Geophysical Research Letters (Dec 2024)

TerraWind: A Deep Learning‐Based Near‐Surface Winds Downscaling Model for Complex Terrain Region

  • Jie Lian,
  • Sirong Huang,
  • Jiahao Shao,
  • Peiyan Chen,
  • Shengming Tang,
  • Yi Lu,
  • Hui Yu

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL112124
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 51, no. 23
pp. n/a – n/a

Abstract

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Abstract Wind downscaling is crucial for refining coarse‐scale wind estimates, improving local‐scale predictions, and supporting various applications like risk assessment and planning. Dynamic downscaling models demand extensive computational resources and time, leading to a shift toward more efficient statistical downscaling, whereas it often overlooks inter‐variable and inter‐station spatial correlations. Addressing this, we propose TerraWind, a deep learning‐based downscaling method for complex terrain regions. TerraWind enhances accuracy by incorporating topographic factors and inter‐station linkages, capturing wind field interactions with terrain at multiple scales. Experimental results in Eastern China demonstrate that TerraWind reduces wind speed Mean Absolute Error (MAE) and Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) by an average of 42.6% and 33.3%, respectively, compared to three interpolation methods (bicubic, bilinear, and Inverse Distance Weighting). Furthermore, TerraWind achieves an average reduction of 35.3% in wind speed MAE and 25.6% in wind speed RMSE compared to four deep learning models (Wind‐Topo, DeepCAMS, RCM‐emulator, and Uformer).