Examining Fast Radiatively Driven Responses Using Machine-Learning Weather Emulators

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Main Authors: Mahesh, Ankur, Collins, William D., O'Brien, Travis A., Goddard, Paul B., Zebaze, Sinclaire, Subramanian, Shashank, Duncan, James P. C., Watt-Meyer, Oliver, Bonev, Boris, Kurth, Thorsten, Kashinath, Karthik, Pritchard, Michael S., Yang, Da
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Mahesh, Ankur
Collins, William D.
O'Brien, Travis A.
Goddard, Paul B.
Zebaze, Sinclaire
Subramanian, Shashank
Duncan, James P. C.
Watt-Meyer, Oliver
Bonev, Boris
Kurth, Thorsten
Kashinath, Karthik
Pritchard, Michael S.
Yang, Da
author_facet Mahesh, Ankur
Collins, William D.
O'Brien, Travis A.
Goddard, Paul B.
Zebaze, Sinclaire
Subramanian, Shashank
Duncan, James P. C.
Watt-Meyer, Oliver
Bonev, Boris
Kurth, Thorsten
Kashinath, Karthik
Pritchard, Michael S.
Yang, Da
contents The response of the climate system to increased greenhouse gases and other radiative perturbations is governed by a combination of fast and slow feedbacks. Slow feedbacks are typically activated in response to changes in ocean temperatures on decadal timescales and manifest as changes in climatic state with no recent historical analogue. However, fast feedbacks are activated in response to rapid atmospheric physical processes on weekly timescales, and they are already operative in the present-day climate. This distinction implies that the physics of fast radiative feedbacks is present in the historical meteorological reanalyses used to train many recent successful machine-learning-based (ML) emulators of weather and climate. In addition, these feedbacks are functional under the historical boundary conditions pertaining to the top-of-atmosphere radiative balance and sea-surface temperatures. Together, these factors imply that we can use historically trained ML weather emulators to study the response of radiative-convective equilibrium (RCE), and hence the global hydrological cycle, to perturbations in carbon dioxide and other well-mixed greenhouse gases. Without retraining on prospective Earth system conditions, we use ML weather emulators to quantify the fast precipitation response to reduced and elevated carbon dioxed concentrations with no recent historical precedent. We show that the responses from historically trained emulators agree with those produced by full-physics Earth System Models (ESMs). In conclusion, we discuss the prospects for and advantages from using ESMs and ML emulators to study fast processes in global climate.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_16090
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Examining Fast Radiatively Driven Responses Using Machine-Learning Weather Emulators
Mahesh, Ankur
Collins, William D.
O'Brien, Travis A.
Goddard, Paul B.
Zebaze, Sinclaire
Subramanian, Shashank
Duncan, James P. C.
Watt-Meyer, Oliver
Bonev, Boris
Kurth, Thorsten
Kashinath, Karthik
Pritchard, Michael S.
Yang, Da
Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics
Machine Learning
The response of the climate system to increased greenhouse gases and other radiative perturbations is governed by a combination of fast and slow feedbacks. Slow feedbacks are typically activated in response to changes in ocean temperatures on decadal timescales and manifest as changes in climatic state with no recent historical analogue. However, fast feedbacks are activated in response to rapid atmospheric physical processes on weekly timescales, and they are already operative in the present-day climate. This distinction implies that the physics of fast radiative feedbacks is present in the historical meteorological reanalyses used to train many recent successful machine-learning-based (ML) emulators of weather and climate. In addition, these feedbacks are functional under the historical boundary conditions pertaining to the top-of-atmosphere radiative balance and sea-surface temperatures. Together, these factors imply that we can use historically trained ML weather emulators to study the response of radiative-convective equilibrium (RCE), and hence the global hydrological cycle, to perturbations in carbon dioxide and other well-mixed greenhouse gases. Without retraining on prospective Earth system conditions, we use ML weather emulators to quantify the fast precipitation response to reduced and elevated carbon dioxed concentrations with no recent historical precedent. We show that the responses from historically trained emulators agree with those produced by full-physics Earth System Models (ESMs). In conclusion, we discuss the prospects for and advantages from using ESMs and ML emulators to study fast processes in global climate.
title Examining Fast Radiatively Driven Responses Using Machine-Learning Weather Emulators
topic Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics
Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.16090