.
Sánchez, Javier
Rodríguez-Santana, Ángel
Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics
Artificial Intelligence
Machine Learning
Oceanographic forecasting impacts various sectors of society by supporting environmental conservation and economic activities. Based on global circulation models, traditional forecasting methods are computationally expensive and slow, limiting their ability to provide rapid forecasts. Recent advances in deep learning offer faster and more accurate predictions, although these data-driven models are often trained with global data from numerical simulations, which may not reflect reality. The emergence of such models presents great potential for improving ocean prediction at a subregional domain. However, their ability to predict fine-scale ocean processes, like mesoscale structures, remains largely unknown. This work aims to adapt a graph neural network initially developed for global weather forecasting to improve subregional ocean prediction, specifically focusing on the Canary Current upwelling system. The model is trained with satellite data and compared to state-of-the-art physical ocean models to assess its performance in capturing ocean dynamics. Our results show that the deep learning model surpasses traditional methods in precision despite some challenges in upwelling areas. It demonstrated superior performance in reducing RMSE errors compared to ConvLSTM and the GLORYS reanalysis, particularly in regions with complex oceanic dynamics such as Cape Ghir, Cape Bojador, and Cape Blanc. The model achieved improvements of up to 26.5% relative to ConvLSTM and error reductions of up to 76% in 5-day forecasts compared to the GLORYS reanalysis at these critical locations, highlighting its enhanced capability to capture spatial variability and improve predictive accuracy in complex areas. These findings suggest the viability of adapting meteorological data-driven models for improving subregional medium-term ocean forecasting.
title Deep Learning Weather Models for Subregional Ocean Forecasting: A Case Study on the Canary Current Upwelling System
topic Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics
Artificial Intelligence
Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.24429