Articles | Volume 22, issue 15
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-3965-2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-3965-2025
Research article
 | 
14 Aug 2025
Research article |  | 14 Aug 2025

On the added value of sequential deep learning for the upscaling of evapotranspiration

Basil Kraft, Jacob A. Nelson, Sophia Walther, Fabian Gans, Ulrich Weber, Gregory Duveiller, Markus Reichstein, Weijie Zhang, Marc Rußwurm, Devis Tuia, Marco Körner, Zayd Hamdi, and Martin Jung

Related authors

BuRNN (v1.0): A Data-Driven Fire Model
Seppe Lampe, Lukas Gudmundsson, Basil Kraft, Stijn Hantson, Douglas Kelley, Vincent Humphrey, Bertrand Le Saux, Emilio Chuvieco, and Wim Thiery
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3550,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3550, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Geoscientific Model Development (GMD).
Short summary
H2CM (v1.0): hybrid modeling of global water–carbon cycles constrained by atmospheric and land observations
Zavud Baghirov, Markus Reichstein, Basil Kraft, Bernhard Ahrens, Marco Körner, and Martin Jung
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3123,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3123, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Geoscientific Model Development (GMD).
Short summary
H2MV (v1.0): global physically constrained deep learning water cycle model with vegetation
Zavud Baghirov, Martin Jung, Markus Reichstein, Marco Körner, and Basil Kraft
Geosci. Model Dev., 18, 2921–2943, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-2921-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-2921-2025, 2025
Short summary
CH-RUN: a deep-learning-based spatially contiguous runoff reconstruction for Switzerland
Basil Kraft, Michael Schirmer, William H. Aeberhard, Massimiliano Zappa, Sonia I. Seneviratne, and Lukas Gudmundsson
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 1061–1082, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-1061-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-1061-2025, 2025
Short summary
Constraining biospheric carbon dioxide fluxes by combined top-down and bottom-up approaches
Samuel Upton, Markus Reichstein, Fabian Gans, Wouter Peters, Basil Kraft, and Ana Bastos
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 2555–2582, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-2555-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-2555-2024, 2024
Short summary

Cited articles

Armstrong, S., Khandelwal, P., Padalia, D., Senay, G., Schulte, D., Andales, A., Breidt, F. J., Pallickara, S., and Pallickara, S. L.: Attention-based convolutional capsules for evapotranspiration estimation at scale, Environ. Model. Softw., 152, 105366, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2022.105366, 2022. a
Bai, S., Kolter, J. Z., and Koltun, V.: An Empirical Evaluation of Generic Convolutional and Recurrent Networks for Sequence Modeling, arXiv [preprint], https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.1803.01271, 4 March 2018. a
Baldocchi, D., Falge, E., Gu, L., Olson, R., Hollinger, D., Running, S., Anthoni, P., Bernhofer, C., Davis, K., Evans, R., Fuentes, J., Goldstein, A., Katul, G., Law, B., Lee, X., Malhi, Y., Meyers, T., Munger, W., Oechel, W., U, K. T. P., Pilegaard, K., Schmid, H. P., Valentini, R., Verma, S., Vesala, T., Wilson, K., and Wofsy, S.: FLUXNET: A New Tool to Study the Temporal and Spatial Variability of Ecosystem-Scale Carbon Dioxide, Water Vapor, and Energy Flux Densities, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 82, 2415–2434, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0477(2001)082<2415:FANTTS>2.3.CO;2, 2001. a
Beer, C., Reichstein, M., Tomelleri, E., Ciais, P., Jung, M., Carvalhais, N., Rödenbeck, C., Arain, M. A., Baldocchi, D., Bonan, G. B., Bondeau, A., Cescatti, A., Lasslop, G., Lindroth, A., Lomas, M., Luyssaert, S., Margolis, H., Oleson, K. W., Roupsard, O., Veenendaal, E., Viovy, N., Williams, C., Woodward, F. I., and Papale, D.: Terrestrial Gross Carbon Dioxide Uptake: Global Distribution and Covariation with Climate, Science, 329, 834–838, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1184984, 2010. a
Besnard, S., Carvalhais, N., Arain, M. A., Black, A., Brede, B., Buchmann, N., Chen, J., Clevers, J. G. P. W., Dutrieux, L. P., Gans, F., Herold, M., Jung, M., Kosugi, Y., Knohl, A., Law, B. E., Paul-Limoges, E., Lohila, A., Merbold, L., Roupsard, O., Valentini, R., Wolf, S., Zhang, X., and Reichstein, M.: Memory Effects of Climate and Vegetation Affecting Net Ecosystem CO2 Fluxes in Global Forests, PLOS ONE, 14, e0211510, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0211510, 2019. a, b, c
Download
Short summary
This study evaluates machine learning approaches for upscaling evapotranspiration from the site to the global scale. Sequential models capture temporal dynamics better, especially with precipitation data, but all models show biases in data-scarce regions. Improved upscaling requires richer training data, informed covariate selection, and physical constraints to enhance robustness and reduce extrapolation errors.
Share
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint