Cold Front Identification Using the DETR Model with Satellite Cloud Imagery

The cloud system characteristics within satellite cloud imagery play a crucial role in the meteorological operational analysis of cold fronts, and integrating satellite cloud imagery into automated frontal identification schemes can provide valuable insights for accurately determining the position and morphology of cold fronts. This study introduces Cloud-DETR, a deep learning identification method that uses the DETR model with satellite cloud imagery, to identify cold fronts from extensive datasets. In the Cloud-DETR method, preprocessed satellite cloud imagery is used to generate training images, which are then put into the DETR model for cold front identification, achieving excellent results. The alignment between the Cloud-DETR cold fronts and weather systems during continuous periods and extreme weather events is assessed. The Cloud-DETR method exhibits high accuracy in both the position and morphology of cold fronts, ensuring stable identification performance. The high matching rate between the Cloud-DETR cold fronts and the manually identified ones in the test set, image dataset and labels from 2017 is verified. This indicates that the Cloud-DETR method can provide an accurate cold fronts dataset. The cold fronts dataset from 2005 to 2023 was obtained using the Cloud-DETR method. It was found that over the past 18 years, the frequency of cold fronts displays distinct seasonal patterns, with the highest occurrences observed during winter, particularly along the mid-latitude storm tracks extending from the east coast of East Asia to the Northwest Pacific. The methodology and findings presented in this study could help advance further research on the characteristics of cold front cloud systems based on long-term datasets.