Three-Dimensional Gridded Radar Echo Extrapolation for Convective Storm Nowcasting Based on 3D-ConvLSTM Model

Radar echo extrapolation has been widely developed in previous studies for precipitation and storm nowcasting. However, most studies have focused on two-dimensional radar images, and extrapolation of multi-altitude radar images, which can provide more informative and visual forecasts about weather s...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Nengli Sun, Zeming Zhou, Qian Li, Jinrui Jing
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2022-08-01
Series:Remote Sensing
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/14/17/4256
_version_ 1797493340960194560
author Nengli Sun
Zeming Zhou
Qian Li
Jinrui Jing
author_facet Nengli Sun
Zeming Zhou
Qian Li
Jinrui Jing
author_sort Nengli Sun
collection DOAJ
description Radar echo extrapolation has been widely developed in previous studies for precipitation and storm nowcasting. However, most studies have focused on two-dimensional radar images, and extrapolation of multi-altitude radar images, which can provide more informative and visual forecasts about weather systems in realistic space, has been less explored. Thus, this paper proposes a 3D-convolutional long short-term memory (ConvLSTM)-based model to perform three-dimensional gridded radar echo extrapolation for severe storm nowcasting. First, a 3D-convolutional neural network (CNN) is used to extract the 3D spatial features of each input grid radar volume. Then, 3D-ConvLSTM layers are leveraged to model the spatial–temporal relationship between the extracted 3D features and recursively generate the 3D hidden states correlated to the future. Nowcasting results are obtained after applying another 3D-CNN to up-sample the generated 3D hidden states. Comparative experiments were conducted on a public National Center for Atmospheric Research Data Archive dataset with a 3D optical flow method and other deep-learning-based models. Quantitative evaluations demonstrate that the proposed 3D-ConvLSTM-based model achieves better overall and longer-term performance for storms with reflectivity values above 35 and 45 dBZ. In addition, case studies qualitatively demonstrate that the proposed model predicts more realistic storm evolution and can facilitate early warning regarding impending severe storms.
first_indexed 2024-03-10T01:18:38Z
format Article
id doaj.art-02461a8a3887466ebc70ae76e50b26aa
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 2072-4292
language English
last_indexed 2024-03-10T01:18:38Z
publishDate 2022-08-01
publisher MDPI AG
record_format Article
series Remote Sensing
spelling doaj.art-02461a8a3887466ebc70ae76e50b26aa2023-11-23T14:03:33ZengMDPI AGRemote Sensing2072-42922022-08-011417425610.3390/rs14174256Three-Dimensional Gridded Radar Echo Extrapolation for Convective Storm Nowcasting Based on 3D-ConvLSTM ModelNengli Sun0Zeming Zhou1Qian Li2Jinrui Jing3The College of Meteorology and Oceanography, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha 410005, ChinaThe College of Meteorology and Oceanography, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha 410005, ChinaThe College of Meteorology and Oceanography, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha 410005, ChinaThe College of Meteorology and Oceanography, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha 410005, ChinaRadar echo extrapolation has been widely developed in previous studies for precipitation and storm nowcasting. However, most studies have focused on two-dimensional radar images, and extrapolation of multi-altitude radar images, which can provide more informative and visual forecasts about weather systems in realistic space, has been less explored. Thus, this paper proposes a 3D-convolutional long short-term memory (ConvLSTM)-based model to perform three-dimensional gridded radar echo extrapolation for severe storm nowcasting. First, a 3D-convolutional neural network (CNN) is used to extract the 3D spatial features of each input grid radar volume. Then, 3D-ConvLSTM layers are leveraged to model the spatial–temporal relationship between the extracted 3D features and recursively generate the 3D hidden states correlated to the future. Nowcasting results are obtained after applying another 3D-CNN to up-sample the generated 3D hidden states. Comparative experiments were conducted on a public National Center for Atmospheric Research Data Archive dataset with a 3D optical flow method and other deep-learning-based models. Quantitative evaluations demonstrate that the proposed 3D-ConvLSTM-based model achieves better overall and longer-term performance for storms with reflectivity values above 35 and 45 dBZ. In addition, case studies qualitatively demonstrate that the proposed model predicts more realistic storm evolution and can facilitate early warning regarding impending severe storms.https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/14/17/4256convective storm nowcasting3D radar echo extrapolationdeep learning3D spatial features3D-ConvLSTM
spellingShingle Nengli Sun
Zeming Zhou
Qian Li
Jinrui Jing
Three-Dimensional Gridded Radar Echo Extrapolation for Convective Storm Nowcasting Based on 3D-ConvLSTM Model
Remote Sensing
convective storm nowcasting
3D radar echo extrapolation
deep learning
3D spatial features
3D-ConvLSTM
title Three-Dimensional Gridded Radar Echo Extrapolation for Convective Storm Nowcasting Based on 3D-ConvLSTM Model
title_full Three-Dimensional Gridded Radar Echo Extrapolation for Convective Storm Nowcasting Based on 3D-ConvLSTM Model
title_fullStr Three-Dimensional Gridded Radar Echo Extrapolation for Convective Storm Nowcasting Based on 3D-ConvLSTM Model
title_full_unstemmed Three-Dimensional Gridded Radar Echo Extrapolation for Convective Storm Nowcasting Based on 3D-ConvLSTM Model
title_short Three-Dimensional Gridded Radar Echo Extrapolation for Convective Storm Nowcasting Based on 3D-ConvLSTM Model
title_sort three dimensional gridded radar echo extrapolation for convective storm nowcasting based on 3d convlstm model
topic convective storm nowcasting
3D radar echo extrapolation
deep learning
3D spatial features
3D-ConvLSTM
url https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/14/17/4256
work_keys_str_mv AT nenglisun threedimensionalgriddedradarechoextrapolationforconvectivestormnowcastingbasedon3dconvlstmmodel
AT zemingzhou threedimensionalgriddedradarechoextrapolationforconvectivestormnowcastingbasedon3dconvlstmmodel
AT qianli threedimensionalgriddedradarechoextrapolationforconvectivestormnowcastingbasedon3dconvlstmmodel
AT jinruijing threedimensionalgriddedradarechoextrapolationforconvectivestormnowcastingbasedon3dconvlstmmodel