Research

Paper

AI LLM March 13, 2026

3DTCR: A Physics-Based Generative Framework for Vortex-Following 3D Reconstruction to Improve Tropical Cyclone Intensity Forecasting

Authors

Jun Liu, Xiaohui Zhong, Kai Zheng, Jiarui Li, Yifei Li, Tao Zhou, Wenxu Qian, Shun Dai, Ruian Tie, Yangyang Zhao, Hao Li

Abstract

Tropical cyclone (TC) intensity forecasting remains challenging as current numerical and AI-based weather models fail to satisfactorily represent extreme TC structure and intensity. Although intensity time-series forecasting has achieved significant advances, it outputs intensity sequences rather than the three-dimensional inner-core fine-scale structure and physical mechanisms governing TC evolution. High-resolution numerical simulations can capture these features but remain computationally expensive and inefficient for large-scale operational applications. Here we present 3DTCR, a physics-based generative framework combining physical constraints with generative AI efficiency for 3D TC structure reconstruction. Trained on a six-year, 3-km-resolution moving-domain WRF dataset, 3DTCR enables region-adaptive vortex-following reconstruction using conditional Flow Matching(CFM), optimized via latent domain adaptation and two-stage transfer learning. The framework mitigates limitations imposed by low-resolution targets and over-smoothed forecasts, improving the representation of TC inner-core structure and intensity while maintaining track stability. Results demonstrate that 3DTCR outperforms the ECMWF high-resolution forecasting system (ECMWF-HRES) in TC intensity prediction at nearly all lead times up to 5 days and reduces the RMSE of maximum WS10M by 36.5\% relative to its FuXi inputs. These findings highlight 3DTCR as a physics-based generative framework that efficiently resolves fine-scale structures at lower computational cost, which may offer a promising avenue for improving TC intensity forecasting.

Metadata

arXiv ID: 2603.13049
Provider: ARXIV
Primary Category: cs.LG
Published: 2026-03-13
Fetched: 2026-03-16 06:01

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