Decomposing Ensemble Spread in Lorenz '96 With Learned Stochastic Parameterizations
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Computer Science > Machine Learning
Title:Decomposing Ensemble Spread in Lorenz '96 With Learned Stochastic Parameterizations
Abstract:Weather and climate forecasts are inherently uncertain due to chaotic dynamics, imperfect initial conditions, and incomplete representation of the underlying physical processes. Operational ensemble forecasts aim to represent these uncertainties through forecast spread, yet many approaches yield underdispersive estimates, with spread that grows too slowly relative to forecast error. Using the two-scale Lorenz 1996 system as a widely used, controlled testbed, we design a systematic approach to disentangle intrinsic variability, initial-condition perturbations, and stochastic model uncertainty. We compare multiple ensemble configurations and parameterization strategies, including existing deterministic and autoregressive as well as novel Bayesian and flow-based approaches. Our results show that ensemble perturbations do not increase the system's long-term variance; rather, they regulate how rapidly trajectories decorrelate and explore the invariant measure. Stochastic parameterizations, particularly those with temporally persistent structure, enhance early spread growth and improve spread-error consistency. Overall, we bring clarity to how different sources of uncertainty interact in a chaotic system and provide guidance for the design and evaluation of stochastic parameterizations in weather and climate models.
| Subjects: | Machine Learning (cs.LG); Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics (physics.ao-ph) |
| Cite as: | arXiv:2605.22242 [cs.LG] |
| (or arXiv:2605.22242v1 [cs.LG] for this version) | |
| https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2605.22242
arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration)
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Submission history
From: Birgit Kühbacher [view email][v1] Thu, 21 May 2026 09:48:10 UTC (3,200 KB)
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