Yao Lai
@chingyaolai.bsky.social
110 followers 100 following 9 posts
Assistant Professor at Stanford studying fluids, ML, and the physics of ice & climate change. https://icyphysics.stanford.edu/ https://www.youtube.com/@c.yaolai
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chingyaolai.bsky.social
Finally published @science.org:
Can AI help yield new insights from vast amounts of Earth data?
We use large-scale data and neural nets to find the constitutive laws of glacial ice, which differ from commonly assumed forms in conventional models. #ScienceResearch
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
chingyaolai.bsky.social
We're pleased to release DIFFICE-jax v1.0, the foundation of our Science paper and a #DIFFerentiable #NeuralNetwork solver for #DataAssimilation of ICE shelves written in #JAX:
🔗Docs: diffice-jax.readthedocs.io/en/latest/in...
📄Peer-reviewed by JOSS #OpenSource: joss.theoj.org/papers/10.21...
chingyaolai.bsky.social
From #PhysicsInformedML to #MLInformedPhysics: We're excited about the "knowledge discovery" component of this project utilizing vast amount of Earth data. 🌎
There is much more out there to be discovered, as nature's imagination is far greater than that of humans. Don't stop searching.💡
science.org
In Science, researchers report a physics-informed #DeepLearning model that can predict the deformation behavior of Antarctic ice shelves, revealing complexities of the process that extend beyond the traditional understanding.

Learn more in a new #SciencePerspective. scim.ag/3RgudLc
How does Antarctic ice deform?
A deep-learning model infers large-scale dynamics of Antarctic ice shelves
scim.ag
Reposted by Yao Lai
science.org
In Science, researchers report a physics-informed #DeepLearning model that can predict the deformation behavior of Antarctic ice shelves, revealing complexities of the process that extend beyond the traditional understanding.

Learn more in a new #SciencePerspective. scim.ag/3RgudLc
How does Antarctic ice deform?
A deep-learning model infers large-scale dynamics of Antarctic ice shelves
scim.ag
chingyaolai.bsky.social
news.stanford.edu/stories/2025...
NASA Earth data + AI enable us to infer the constitutive models critical for ice dynamics. AI is useful, but no data = no discovery. Below is an example of the training data: a velocity map showing the dynamics of the Antarctic Ice Sheet. Source: #NASA.
chingyaolai.bsky.social
Looking forward to learning about recent advances in #AI4Climate at the @apsphysics.bsky.social #GlobalPhysicsSummit meeting. Come check out the back-to-back focus sessions, "AI Applications in Weather and Climate I & II," on Tuesday from 9:00 AM to 1:30 PM!
summit.aps.org/schedule/?c=...
chingyaolai.bsky.social
Our open-source JAX package, DIFFICE.jax (DIFFerentiable neural-network solver data assimilation of ICE shelves) is released. We are actively expanding the code's applications to other datasets and welcome collaborations!
diffice-jax.readthedocs.io/en/latest/in...
DIFFICE_jax documentation — DIFFICE_jax documentation
diffice-jax.readthedocs.io
chingyaolai.bsky.social
Special thanks to Bryan Riel for writing a beautiful perspective on our paper, summarizing the key nuances of both our scientific findings and algorithmic advances.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
How does Antarctic ice deform?
A deep-learning model infers large-scale dynamics of Antarctic ice shelves
www.science.org
chingyaolai.bsky.social
Result: We find the constitutive law of glacial ice near grounding zones follows power laws but with varying exponents, which can impact grounding line stability. We also develop a method to detect and infer ice's anisotropic viscosity—a long-hypothesized property of glacial ice.
chingyaolai.bsky.social
Method: We inject only the physics that we believe are correct, e.g. conservation of momentum, into the ML training, and leaving the uncertain physics, e.g. the constitutive law, to be determined through optimization against observations.
Details documented in our 60-page SI.
chingyaolai.bsky.social
Finally published @science.org:
Can AI help yield new insights from vast amounts of Earth data?
We use large-scale data and neural nets to find the constitutive laws of glacial ice, which differ from commonly assumed forms in conventional models. #ScienceResearch
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Yao Lai
helen-amanda.bsky.social
Great reporting from @wired.com about what DOGE is doing to Antarctica, affecting US science and national security. This is what we will lose.

We can't just leave our bases in Antarctica empty. South Pole! McMurdo! Palmer!

At some point we might need a GoFundMe.
DOGE’s Chaos Reaches Antarctica
Daily life at US-run Antarctic stations has already been disrupted. Scientists worry that the long-term impacts could upend not only important research but the continent’s delicate geopolitics.
www.wired.com
Reposted by Yao Lai
weatherwest.bsky.social
The mass firing of both new hires and recently promoted senior staff within #NOAA, including mission-critical and life-saving roles at the National Weather Service (#NWS), is profoundly alarming.
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