Wave forecast in the Atlantic Ocean using a double-stage ConvLSTM network

Abstract

Accurate forecasting of ocean waves is of great importance to the safety of marine transportation. Despite wave forecasts having been improved, the current level of prediction skill is still far from satisfactory. Here, the authors propose a new physically informed deep learning model, named Double-stage ConvLSTM (D-ConvLSTM), to improve wave forecasts in the Atlantic Ocean. The waves in the next three consecutive days are predicted by feeding the deep learning model with the observed wave conditions in the preceding two days and the simultaneous ECMWF Reanalysis v5 (ERA5) wind forcing during the forecast period. The prediction skill of the d-ConvLSTM model was compared with that of two other forecasting methods—namely, the wave persistence forecast and the original ConvLSTM model. The results showed an increasing prediction error with the forecast lead time when the forecasts were evaluated using ERA5 reanalysis data. The d-ConvLSTM model outperformed the other two models in terms of wave prediction accuracy, with a root-mean-square error of lower than 0.4 m and an anomaly correlation coefficient skill of ∼0.80 at lead times of up to three days. In addition, a similar prediction was generated when the wind forcing was replaced by the IFS forecasted wind, suggesting that the d-ConvLSTM model is comparable to the Wave Model of European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF-WAM), but more economical and time-saving.

摘要

海浪预报对海上运输安全至关重要. 本研究提出了一种涵盖物理信息的深度学习模型Double-stage ConvLSTM (D-ConvLSTM) 以改进大西洋的海浪预报. 将D-ConvLSTM模型与海浪持续性预测和原始ConvLSTM模型的预测技巧进行对比. 结果表明, 预测误差随着预测时长的增加而增加. D-ConvLSTM模型在预测准确度方面优于前二者, 且第三天预测的均方根误差低于0.4 m, 距平相关系数约在0.8. 此外, 当使用IFS预测风替代再分析风时, 能够产生相似的预测效果. 这表明D-ConvLSTM模型的预测能力能够与ECMWF-WAM模式相当, 且更节省计算资源和时间.