New Approach to Calculation of Atmospheric Model Physics: Accurate and Fast Neural Network Emulation of Longwave Radiation in a Climate Model

Abstract A new approach based on a synergetic combination of statistical/machine learning and deterministic modeling within atmospheric models is presented. The approach uses neural networks as a statistical or machine learning technique for an accurate and fast emulation or statistical approximation of model physics parameterizations. It is applied to development of an accurate and fast approximation of an atmospheric longwave radiation parameterization for the NCAR Community Atmospheric Model, which is the most time consuming component of model physics. The developed neural network emulation is two orders of magnitude, 50–80 times, faster than the original parameterization. A comparison of the parallel 10-yr climate simulations performed with the original parameterization and its neural network emulations confirmed that these simulations produce almost identical results. The obtained results show the conceptual and practical possibility of an efficient synergetic combination of deterministic and statistical learning components within an atmospheric climate or forecast model. A developmental framework and practical validation criteria for neural network emulations of model physics components are outlined.