Modelling Agro-Met Station Observations Using Genetic Algorithm

The present work discusses the development of a nonlinear data-fitting technique based on genetic algorithm (GA) for the prediction of routine weather parameters using observations from Agro-Met Stations (AMS). The algorithm produces the equations that best describe the temporal evolutions of daily minimum and maximum near-surface (at 2.5-meter height) air temperature and relative humidity and daily averaged wind speed (at 10-meter height) at selected AMS locations. These enable the forecasts of these weather parameters, which could have possible use in crop forecast models. The forecast equations developed in the present study use only the past observations of the above-mentioned parameters. This approach, unlike other prediction methods, provides explicit analytical forecast equation for each parameter. The predictions up to 3 days in advance have been validated using independent datasets, unknown to the training algorithm, with impressive results. The power of the algorithm has also been demonstrated by its superiority over persistence forecast used as a benchmark.