Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Zhou, Xiao, Sun, Yuze, Wu, Jie, Huang, Xiaomeng
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.22144
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866918264391598080
author Zhou, Xiao
Sun, Yuze
Wu, Jie
Huang, Xiaomeng
author_facet Zhou, Xiao
Sun, Yuze
Wu, Jie
Huang, Xiaomeng
contents Accurately defining the life cycle of the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO), the dominant mode of intraseasonal climate variability, remains a foundational challenge due to its propagating nature. The established linear-projection method (RMM index) often conflates mathematical artifacts with physical states, while direct clustering in raw data space is confounded by a "propagation penalty." Here, we introduce an "AI-for-theory" paradigm to objectively discover the MJO's intrinsic structure. We develop a deep learning model, PhysAnchor-MJO-AE, to learn a latent representation where vector distance corresponds to physical-feature similarity, enabling objective clustering of MJO dynamical states. Clustering these "MJO fingerprints" reveals the first complete, six-phase anatomical map of its life cycle. This taxonomy refines and critically completes the classical view by objectively isolating two long-hypothesized transitional phases: organizational growth over the Indian Ocean and the northward shift over the Philippine Sea. Derived from this anatomy, we construct a new physics-coherent monitoring framework that decouples location and intensity diagnostics. This framework reduces the rates of spurious propagation and convective misplacement by over an order of magnitude compared to the classical index. Our work transforms AI from a forecasting tool into a discovery microscope, establishing a reproducible template for extracting fundamental dynamical constructs from complex systems.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_22144
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle The Complete Anatomy of the Madden-Julian Oscillation Revealed by Artificial Intelligence
Zhou, Xiao
Sun, Yuze
Wu, Jie
Huang, Xiaomeng
Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics
Artificial Intelligence
Machine Learning
Accurately defining the life cycle of the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO), the dominant mode of intraseasonal climate variability, remains a foundational challenge due to its propagating nature. The established linear-projection method (RMM index) often conflates mathematical artifacts with physical states, while direct clustering in raw data space is confounded by a "propagation penalty." Here, we introduce an "AI-for-theory" paradigm to objectively discover the MJO's intrinsic structure. We develop a deep learning model, PhysAnchor-MJO-AE, to learn a latent representation where vector distance corresponds to physical-feature similarity, enabling objective clustering of MJO dynamical states. Clustering these "MJO fingerprints" reveals the first complete, six-phase anatomical map of its life cycle. This taxonomy refines and critically completes the classical view by objectively isolating two long-hypothesized transitional phases: organizational growth over the Indian Ocean and the northward shift over the Philippine Sea. Derived from this anatomy, we construct a new physics-coherent monitoring framework that decouples location and intensity diagnostics. This framework reduces the rates of spurious propagation and convective misplacement by over an order of magnitude compared to the classical index. Our work transforms AI from a forecasting tool into a discovery microscope, establishing a reproducible template for extracting fundamental dynamical constructs from complex systems.
title The Complete Anatomy of the Madden-Julian Oscillation Revealed by Artificial Intelligence
topic Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics
Artificial Intelligence
Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.22144