Many large-scale systems rely on high-quality deep representations (embeddings) to facilitate tasks like retrieval, search, and generative modeling. Matryoshka Representation Learning (MRL) recently emerged as a solution for adaptive embedding lengths, but it requires full model retraining and suffers from noticeable performance degradations at short lengths. In this paper, we show that sparse coding offers a compelling alternative for achieving adaptive representation with minimal overhead and higher fidelity. We propose Contrastive Sparse Representation (CSR), a method that specifies pre-trained embeddings into a high-dimensional but selectively activated feature space. By leveraging lightweight autoencoding and task-aware contrastive objectives, CSR preserves semantic quality while allowing flexible, cost-effective inference at different sparsity levels. Extensive experiments on image, text, and multimodal benchmarks demonstrate that CSR consistently outperforms MRL in terms of both accuracy and retrieval speed—often by large margins—while also cutting training time to a fraction of that required by MRL. Our results establish sparse coding as a powerful paradigm for adaptive representation learning in real-world applications where efficiency and fidelity are both paramount. Code is available at this URL.

The voluminous nature of geospatial temporal data from physical monitors and simulation models poses challenges to efficient data access, often resulting in cumbersome temporal selection experiences in web-based data portals. Thus, selecting a subset of time steps for prioritized visualization and pre-loading is highly desirable. Addressing this issue, this paper establishes a multifaceted definition of salient time steps via extensive need-finding studies with domain experts to understand their workflows. Building on this, we propose a novel approach that leverages autoencoders and dynamic programming to facilitate user-driven temporal selections. Structural features, statistical variations, and distance penalties are incorporated to make more flexible selections. User-specified priorities, spatial regions, and aggregations are used to combine different perspectives. We design and implement a web-based interface to enable efficient and context-aware selection of time steps and evaluate its efficacy and usability through case studies, quantitative evaluations, and expert interviews.

Significant wave height (SWH) is a vital metric in marine science, and accurate SWH estimation is crucial for various applications, e.g., marine energy development, fishery, early warning systems for potential risks, etc. Traditional SWH estimation methods that are based on numerical models and physical theories are hindered by computational inefficiencies. Recently, machine learning has emerged as an appealing alternative to improve accuracy and reduce computational time. However, due to limited observational technology and high costs, the scarcity of real-world data restricts the potential of machine learning models. To overcome these limitations, we propose an ocean SWH estimation framework, namely Orca. Specifically, Orca enhances the limited spatio-temporal reasoning abilities of classic LLMs with a novel spatiotemporal aware encoding module. By segmenting the limited buoy observational data temporally, encoding the buoys' locations spatially, and designing prompt templates, Orca capitalizes on the robust generalization ability of LLMs to estimate significant wave height effectively with limited data. Experimental results on the Gulf of Mexico demonstrate that Orca achieves state-of-the-art performance in SWH estimation.

The nonlinear conjugate gradient (NLCG) algorithm is one of the popular linearized methods used to solve the frequency-domain electromagnetic (EM) geophysical inverse problem. During NLCG iterations, the model gradient guides the searching direction while the line-search algorithm determines the step length of each iteration. Normally, the line search requires solving the corresponding forward problem a few times. Since line search is usually computationally inefficient, we introduce the adaptive gradient descent (AGD) algorithm to accelerate solving the frequency-domain EM inverse problem within the linearized framework. The AGD algorithm is a variant of the classical gradient descent method and has been well-developed and widely used in deep learning. Rather than the time-consuming line search, its core idea is to algebraically manipulate the cumulative gradients and updates of the model from previous iterations to estimate the model parameter variables at the current iteration. For the inversion of magnetotelluric (MT) data, we here designed and implemented a framework using the AGD algorithm combined with the cool-down scheme to tune the regularization parameter. To improve the convergence performance of the AGD algorithm [specifying to Adam and root-mean-square propagation (RMSProp)], we proposed a tolerance strategy which has been tested numerically. To optimize the global learning rate, we carried out some comparative trials in the proposed inversion framework. The inverted results of synthetic and real-world data showed that both the AGD algorithms (Adam and RMSProp) can recover comparable results and save more than a third of CPU time compared with the NLCG algorithm.

The efficiency of solving geophysical inverse problem largely relies on the efficiency of solving the corresponding forward problem. As for electromagnetic (EM) data forward modeling in frequency domain, the conventional numerical methods, e.g. finite difference method (FDM), discretize the governing equations resulting a large linear system which is usually expensive to solve. Meanwhile, for inversion iteration we normally do not need to solve the forward problem in high precision. Thus a rapid surrogate modeling approach which uses the neural network is promising for replacing the forward modeling module in the inversion scheme. Here we proposed an algorithm which uses the neural operator to solve the EM data modeling problem in the frequency domain. To develop a surrogate model for EM data forward problem, we introduce an extended Fourier neural operator (EFNO) that enables the calculation at least 100 times faster than the conventional FDM solver while maintaining good precision. Moreover, by adding a sub-network the proposed neural operator has good generalization which has the capacity of predicting solution at any site locations and frequencies. Due to the discretization-invariance of Fourier neural operator, the neural operator trained on coarse grids can easily transfer to fine grids with only retraining part of parameters, resulting in a super-resolution prediction capability. We test our proposed method with 2-D and 3-D magnetotelluric (MT) data modeling problems, demonstrating that the EFNO has great potentials for severing as a general rapid surrogate forward solver in EM data inversion scheme.

The buffer algorithm's urban heat island intensity is challenging to analyze urban heat islands' socioeconomic drivers, which undoubtedly increases the difficulty of making urban heat island mitigate policy. To address this question, in this study, we combine administrative borders data with satellite remote sensing data to comprehensively depict the 8-day urban heat islands intensity of 286 cities in China from 2001–2018 and analyze Spatio-temporal characteristics. We find that 90.7% of cities have urban heat islands during the daytime, becoming 91.6% at nighttime. There is a significant spatial clustering effect for both nighttime and daytime urban heat islands, and the temporal trend shows that urban heat islands have a greater degree of mitigation at nighttime compared to daytime. This study extends the methodology for characterizing urban heat islands and provides a China surface urban heat island (CSUHI) dataset for future interdisciplinary research.

Evapotranspiration (ET) is an important variable in hydrological cycle and widely used in the study of water management and climate change. This paper developed a Random Forest (RF) model for global daily ET estimation over vegetated areas with 500 m spatial resolution using merely MODIS data. 255 in-situ sites from AmeriFlux network, FLUXNET Network and National Tibetan Plateau Data Center (TPDC) of China have been used to evaluate the RF model. Results indicated that the RF model-estimated global daily ET exhibited reasonable accuracy compared to the in-situ observations using MODIS datasets as inputs, with root mean square error (RMSE) between 0.52-0.97 mm/d over six different land-cover types representing forest, shrubland, cropland, savanna, grassland and wetland. The models generally achieved the best performance in shrubland, grassland and savanna, while provided the worst in wetland.