A Comparison between Analog Ensemble and Convolutional Neural Network Empirical-Statistical Downscaling Techniques for Reconstructing High-Resolution Near-Surface Wind

Empirical-statistical downscaling (ESD) can be a computationally advantageous alternative to dynamical downscaling in representing a high-resolution regional climate. Two distinct strategies of ESD are employed here to reconstruct near-surface winds in a region of rugged terrain. ESD is used to reconstruct the innermost grid of a multiply nested mesoscale model framework for regional climate downscaling. An analog ensemble (AnEn) and a convolutional neural network (CNN) are compared in their ability to represent near-surface winds in the innermost grid in lieu of dynamical downscaling. Downscaling for a 30 year climatology of 10 m April winds is performed for southern MO, USA. Five years of training suffices for producing low mean absolute error and bias for both ESD techniques. However, root-mean-squared error is not significantly reduced by either scheme. In the case of the AnEn, this is due to a minority of cases not producing a satisfactory representation of high-resolution wind, accentuating the root-mean-squared error in spite of a small mean absolute error. Homogeneous comparison shows that the AnEn produces smaller errors than the CNN. Though further tuning may improve results, the ESD techniques considered here show that they can produce a reliable, computationally inexpensive method for reconstructing high-resolution 10 m winds over complex terrain.