Skip to main content
Log in

Evaluation of daily solar radiation flux using soft computing approaches based on different meteorological information: peninsula vs continent

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Theoretical and Applied Climatology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This study compares single and hybrid soft computing models for estimating daily solar radiation flux for two scenarios. Scenario I developed single soft computing models, including multilayer perceptron (MLP), support vector machines (SVM), adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS), and multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS), for estimating daily solar radiation flux at two stations from the USA and South Korea. The MLP model was used to evaluate the effect of factors controlling daily solar radiation flux. Using different combinations of controlling factors as input, the MLP and SVM models, based on evaluation measures, were found to be superior to the ANFIS and MARS models at Big Bend station, USA. In addition, the MLP, SVM, and MARS models performed better than did the ANFIS model at Incheon station, South Korea. Scenario II combined the discrete wavelet transform (DWT) and single soft computing models (e.g., MLP and SVM) for improved performance using 4-input combination. The wavelet-based MLP (WMLP) and SVM (WSVM) models were superior to other single soft computing models (MLP, SVM, ANFIS, and MARS) at two stations. Taylor diagrams, violin plots and point density plots were also utilized to examine the similarity between the observed and estimated solar radiation flux values. Results showed that scenarios I and II can be alternatives for estimating daily solar radiation flux based on different meteorological information, such as peninsular and continental conditions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adamowski J, Chan HF (2011) A wavelet neural network conjunction model for groundwater level forecasting. J Hydrol 407(1–4):28–40

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Adamowski J, Sun K (2010) Development of a coupled wavelet transform and neural network method for flow forecasting of non-perennial rivers in semi-arid watersheds. J Hydrol 390(1–2):85–91

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Akrami SA, Nourani V, Hakim SJS (2014) Development of nonlinear model based on wavelet-ANFIS for rainfall forecasting at Klang Gates Dam. Water Resour Manag 28(10):2999–3018

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ASCE Task Committee (1993) Criteria for evaluation of watershed models. J Irrig Drain Eng ASCE 119(3):429–442

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baba APA, Shiri J, Kisi O, Fard AF, Kim S, Amini R (2013) Estimating daily reference evapotranspiration using available and estimated climatic data by adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) and artificial neural network (ANN). Hydrol Res 44(1):131–146

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cao S, Cao J (2005) Forecast of solar irradiance using recurrent neural networks combined with wavelet analysis. Appl Therm Eng 25(2):161–172

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cao JC, Cao SH (2006) Study of forecasting solar irradiance using neural networks with preprocessing sample data by wavelet analysis. Energy 31(15):3435–3445

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cao J, Lin X (2008) Study of hourly and daily solar irradiation forecast using diagonal recurrent wavelet neural networks. Energy Convers Manag 49(6):1396–1406

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Capizzi G, Napoli C, Bonanno F (2012) Innovative second-generation wavelets construction with recurrent neural networks for solar radiation forecasting. IEEE Trans Neural Netw Learn Syst 23(11):1805–1815

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen JL, Liu HB, Wu W, Xie DT (2011) Estimation of monthly solar radiation from measured temperatures using support vector machines–a case study. Renew Energy 36(1):413–420

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen JL, Li GS, Wu SJ (2013) Assessing the potential of support vector machine for estimating daily solar radiation using sunshine duration. Energy Convers Manag 75:311–318

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cheng MY, Cao MT (2014) Accurately predicting building energy performance using evolutionary multivariate adaptive regression splines. Appl Soft Comput 22:178–188

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coulibaly P, Anctil F, Aravena R, Bobée B (2001) Artificial neural network modeling of water table depth fluctuations. Water Resour Res 37(4):885–896

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Deo RC, Şahin M (2017) Forecasting long-term global solar radiation with an ANN algorithm coupled with satellite-derived (MODIS) land surface temperature (LST) for regional locations in Queensland. Renew Sust Energ Rev 72:828–848

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dorvlo AS, Jervase JA, Al-Lawati A (2002) Solar radiation estimation using artificial neural networks. Appl Energy 71(4):307–319

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Evrendilek F (2014) Assessing neural networks with wavelet denoising and regression models in predicting diel dynamics of eddy covariance-measured latent and sensible heat fluxes and evapotranspiration. Neural Comput & Applic 24(2):327–337

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Friedman JH (1991) Multivariate adaptive regression splines. Ann Stat 19:1–67

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ghimire S, Deo RC, Downs NJ, Raj N (2018) Self-adaptive differential evolutionary extreme learning machines for long-term solar radiation prediction with remotely-sensed MODIS satellite and reanalysis atmospheric products in solar-rich cities. Remote Sens Environ 212:176–198

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • González-Audícana M, Otazu X, Fors O, Seco A (2005) Comparison between Mallat’s and the ‘à trous’ discrete wavelet transform based algorithms for the fusion of multispectral and panchromatic images. Int J Remote Sens 26(3):595–614

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hajian M (2013) Various aspects of solar energy utilization: review. Int J Adv Sci Technol 58:41–50

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haykin S (2009) Neural networks and learning machines, 3rd ed. Prentice Hall, NJ

  • Heo KY, Ha KJ, Yun KS, Lee SS, Kim HJ, Wang B (2014) Methods for uncertainty assessment of climate models and model predictions over East Asia. Int J Climatol 34(2):377–390

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jain SK, Nayak PC, Sudheer KP (2008) Models for estimating evapotranspiration using artificial neural networks, and their physical interpretation. Hydrol Process 22:2225–2234

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jang JSR (1993) ANFIS: adaptive-network-based fuzzy inference system. IEEE Trans Syst Man Cybern Syst 23(3):665–685

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jang JSR, Sun CT, Mizutani E (1997) Neuro-fuzzy and soft computing: a computational approach to learning and machine intelligence. Prentice-Hall, New Jersey

    Google Scholar 

  • Kim S, Singh VP (2014) Modeling daily soil temperature using data-driven models and spatial distribution. Theor Appl Climatol 118(3):465–479

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kim S, Singh VP (2015) Spatial disaggregation of areal rainfall using two different artificial neural networks. Water 7(6):2707–2727

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kim S, Shiri J, Kisi O (2012) Pan evaporation modeling using neural computing approach for different climatic zones. Water Resour Manag 26(11):3231–3249

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kim S, Shiri J, Kisi O, Singh VP (2013) Estimating daily pan evaporation using different data-driven methods and lag-time patterns. Water Resour Manag 27(7):2267–2286

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kim S, Seo Y, Singh VP (2015a) Assessment of pan evaporation modeling using bootstrap resampling and soft computing methods. J Comput Civ Eng 29:04014063. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CP.1943-5487.0000367

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kim S, Singh VP, Lee CJ, Seo Y (2015b) Modeling the physical dynamics of daily dew point temperature using soft computing techniques. KSCE J Civ Eng 19(6):1930–1940

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kim S, Seo Y, Singh VP (2016a) Computation of daily solar radiation using wavelet and support vector machines: a case study. In: Harmony Search Algorithm, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, pp 279–284

  • Kim S, Seo Y, Singh VP (2016b) Estimating global solar irradiance for optimal photovoltaic system. Procedia Eng 154:1237–1242

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kisi O (2014) Modeling solar radiation of Mediterranean region in Turkey by using fuzzy genetic approach. Energy 64:429–436

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kisi O, Cimen M (2011) A wavelet-support vector machine conjunction model for monthly streamflow forecasting. J Hydrol 399(1–2):132–140

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kisi O, Cimen M (2012) Precipitation forecasting by using wavelet-support vector machine conjunction model. Eng Appl Artif Intell 25(4):783–792

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kisi O, Kim S, Shiri J (2013) Estimation of dew point temperature using neuro-fuzzy and neural network techniques. Theor Appl Climatol 114(3–4):365–373

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Legates DR, Davis RE (1997) The continuing search for an anthropogenic climate change signal: limitations of correlation-based approaches. Geophys Res Lett 24(18):2319–2322

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Legates DR, McCabe GJ (1999) Evaluating the use of “goodness-of-fit” measures in hydrologic and hydroclimatic model validation. Water Resour Res 35(1):233–241

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Legates DR, McCabe GJ (2013) A refined index of model performance: a rejoinder. Int J Climatol 33(4):1053–1056

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mallat SG (1989) A theory for multiresolution signal decomposition: the wavelet representation. IEEE Trans Pattern Anal Mach Intell 11(7):674–693

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mellit A, Benghanem M, Kalogirou SA (2006) An adaptive wavelet-network model for forecasting daily total solar-radiation. Appl Energy 83(7):705–722

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moghaddamnia A, Remesan R, Kashani MH, Mohammadi M, Han D, Piri J (2009) Comparison of LLR, MLP, Elman, NNARX and ANFIS models—with a case study in solar radiation estimation. J Atmos Sol Terr Phys 71(8):975–982

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mohammadi K, Shamshirband S, Anisi MH, Alam KA, Petković D (2015a) Support vector regression based prediction of global solar radiation on a horizontal surface. Energy Convers Manag 91:433–441

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mohammadi K, Shamshirband S, Tong CW, Arif M, Petković D, Ch S (2015b) A new hybrid support vector machine–wavelet transform approach for estimation of horizontal global solar radiation. Energy Convers Manag 92:162–171

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moosavi V, Vafakhah M, Shirmohammadi B, Behnia N (2013) A wavelet-ANFIS hybrid model for groundwater level forecasting for different prediction periods. Water Resour Manag 27(5):1301–1321

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nash JE, Sutcliffe JV (1970) River flow forecasting through conceptual models, part 1—a discussion of principles. J Hydrol 10(3):282–290

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nason G (2010) Wavelet methods in statistics with R. Springer, NY

  • Nourani V, Alami MT, Aminfar MH (2009) A combined neural-wavelet model for prediction of Ligvanchai watershed precipitation. Eng Appl Artif Intell 22(3):466–472

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Piri J, Kisi O (2015) Modelling solar radiation reached to the Earth using ANFIS, NN-ARX, and empirical models (case studies: Zahedan and Bojnurd stations). J Atmos Sol Terr Phys 123:39–47

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Principe JC, Euliano NR, Lefebvre WC (2000) Neural and adaptive systems: fundamentals through simulation. Wiley, NY, USA

  • Salcedo-Sanz S, Deo RC, Cornejo-Bueno L, Camacho-Gómez C, Ghimire S (2018) An efficient neuro-evolutionary hybrid modelling mechanism for the estimation of daily global solar radiation in the Sunshine State of Australia. Appl Energy 209:79–94

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Santos, C.A.G., Freire, P.K.M.M., Silva, G.B.L., Silva, R.M. (2014). Discrete wavelet transform coupled with ANN for daily discharge forecasting into Três Marias reservoir. In: Proceedings of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences, Bologna, Italy, pp 100–105

  • Sehgal V, Sahay RR, Chatterjee C (2014) Effect of utilization of discrete wavelet components on flood forecasting performance of wavelet based ANFIS models. Water Resour Manag 28(6):1733–1749

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seo Y, Kim S, Kisi O, Singh VJ (2015) Daily water level forecasting using wavelet decomposition and artificial intelligence techniques. J Hydrol 520:224–243

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sharda VN, Prasher SO, Patel RM, Ojasvi PR, Prakash C (2008) Performance of multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS) in predicting runoff in mid-Himalayan micro-watersheds with limited data/performances. Hydrol Sci J 53(6):1165–1175

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shirmohammadi B, Moradi H, Moosavi V, Semiromi MT, Zeinali A (2013) Forecasting of meteorological drought using wavelet-ANFIS hybrid model for different time steps (case study: southeastern part of East Azerbaijan Province, Iran). Nat Hazards 69(1):389–402

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sigaroodi SK, Chen Q, Ebrahimi S, Nazari A, Choobin B (2014) Long-term precipitation forecast for drought relief using atmospheric circulation factors: a study on the Maharloo Basin in Iran. Hydrol Earth Syst Sci 18:1995–2006

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sözen A, Arcaklioğlu E, Özalp M (2004) Estimation of solar potential in Turkey by artificial neural networks using meteorological and geographical data. Energy Convers Manag 45(18):3033–3052

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sumithira TR, Kumar AN (2012) Prediction of monthly global solar radiation using adaptive neuro fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) technique over the state of Tamilnadu (India): a comparative study. Appl Solar Energy 48(2):140–145

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor KE (2001) Summarizing multiple aspects of model performance in a single diagram. J Geophys Res Atmos 106(D7):7183–7192

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tiwari MK, Chatterjee C (2010) Development of an accurate and reliable hourly flood forecasting model using wavelet-bootstrap-ANN (WBANN) hybrid approach. J Hydrol 394(3–4):458–470

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tripathi S, Srinivas VV, Nanjundish RS (2006) Downscaling of precipitation for climate change scenarios: a support vector machine approach. J Hydrol 330(3–4):621–640

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tsoukalas LH, Uhrig RE (1997) Fuzzy and neural approaches in engineering. Wiley, NY

  • Vakili M, Sabbagh-Yazdi SR, Kalhor K, Khosrojerdi S (2015) Using artificial neural networks for prediction of global solar radiation in Tehran considering particulate matter air pollution. Energy Procedia 74:1205–1212

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vapnik VN (2010) The nature of statistical learning theory, 2nd edition. Springer, NY

  • Wang J, Xie Y, Zhu C (2011a) Solar radiation prediction based on phase space reconstruction of wavelet neural network. Procedia Eng 15:4603–4607

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang J, Xie Y, Zhu C, Xu X (2011b) Daily solar radiation prediction based on genetic algorithm optimization of wavelet neural network. In IEEE Electrical and Control Engineering (ICECE), 2011 International Conference on, pp 602–605

  • Willmott CJ, Robeson SM, Matsuura K (2012) A refined index of model performance. Int J Climatol 32(13):2088–2094

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang WG, Goh ATC (2013) Multivariate adaptive regression splines for analysis of geotechnical engineering systems. Comput Geotech 48:82–95

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to reveal our extreme appreciation and gratitude to the Illinois State Water Survey (ISWS), USA, and Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA), South Korea. This is for providing the meteorological information. In addition, the authors also sincerely thank the editors and reviewers for their admirable revision and scientific suggestions.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sungwon Kim.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Kim, S., Seo, Y., Rezaie-Balf, M. et al. Evaluation of daily solar radiation flux using soft computing approaches based on different meteorological information: peninsula vs continent. Theor Appl Climatol 137, 693–712 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-018-2627-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-018-2627-x

Navigation