Articles | Volume 18, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-1041-2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-1041-2025
Development and technical paper
 | 
24 Feb 2025
Development and technical paper |  | 24 Feb 2025

Using feature importance as an exploratory data analysis tool on Earth system models

Daniel Ries, Katherine Goode, Kellie McClernon, and Benjamin Hillman

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Cited articles

Alao, O., Lu, P. Y., and Soljačić, M.: Discovering Dynamical Parameters by Interpreting Echo State Networks, in: NeurIPS 2021 AI for Science Workshop, https://openreview.net/forum?id=coaSxusdBLX (last access: 10 July 2023), 2021. a
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Armour, K. C., Bitz, C. M., and Roe, G. H.: Time-varying climate sensitivity from regional feedbacks, J. Climate, 26, 4518–4534, 2013. a
Baker, A. H., Hu, Y., Hammerling, D. M., Tseng, Y.-H., Xu, H., Huang, X., Bryan, F. O., and Yang, G.: Evaluating statistical consistency in the ocean model component of the Community Earth System Model (pyCECT v2.0), Geosci. Model Dev., 9, 2391–2406, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-2391-2016, 2016. a
Banerjee, A., Butler, A. H., Polvani, L. M., Robock, A., Simpson, I. R., and Sun, L.: Robust winter warming over Eurasia under stratospheric sulfate geoengineering – the role of stratospheric dynamics, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 6985–6997, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6985-2021, 2021. a
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Short summary
Machine learning has advanced research in the climate science domain, but its models are difficult to understand. In order to understand the impacts and consequences of climate interventions such as stratospheric aerosol injection, complex models are often necessary. We use a case study to illustrate how we can understand the inner workings of a complex model. We present this technique as an exploratory tool that can be used to quickly discover and assess relationships in complex climate data.

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