# AtmosSci-Bench: Evaluating the Recent Advance of Large Language Model for Atmospheric Science

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.01159 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.01159/

## Key facts

- Cited by 9 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Placed in Time series reasoning, one of 17 directions in LLM reasoning.
- Builds on 32 of its 60 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 3 Feb 2025.

## Placed in

- LLM reasoning / [Time series reasoning](https://mlsanity.com/lr/time-series-reasoning/)

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 32)

- [Language Models are Few-Shot Learners](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2005.14165/) (2020)
- [Llama 2: Open Foundation and Fine-Tuned Chat Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.09288/) (2023)
- [Training Verifiers to Solve Math Word Problems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2110.14168/) (2021)
- [DeepSeekMath: Pushing the Limits of Mathematical Reasoning in Open Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.03300/) (2024)
- [Measuring Mathematical Problem Solving With the MATH Dataset](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.03874/) (2021)
- [Gemini 1.5: Unlocking multimodal understanding across millions of tokens of context](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.05530/) (2024)
- [GPQA: A Graduate-Level Google-Proof Q&A Benchmark](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.12022/) (2023)
- [Qwen2 Technical Report](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.10671/) (2024)
- [Mixtral of Experts](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.04088/) (2024)
- [From Local to Global: A Graph RAG Approach to Query-Focused Summarization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.16130/) (2024)
- [FourCastNet: A Global Data-driven High-resolution Weather Model using Adaptive Fourier Neural Operators](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2202.11214/) (2022)
- [GSM-Symbolic: Understanding the Limitations of Mathematical Reasoning in Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.05229/) (2024)
- [Ray: A Distributed Framework for Emerging AI Applications](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1712.05889/) (2017)
- [Large Language Models Are Not Robust Multiple Choice Selectors](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.03882/) (2023)
- [ClimaX: A foundation model for weather and climate](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2301.10343/) (2023)
- [GraphCast: Learning skillful medium-range global weather forecasting](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.12794/) (2022)
- [SciBench: Evaluating College-Level Scientific Problem-Solving Abilities of Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.10635/) (2023)
- [FuXi: A cascade machine learning forecasting system for 15-day global weather forecast](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.12873/) (2023)
- [Retrieval-Augmented Generation with Graphs (GraphRAG)](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.00309/) (2024)
- [Pangu-Weather: A 3D High-Resolution Model for Fast and Accurate Global Weather Forecast](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2211.02556/) (2022)
- [PhysBench: Benchmarking and Enhancing Vision-Language Models for Physical World Understanding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.16411/) (2025)
- [Tokenization counts: the impact of tokenization on arithmetic in frontier LLMs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.14903/) (2024)
- [ClimateBert: A Pretrained Language Model for Climate-Related Text](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2110.12010/) (2021)
- [LLM4SR: A Survey on Large Language Models for Scientific Research](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.04306/) (2025)
- [ClimateGPT: Towards AI Synthesizing Interdisciplinary Research on Climate Change](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.09646/) (2024)
- [Number Cookbook: Number Understanding of Language Models and How to Improve It](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.03766/) (2024)
- [Towards Scientific Discovery with Generative AI: Progress, Opportunities, and Challenges](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.11427/) (2024)
- [NumeroLogic: Number Encoding for Enhanced LLMs' Numerical Reasoning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.00459/) (2024)
- [VarBench: Robust Language Model Benchmarking Through Dynamic Variable Perturbation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.17681/) (2024)
- [SciEx: Benchmarking Large Language Models on Scientific Exams with Human Expert Grading and Automatic Grading](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.10421/) (2024)

## Built on by (most cited first, 9 of 9)

- [MatSciBench: Benchmarking the Reasoning Ability of Large Language Models in Materials Science](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.12171/) (2025)
- [Are LLMs Ready for Scientific Discovery? A Capability-Oriented Benchmark for AI Scientists](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.11079/) (2026)
- [CLINB: A Climate Intelligence Benchmark for Foundational Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.11597/) (2025)
- [S2SServiceBench: A Multimodal Benchmark for Last-Mile S2S Climate Services](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.14017/) (2026)
- [Reasoning4Sciences: Bridging Reasoning Language Models to All Scientific Branches](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.01145/) (2026)
- [Execution-grounded evaluation reveals hidden failures in language-model calculations for environmental science](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.18726/) (2026)
- [EarthVerse: Benchmarking Scientific Agents Across Dynamic Earth Systems and Natural Hazards](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.23525/) (2026)
- [Google Earth AI Geospatial Reasoning Agent: Capabilities and a Systematic Evaluation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.15750/) (2026)
- [How Reliable Are Large Language Models for Soil Organic Carbon Assessment? An Australian Benchmark](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.18201/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

The rapid advancements in large language models (LLMs), particularly in their reasoning capabilities, hold transformative potential for addressing complex challenges and boosting scientific discovery in atmospheric science. However, leveraging LLMs effectively in this domain requires a robust and comprehensive evaluation benchmark. Toward this end, we present AtmosSci-Bench, a novel benchmark designed to systematically assess LLM performance across five core categories of atmospheric science problems: hydrology, atmospheric dynamics, atmospheric physics, geophysics, and physical oceanography. AtmosSci-Bench features a dual-format design comprising both multiple-choice questions (MCQs) and open-ended questions (OEQs), enabling scalable automated evaluation alongside deeper analysis of conceptual understanding. We employ a template-based MCQ generation framework to create diverse, graduate-level problems with symbolic perturbation, while OEQs are used to probe open-ended reasoning. We conduct a comprehensive evaluation of representative LLMs, categorized into four groups: instruction-tuned models, advanced reasoning models, math-augmented models, and domain-specific climate models. Our analysis provides some interesting insights into the reasoning and problem-solving capabilities of LLMs in atmospheric science. We believe AtmosSci-Bench can serve as a critical step toward advancing LLM applications in climate services by offering a standard and rigorous evaluation framework. Our source code is available at https://github.com/Relaxed-System-Lab/AtmosSci-Bench.