Surrogate Downscaling of Mesoscale Wind Fields Using Ensemble Superresolution Convolutional Neural Networks

Abstract

Abstract Surrogate modeling is one of the most promising applications of deep learning techniques in meteorology. The purpose of this study was to downscale surface wind fields in a gridded format at a much lower computational load. We employed a superresolution convolutional neural network (SRCNN) as a surrogate model and created a 20-member ensemble by training the same SRCNN model with different random seeds. The downscaling accuracy of the ensemble mean remained stable throughout a year and was consistently better than that of the input wind fields. It was confirmed that 1) the ensemble spread was efficiently created and that 2) the ensemble mean was superior to individual ensemble members and 3) robust to the presence of outlier members. Training, validation, and test data for 10 years were computed via our nested mesoscale weather forecast models not derived from public analysis datasets or real observations. The predictands were 1-km gridded surface zonal and meridional winds, of which the domain was defined as a 180 km × 180 km area around Tokyo, Japan. The predictors included 5-km gridded surface zonal and meridional winds, temperature, humidity, vertical gradient of the potential temperature, elevation, and land-to-water ratio as well as 1-km gridded elevation and land-to-water ratio. Although a perfect surrogate of the weather forecast model could not be achieved, the SRCNN downscaling accuracy could likely enable us to apply this approach in high-resolution advection simulations, considering its overwhelmingly high prediction speed.