DRN-DSA: A hybrid deep learning network model for precipitation nowcasting using time series data

Abstract

Precipitation nowcasting involves short-term weather forecasting, predicting rain or snow within the next two hours. By analyzing current atmospheric conditions, it aids meteorologists in identifying weather patterns and preparing for severe events such as flooding. These nowcasts are typically displayed on geographical maps by weather services. However, the rapidly changing climate conditions make precipitation nowcasting a formidable challenge, as accurate short-term forecasts are hindered by immediate weather fluctuations. Traditional nowcasting methods, like numerical models and radar extrapolation, have limitations in delivering highly detailed and timely precipitation nowcasts. To overcome this issue, an effective solution is framed for precipitation nowcasting using a hybrid network approach named Deep Residual Network-Deep Stacked Autoencoder (DRN-DSA). Initially, the input time series data is acquired from the dataset. Thereafter, the effective technical indicators are extracted at the feature extraction stage. Later on, precipitation-type nowcasting is carried out using the proposed hybrid DRN-DSA, which is developed by incorporating a Deep Stacked Autoencoder (DSA) and Deep Residual Network (DRN). Finally, Weather nowcasting is carried out using the same proposed hybrid DSA-DRN. Moreover, when compared to other traditional models, the proposed DRN-DSA has gained superior results with a Relative Absolute Error (RAE) of 0.295, Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of 0.154, low Mean Square Error (MSE) of 0.0236, Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) of 0.295, and False Acceptance Rate (FAR) of 0.0118.