Assessing Emulator Design and Training for Modal Aerosol Microphysics Parameterizations in E3SMv2

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Ahmed, Shady E., Wan, Hui, Qadeer, Saad, Stinis, Panos, Chong, Kezhen, Mozumder, Mohammad Taufiq Hassan, Zhang, Kai, Almgren, Ann S.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Ahmed, Shady E.
Wan, Hui
Qadeer, Saad
Stinis, Panos
Chong, Kezhen
Mozumder, Mohammad Taufiq Hassan
Zhang, Kai
Almgren, Ann S.
author_facet Ahmed, Shady E.
Wan, Hui
Qadeer, Saad
Stinis, Panos
Chong, Kezhen
Mozumder, Mohammad Taufiq Hassan
Zhang, Kai
Almgren, Ann S.
contents Toward the goal of using Scientific Machine Learning (SciML) emulators to improve the numerical representation of aerosol processes in global atmospheric models, we explore the emulation of aerosol microphysics processes under cloud-free conditions in the 4-mode Modal Aerosol Module (MAM4) within the Energy Exascale Earth System Model version 2 (E3SMv2). To develop an in-depth understanding of the challenges and opportunities in applying SciML to aerosol processes, we begin with a simple feedforward neural network architecture that has been used in earlier studies, but we systematically examine key emulator design choices, including architecture complexity and variable normalization, while closely monitoring training convergence behavior. Our results show that optimization convergence, scaling strategy, and network complexity strongly influence emulation accuracy. When effective scaling is applied and convergence is achieved, the relatively simple architecture, used together with a moderate network size, can reproduce key features of the microphysics-induced aerosol concentration changes with promising accuracy. These findings provide practical clues for the next stages of emulator development; they also provide general insights that are likely applicable to the emulation of other aerosol processes, as well as other atmospheric physics involving multi-scale variability.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_21233
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Assessing Emulator Design and Training for Modal Aerosol Microphysics Parameterizations in E3SMv2
Ahmed, Shady E.
Wan, Hui
Qadeer, Saad
Stinis, Panos
Chong, Kezhen
Mozumder, Mohammad Taufiq Hassan
Zhang, Kai
Almgren, Ann S.
Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics
Machine Learning
Data Analysis, Statistics and Probability
Geophysics
Toward the goal of using Scientific Machine Learning (SciML) emulators to improve the numerical representation of aerosol processes in global atmospheric models, we explore the emulation of aerosol microphysics processes under cloud-free conditions in the 4-mode Modal Aerosol Module (MAM4) within the Energy Exascale Earth System Model version 2 (E3SMv2). To develop an in-depth understanding of the challenges and opportunities in applying SciML to aerosol processes, we begin with a simple feedforward neural network architecture that has been used in earlier studies, but we systematically examine key emulator design choices, including architecture complexity and variable normalization, while closely monitoring training convergence behavior. Our results show that optimization convergence, scaling strategy, and network complexity strongly influence emulation accuracy. When effective scaling is applied and convergence is achieved, the relatively simple architecture, used together with a moderate network size, can reproduce key features of the microphysics-induced aerosol concentration changes with promising accuracy. These findings provide practical clues for the next stages of emulator development; they also provide general insights that are likely applicable to the emulation of other aerosol processes, as well as other atmospheric physics involving multi-scale variability.
title Assessing Emulator Design and Training for Modal Aerosol Microphysics Parameterizations in E3SMv2
topic Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics
Machine Learning
Data Analysis, Statistics and Probability
Geophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.21233