Arid Zone Research ›› 2021, Vol. 38 ›› Issue (5): 1235-1243.doi: 10.13866/j.azr.2021.05.05

• Weather and Climate • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Prediction of annual precipitation in the Northern Slope Economic Belt of Tianshan Mountains based on a EEMD-LSTM model

YANG Qian1,2(),QIN Li2(),GAO Pei1,2,ZHANG Ruibo2   

  1. 1. Xinjiang Branch China Meteorological Administration Training Centre, Urumqi 830013, Xinjiang, China
    2. Institute of Desert Meteorology, CMA, Urumqi 830002, Xinjiang, China
  • Received:2020-10-14 Revised:2021-01-09 Online:2021-09-15 Published:2021-09-24
  • Contact: Li QIN E-mail:94306655@qq.com;qinhappy@sina.com

Abstract:

Precipitation prediction is both an essential and challenging component of modern climate prediction. In the precipitation prediction in Xinjiang, the research and application of coupling models are very limited. Therefore, this paper attempts to establish the ensemble empirical mode decomposition (EEMD) and long short-term memory (LSTM) neural network coupling models to predict precipitation in the Northern Slope Economic Belt of Tianshan Mountains. Firstly, the precipitation data recorded in the study area during 55 years, from 1965 to 2019, were decomposed into four stationary components and trend terms using the EEMD, and the quasi period of each component was obtained by spectral analysis, which provided the basis for the subsequent training of the LSTM model. Then, each EEMD component was trained into the LSTM network model, and the models were used for predictions. The reconstruction and comparison of the results revealed that the average relative error and root mean square error of the 2010-2019 model were 13.38% and 38.03 mm, respectively. Therefore, it is inferred that the EEMD-LSTM coupling model can achieve a better precipitation prediction accuracy in the study area. The model was used to predict annual precipitation in the Northern Slope Economic Belt of Tianshan Mountains from 2020 to 2029; within this period, six years presented more and four years presented less precipitation. Year 2025 is predicted to be an extremely humid year with more than 20% of precipitation in excess; while 2021 is anticipated as an extremely dry year, with expected precipitation amounting to less than 200 mm. This study explored a new method of precipitation prediction in an arid area, and provided a reference for meteorological disaster prevention and mitigation.

Key words: ensemble empirical mode decomposition, long short-term memory network, annual precipitation, prediction