OceanNet: a principled neural operator-based digital twin for regional oceans

• Published in: Scientific Reports
• Main Authors: Ashesh Chattopadhyay, Michael Gray, Tianning Wu, Anna B. Lowe, Ruoying He
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Nature Portfolio 2024
• Subjects: Data-driven model; Ocean forecasting; Neural operator; Spectral bias; Medicine; R; Science; Q; Northwest Atlantic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-72145-0; https://doaj.org/article/a00cd0f9dab74e038c65f22423e54e98

Abstract While data-driven approaches demonstrate great potential in atmospheric modeling and weather forecasting, ocean modeling poses distinct challenges due to complex bathymetry, land, vertical structure, and flow non-linearity. This study introduces OceanNet, a principled neural operator-based digital twin for regional sea-suface height emulation. OceanNet uses a Fourier neural operator and predictor-evaluate-corrector integration scheme to mitigate autoregressive error growth and enhance stability over extended time scales. A spectral regularizer counteracts spectral bias at smaller scales. OceanNet is applied to the northwest Atlantic Ocean western boundary current (the Gulf Stream), focusing on the task of seasonal prediction for Loop Current eddies and the Gulf Stream meander. Trained using historical sea surface height (SSH) data, OceanNet demonstrates competitive forecast skill compared to a state-of-the-art dynamical ocean model forecast, reducing computation by 500,000 times. These accomplishments demonstrate initial steps for physics-inspired deep neural operators as cost-effective alternatives to high-resolution numerical ocean models.