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Kilometer-scale convection-allowing model emulation using generative diffusion modeling

delete2026-01-30
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OA
AI
J
Jaideep Pathak *
Y
Yair Cohen *
P
Piyush Garg *
P
Peter Harrington *
N
Noah Brenowitz
D
Dale R. Durran
M
Morteza Mardani
A
Arash Vahdat
S
Shaoming Xu
K
Karthik Kashinath
M
Michael S. Pritchard *
DOI:10.1126/sciadv.adv0423delete
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Abstract

Abstract

En 中文
Storm-scale convection-allowing models (CAMs) explicitly resolve convective dynamics within the atmosphere to predict the evolution of thunderstorms and mesoscale convective systems that result in damaging extreme weather. Deep learning models have, thus far, not proven skillful in this regime of kilometer-scale atmospheric simulation, despite being competitive at coarser resolutions with state-of-the-art global, medium-range weather forecasting. We present a generative diffusion model called StormCast, which emulates the High-Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR)—National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s state-of-the-art 3-kilometer operational CAM. StormCast autoregressively predicts 99 state variables at the kilometer scale using a 1-hour time step, with dense vertical resolution in the atmospheric boundary layer, conditioned on 26 synoptic variables. We show successfully learned kilometer-scale dynamics including competitive 1- to 6-hour forecast skill for composite radar reflectivity alongside physically realistic convective cluster evolution, moist updrafts, and cold pool morphology. These results present opportunities for improving kilometer-scale regional ML weather prediction and future climate hazard dynamical downscaling.

Journal

Science Advances cover
Science Advances
IF:
12.5
Papers:
2.0W
Citations:
18.1W

Organization

N
nvidia corporation
Scholars:
767
Papers: 439
Citations: 1
U
university of minnesota
Scholars:
3.3K
Papers: 1.5K
Citations: 0