Work

Zero‐Shot Transferability of Deep Learning Models for Precipitation Super‐Resolution Across Diverse Climate Regimes

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: High‐resolution precipitation fields are essential for characterizing climate extremes, assessing sectoral impacts, and improving early warning systems. However, the resolution of global Earth system models (ESMs) and numerical weather prediction (NWP) systems remains limited by computational constraints. This study assesses the zero‐shot transferability of deep learning (DL)‐based super‐resolution (SR) models for precipitation across diverse geographic domains, data sources, and temporal scales. A suite of DL‐based SR architectures, ranging from convolutional baselines to spatial‐attention‐based generative models, is trained on a limited regional observational record of satellite‐derived precipitation from three monsoon‐dominated regions of the Indian subcontinent during 2001–2014. DL model generalization is assessed through out‐of‐sample transfer across climatically diverse domains using observations (2015–2023), NWP forecasts (2018–2023), and a 150‐year ESM simulation spanning 1950–2100, all without retraining or fine‐tuning. Across tropical, subtropical, and mid‐latitude climate regimes, the models show strong zero‐shot transferability, achieving Kling‐Gupta efficiency (KGE) scores approximately 0.85 or higher. Skill gains are evident in fine‐scale spatial variability and extreme precipitation statistics that are poorly represented in the coarse‐resolution inputs. Cross‐source application to weather forecasts and long‐term climate simulations further demonstrates the applicability of SR models across differing forcing data and evolving climate conditions. While differences among architectures are generally modest, spatial attention‐based models show enhanced performance in spatial fidelity and extreme‐event detection. This framework does not explicitly represent the physical processes governing precipitation formation or enforce physical constraints; within these limitations, its performance under our validation strategy indicates robustness and utility as an efficient post‐processing tool for weather and climate models.

Source: Earth and Space Science

DOI: 10.1029/2026ea005059

Authors: Midhun Murukesh, Pankaj Kumar

Institution: Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhopal

Language: English

Topic: Precipitation Measurement and Analysis

Subfield: Atmospheric Science

Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Climate action

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,650