Comparative assessment of deep belief network and hybrid adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system model based on a meta-heuristic optimization algorithm for precise predictions of the potential evapotranspiration

Accurately predicting potential evapotranspiration (PET) is crucial in water resource management, agricultural planning, and climate change studies. This research aims to investigate the performance of two machine learning methods, the adaptive network-based fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) and the deep belief network (DBN), in forecasting PET, as well as to explore the potential of hybridizing the ANFIS approach with the Snake Optimizer (ANFIS-SO) algorithm. The study utilized a comprehensive dataset spanning the period from 1983 to 2020. The ANFIS, ANFIS-SO, and DBN models were developed, and their performances were evaluated using statistical metrics, including R