A comparison of three learning methods to predict N2O fluxes and N leaching

Nathalie Villa-Vialaneix (1) , Marco Follador (2) , Adrian Leip (2)

1 IMT - Institut de Mathématiques de Toulouse UMR5219
2 CCU - Climate Change Unit

The environmental costs of intensive farming activities are often under-estimated or not included into rural development plans, even though they play an important role in addressing future society's needs. This paper focuses on the use of statistical learning methods to predict N2O emissions and N leaching under several conservative scenarios, in order to provide an alternative approach to deterministic models on a macro-scale. To that aim, three learning methods, namely neural networks (multilayer perceptrons), SVM and random forests, are compared and provide accurate solutions.

Domaines: Statistiques [math.ST]; Théorie [stat.TH]; Etudes de l'environnement

Nathalie Villa-Vialaneix, Marco Follador, Adrian Leip. A comparison of three learning methods to predict N2O fluxes and N leaching. Modèles et Apprentissage en Sciences Humaines et Sociales, Jun 2010, Lille, France. pp.57-66. ⟨hal-00491583⟩