Classification of tropical cyclone containing images using a convolutional neural network: performance and sensitivity to the learning dataset

<p>Tropical cyclones (TCs) are one of the most devastating natural disasters, which justifies monitoring and prediction on short and long timescales in the context of a changing climate. In this study, we have adapted and tested a convolutional neural network (CNN) for the classification of re...

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Main Authors: S. Gardoll, O. Boucher
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Copernicus Publications 2022-09-01
Series:Geoscientific Model Development
Online Access:https://gmd.copernicus.org/articles/15/7051/2022/gmd-15-7051-2022.pdf
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author S. Gardoll
O. Boucher
author_facet S. Gardoll
O. Boucher
author_sort S. Gardoll
collection DOAJ
description <p>Tropical cyclones (TCs) are one of the most devastating natural disasters, which justifies monitoring and prediction on short and long timescales in the context of a changing climate. In this study, we have adapted and tested a convolutional neural network (CNN) for the classification of reanalysis outputs according to the presence or absence of TCs. This study compares the performance and sensitivity of a CNN to the learning dataset. For this purpose, we chose two meteorological reanalysis, ERA5 and MERRA-2, and used a number of meteorological variables from them to form TC-containing and background images. The presence of TCs is labeled from the HURDAT2 dataset. Special attention was paid to the design of the background image set to make sure it samples similar locations and times to the TC-containing images. We have assessed the performance of the CNN using accuracy but also the more objective AUC and AUPRC metrics. Many failed classifications can be explained by the meteorological context, such as a situation with cyclonic activity but not yet classified as TCs by HURDAT2. We also tested the impact of spatial interpolation and of “mixing and matching” the training and test image sets on the performance of the CNN. We showed that applying an ERA5-trained CNN to MERRA-2 images works better than applying a MERRA-2-trained CNN to ERA5 images.</p>
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spelling doaj.art-19ca73602f2e47a4b81f53f8b7143e1a2022-12-22T04:30:30ZengCopernicus PublicationsGeoscientific Model Development1991-959X1991-96032022-09-01157051707310.5194/gmd-15-7051-2022Classification of tropical cyclone containing images using a convolutional neural network: performance and sensitivity to the learning datasetS. GardollO. Boucher<p>Tropical cyclones (TCs) are one of the most devastating natural disasters, which justifies monitoring and prediction on short and long timescales in the context of a changing climate. In this study, we have adapted and tested a convolutional neural network (CNN) for the classification of reanalysis outputs according to the presence or absence of TCs. This study compares the performance and sensitivity of a CNN to the learning dataset. For this purpose, we chose two meteorological reanalysis, ERA5 and MERRA-2, and used a number of meteorological variables from them to form TC-containing and background images. The presence of TCs is labeled from the HURDAT2 dataset. Special attention was paid to the design of the background image set to make sure it samples similar locations and times to the TC-containing images. We have assessed the performance of the CNN using accuracy but also the more objective AUC and AUPRC metrics. Many failed classifications can be explained by the meteorological context, such as a situation with cyclonic activity but not yet classified as TCs by HURDAT2. We also tested the impact of spatial interpolation and of “mixing and matching” the training and test image sets on the performance of the CNN. We showed that applying an ERA5-trained CNN to MERRA-2 images works better than applying a MERRA-2-trained CNN to ERA5 images.</p>https://gmd.copernicus.org/articles/15/7051/2022/gmd-15-7051-2022.pdf
spellingShingle S. Gardoll
O. Boucher
Classification of tropical cyclone containing images using a convolutional neural network: performance and sensitivity to the learning dataset
Geoscientific Model Development
title Classification of tropical cyclone containing images using a convolutional neural network: performance and sensitivity to the learning dataset
title_full Classification of tropical cyclone containing images using a convolutional neural network: performance and sensitivity to the learning dataset
title_fullStr Classification of tropical cyclone containing images using a convolutional neural network: performance and sensitivity to the learning dataset
title_full_unstemmed Classification of tropical cyclone containing images using a convolutional neural network: performance and sensitivity to the learning dataset
title_short Classification of tropical cyclone containing images using a convolutional neural network: performance and sensitivity to the learning dataset
title_sort classification of tropical cyclone containing images using a convolutional neural network performance and sensitivity to the learning dataset
url https://gmd.copernicus.org/articles/15/7051/2022/gmd-15-7051-2022.pdf
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