Robustness of neural network emulations of radiative transfer parameterizations in a state-of-the-art general circulation model

Abstract

Abstract. The ability of machine-learning-based (ML-based) model components to generalize to the previously unseen inputs and its impact on the stability of the models that use these components have been receiving a lot of recent attention, especially in the context of ML-based parameterizations. At the same time, ML-based emulators of existing physically based parameterizations can be stable, accurate, and fast when used in the model they were specifically designed for. In this work we show that shallow-neural-network-based emulators of radiative transfer parameterizations developed almost a decade ago for a state-of-the-art general circulation model (GCM) are robust with respect to the substantial structural and parametric change in the host model: when used in two 7-month-long experiments with a new GCM, they remain stable and generate realistic output. We concentrate on the stability aspect of the emulators' performance and discuss features of neural network architecture and training set design potentially contributing to the robustness of ML-based model components.