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Spotlight Poster

Probabilistic Weather Forecasting with Hierarchical Graph Neural Networks

Joel Oskarsson · Tomas Landelius · Marc Deisenroth · Fredrik Lindsten

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Wed 11 Dec 11 a.m. PST — 2 p.m. PST

Abstract:

In recent years, machine learning has established itself as a powerful tool for high-resolution weather forecasting. While most current machine learning models focus on deterministic forecasts, accurately capturing the uncertainty in the chaotic weather system calls for probabilistic modeling. We propose a probabilistic weather forecasting model called Graph-EFM, combining a flexible latent-variable formulation with the successful graph-based forecasting framework. The use of a hierarchical graph construction allows for efficient sampling of spatially coherent forecasts. Requiring only a single forward pass per time step, Graph-EFM allows for fast generation of arbitrarily large ensembles. We experiment with the model on both global and limited area forecasting. Ensemble forecasts from Graph-EFM achieve equivalent or lower errors than comparable deterministic models, with the added benefit of accurately capturing forecast uncertainty.

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