Evolution of machine learning in environmental science—A perspective

Abstract

The growth of machine learning (ML) in environmental science can be divided into a slow phase lasting till the mid-2010s and a fast phase thereafter. The rapid transition was brought about by the emergence of powerful new ML methods, allowing ML to successfully tackle many problems where numerical models and statistical models have been hampered. Deep convolutional neural network models greatly advanced the use of ML on 2D or 3D data. Transfer learning has allowed ML to progress in climate science, where data records are generally short for ML. ML and physics are also merging in new areas, for example: (a) using ML for general circulation model parametrization, (b) adding physics constraints in ML models, and (c) using ML in data assimilation.