TianJi:An autonomous AI meteorologist for discovering physical mechanisms in atmospheric science
Organizations: School of Artificial Intelligence, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, China · State Key Laboratory of Climate System Prediction and Risk Management (CPRM), Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, 210044, China · College of Computer Science and Technology, China University of Petroleum, Qingdao, Shandong, China
Abstract
Artificial intelligence (AI) has achieved breakthroughs comparable to traditional numerical models in data-driven weather forecasting, yet it remains essentially statistical fitting and struggles to uncover the physical causal mechanisms of the atmosphere. Physics-oriented mechanism research still heavily relies on domain knowledge and cumbersome engineering operations of human scientists, becoming a bottleneck restricting the efficiency of Earth system science exploration. Here, we propose TianJi - the first "AI meteorologist" system capable of autonomously driving complex numerical models to verify physical mechanisms. Powered by a large language model-driven multi-agent architecture, TianJi can autonomously conduct literature research and generate scientific hypotheses. We further decouple scientific research into cognitive planning and engineering execution: the meta-planner interprets hypotheses and devises experimental roadmaps, while a cohort of specialized worker agents collaboratively complete data preparation, model configuration, and multi-dimensional result analysis. In two classic atmospheric dynamic scenarios (squall-line cold pools and typhoon track deflections), TianJi accomplishes expert-level end-to-end experimental operations with zero human intervention, compressing the research cycle to a few hours. It also delivers detailed result analyses and autonomously judges and explains the validity of the hypotheses from outputs. TianJi reveals that the role of AI in Earth system science is transitioning from a "black-box predictor" to an "interpretable scientific collaborator", offering a new paradigm for high-throughput exploration of scientific mechanisms.
Figures & tables
| Task Name | Execution Result (Summary) |
|---|---|
| Extract the minimum central pressure every 6 hours, plot the time-pressure evolution line chart, and mark the peak intensity time and value. | Successfully extracted data and generated the evolution curve (typhoon_intensity_evolution.png). The analysis shows that the typhoon reached peak intensity at 00:00 UTC on September 14, 2018, with a minimum central pressure of 922.769 hPa. |
| Track the typhoon movement path and plot the trajectory on a high-resolution map overlaid with the sea level pressure field at peak intensity (12:00 on September 15). | Successfully located the typhoon center at each time step and extracted the sea level pressure field at 12:00 on September 15. Generated a combined map of typhoon track and pressure field with high-precision coastlines and latitude–longitude grids (typhoon_track_with_slp.png). |
| Calculate the total accumulated precipitation field (convective + non-convective), plot the spatial distribution using a meteorological color bar, and mark the maximum precipitation center and value with a red star. | Successfully computed the total accumulated precipitation field and generated the spatial distribution map (typhoon_total_precipitation.png). Precisely identified the maximum precipitation center with a total accumulated precipitation of 453.68 mm, highlighted by a red five-pointed star. |
| Calculate the divergence field based on the 10-m wind field, plot the 2D filled contour map using a divergent color bar, and extract and highlight the extreme strong convergence zone. | Successfully computed the horizontal divergence field from U10 and V10 wind components and generated the filled contour map with a divergent color bar (typhoon_divergence_zone.png). Accurately identified the extreme strong convergence region (peak value: -0.00287 s⁻¹), highlighted by a prominent red rectangular box. |
AI Agents for Scientific Discovery
AI agents for scientific discovery use language models, tools, and experiments to generate, test, and refine scientific knowledge.
See all 287 papers