Extratropical Atmospheric Circulation Response to ENSO in Deep Learning Pacific Pacemaker Experiments

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Hua, Zhanxiang, Karamperidou, Christina, Meng, Zilu
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Hua, Zhanxiang
Karamperidou, Christina
Meng, Zilu
author_facet Hua, Zhanxiang
Karamperidou, Christina
Meng, Zilu
contents Coupled atmosphere-ocean deep learning (DL) climate emulators are a new frontier but are known to exhibit weak ENSO variability, raising questions about their ability to simulate teleconnections. Here, we present the first Pacific pacemaker (PACE) experiments using a coupled DL emulator (DLESyM) to bypass this weak variability and isolate the atmospheric response to observed ENSO forcing. We find that while the emulator realistically captures internal atmospheric variability, it produces a significantly amplified forced teleconnection response to ENSO. This amplified response leads to biases in simulating extremes, notably an overestimation of atmospheric blocking frequency and duration with the underestimation of peak intensity. Our findings underscore that coupled DL climate models require in-depth and physically-grounded validation, analogous to traditional numerical models, to build confidence in their use for physical climate analysis.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2511_20899
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Extratropical Atmospheric Circulation Response to ENSO in Deep Learning Pacific Pacemaker Experiments
Hua, Zhanxiang
Karamperidou, Christina
Meng, Zilu
Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics
Coupled atmosphere-ocean deep learning (DL) climate emulators are a new frontier but are known to exhibit weak ENSO variability, raising questions about their ability to simulate teleconnections. Here, we present the first Pacific pacemaker (PACE) experiments using a coupled DL emulator (DLESyM) to bypass this weak variability and isolate the atmospheric response to observed ENSO forcing. We find that while the emulator realistically captures internal atmospheric variability, it produces a significantly amplified forced teleconnection response to ENSO. This amplified response leads to biases in simulating extremes, notably an overestimation of atmospheric blocking frequency and duration with the underestimation of peak intensity. Our findings underscore that coupled DL climate models require in-depth and physically-grounded validation, analogous to traditional numerical models, to build confidence in their use for physical climate analysis.
title Extratropical Atmospheric Circulation Response to ENSO in Deep Learning Pacific Pacemaker Experiments
topic Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.20899