Daily soil temperature modeling using neuro-fuzzy approach

Soil temperature is an important meteorological parameter which influences a number of processes in agriculture, hydrology, and environment. However, soil temperature records are not routinely available from meteorological stations. This work aimed to estimate daily soil temperature using the coactive neuro-fuzzy inference system (CANFIS) in arid and semiarid regions. For this purpose, daily soil temperatures were recorded at six depths of 5, 10, 20, 30, 50, and 100 cm below the surface at two synoptic stations in Iran. According to correlation analysis, mean, maximum, and minimum air temperatures, relative humidity, sunshine hours, and solar radiation were selected as the inputs of the CANFIS models. It was concluded that, in most cases, the best soil temperature estimates with a CANFIS model can be provided with the Takagi-Sugeno-Kang (TSK) fuzzy model and the Gaussian membership function. Comparison of the models' performances at arid and semiarid locations showed that the CANFIS models' performances in arid site were slightly better than those in semiarid site. Overall, the obtained results indicated the capabilities of the CANFIS model in estimating soil temperature in arid and semiarid regions.