Cited by 470Climate variability and modelsMeteorological Phenomena and SimulationsArtificial Intelligence Applications

Machine learning and artificial intelligence to aid climate change research and preparedness

Open access
Huntingford, Chris, Jeffers, Elizabeth S, Bonsall, Michael B, Christensen, Hannah M, Lees, Thomas, Yang, Hui·2019·Environmental Research Letters

Abstract

Abstract Climate change challenges societal functioning, likely requiring considerable adaptation to cope with future altered weather patterns. Machine learning (ML) algorithms have advanced dramatically, triggering breakthroughs in other research sectors, and recently suggested as aiding climate analysis (Reichstein et al 2019 Nature 566 195–204, Schneider et al 2017 Geophys. Res. Lett. 44 12396–417). Although a considerable number of isolated Earth System features have been analysed with ML techniques, more generic application to understand better the full climate system has not occurred. For instance, ML may aid teleconnection identification, where complex feedbacks make characterisation difficult from direct equation analysis or visualisation of measurements and Earth System model (ESM) diagnostics. Artificial intelligence (AI) can then build on discovered climate connections to provide enhanced warnings of approaching weather features, including extreme events. While ESM development is of paramount importance, we suggest a parallel emphasis on utilising ML and AI to understand and capitalise far more on existing data and simulations.

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Crossref · 10.1088/1748-9326/ab4e55

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  • The era of big data has fueled the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in many domains of Earth science.

    “This era of”

    From Artificial intelligence for climate prediction of extremes: State of the art, challenges, and future perspectives (2024) · cites this paper as Huntingford et al., 2019

    The Introduction links large Earth-system datasets to ML and AI, and ‘Existing AI applications to climate’ says many researchers use ML to study specific Earth-system components. But the paper distinguishes ML from AI and describes broader AI applications largely as potential, so it does not establish that big data has already fueled AI applications across many domains of Earth science. Page numbers are not available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.84)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • AI has significant potential to enhance the predictive skill of climate extremes across timescales, possibly advancing our scientific understanding and societal preparedness.

    “AI has significant potential to enhance the predictive skill of climate extremes across timescales, possibly advancing our scientific understanding and societal preparedness (Huntingford et al., 2019).”
  • Concerning climate change in the urban context, some studies addressed mitigation concerning urban planning, mobility, and land use.

    “Concerning climate change in the urban context, some studies addressed mitigation concerning urban planning, mobility, and land use (e.g., Ref. [211,212]).”
  • AI applications may upscale climate engagement of the public and stimulate collective action by predicting or visualising climate change risks and aid decision-support efforts by monitoring extreme weather disasters in real-time.

    “AI applications may also upscale climate engagement of the public and stimulate collective action by predicting or visualising climate change risks and aid decision-support efforts by monitoring extreme weather disasters (remotely and) in real-time (Alemany et al., 2019; Huntingford et al., 2019; Walsh et al., 2020).”

    From Deploying artificial intelligence for climate change adaptation (2022) · cites this paper as Huntingford et al., 2019

  • Recent advancements enable scientists to incorporate AI into climate change adaptation.

    “However, recent advancements enable scientists to incorporate AI into climate change adaptation (Huntingford et al., 2019).”

    From Deploying artificial intelligence for climate change adaptation (2022) · cites this paper as Huntingford et al., 2019

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Research works printed but not linked: 3

  1. Barenblatt G I 2003 Scaling. Cambridge Texts in Applied Mathematics. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p 171
  2. Drummond C 2009 Replicability is not Reproducibility Proc. Evaluation Methods for Machine Learning Workshop at the 26th ICML (Montreal, Canada)
  3. Vallis G K 2006 Atmospheric and Oceanic Fluid Dynamics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p 745

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Authors
Huntingford, C., Jeffers, E. S., Bonsall, M. B., Christensen, H. M., Lees, T., & Yang, H.
Affiliations
  • UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (GB)
  • University of Oxford (GB)
  • Peking University (CN)
Venue
Environmental Research Letters
Published
2019-11-22
Volume
14
Issue
12
Pages
124007
ISSN
1748-9326 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2990621239
Cited by
469
References
116
Citations by year
2026: 65 · 2025: 84 · 2024: 90 · 2023: 66 · 2022: 55 · 2021: 89 · 2020: 20
FWCI
21.08
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Environmental Research Letters (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • NERC Open Research Archive (Natural Environment Research Council) (acceptedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
  • Greater South Information System
Funders
Natural Environment Research Council (CEH National Capability Fund)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Climate variability and models
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Atmospheric Science › Meteorological Phenomena and Simulations
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Artificial Intelligence › Artificial Intelligence Applications
Keywords
machine learning, artificial intelligence, climate change, climate change adaptation, climate feedbacks, Earth system models, extreme weather events, early warning systems, climate data analysis

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