Pan evaporation modeling using least square support vector machine, multivariate adaptive regression splines and M5 model tree

•The ability of LSSVM, MARS and M5Tree is investigated in modeling pan evaporation.•LSSVM models outperformed the MARS and M5Tree models in estimating pan evaporation.•The models are also compared in two different cross station applications.•MARS performed better than the others when the local data are not available.•RMSE of LSSVM and M5Tree was respectively decreased by 11.4% and 18.4% using MARS.

SummaryPan evaporation (Ep) modeling is an important issue in reservoir management, regional water resources planning and evaluation of drinking-water supplies. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the accuracy of least square support vector machine (LSSVM), multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS) and M5 Model Tree (M5Tree) in modeling Ep. The first part of the study focused on testing the ability of the LSSVM, MARS and M5Tree models in estimating the Ep data of Mersin and Antalya stations located in Mediterranean Region of Turkey by using cross-validation method. The LSSVM models outperformed the MARS and M5Tree models in estimating Ep of Mersin and Antalya stations with local input and output data. The average root mean square error (RMSE) of the M5Tree and MARS models was decreased by 24-32.1% and 10.8-18.9% using LSSVM models for the Mersin and Antalya stations, respectively. The ability of three different methods was examined in estimation of Ep using input air temperature, solar radiation, relative humidity and wind speed data from nearby station in the second part of the study (cross-station application without local input data). The results showed that the MARS models provided better accuracy than the LSSVM and M5Tree models with respect to RMSE, mean absolute error (MAE) and determination coefficient (R2) criteria. The average RMSE accuracy of the LSSVM and M5Tree was increased by 3.7% and 16.5% using MARS. In the case of without local input data, the average RMSE accuracy of the LSSVM and M5Tree was respectively increased by 11.4% and 18.4% using MARS. In the third part of the study, the ability of the applied models was examined in Ep estimation using input and output data of nearby station. The results reported that the MARS models performed better than the other models with respect to RMSE, MAE and R2 criteria. The average RMSE of the LSSVM and M5Tree was respectively decreased by 54% and 3.4% using MARS. The overall results indicated that the LSSVM could be successfully used in estimating Ep by using local input and output data while the MARS model performed better than the LSSVM in the case of without local input and outputs.