Estimation of All-Weather Daily Surface Net Radiation over the Tibetan Plateau Using an Optimized CNN Model

Accurate daily surface net radiation (Rn) estimation over the Tibetan Plateau’s complex and highly heterogeneous terrain is essential for advancing the understanding of land–atmosphere exchanges and regional climate processes. This study developed an optimized deep learning framework that systematically evaluates 19 CNN architectures using a per-pixel multivariate regression design (1 × 1 × 21). The channel-rich representation incorporates engineered neighborhood descriptors to statistically embed spatial context while fully avoiding the mosaic and boundary artifacts common in patch-based approaches. Among all tested networks, Xception delivered the best combination of accuracy (R2 > 0.94), computational efficiency, and physical consistency. Its depthwise separable convolutions and skip connections enable hierarchical nonlinear cross-channel feature learning, effectively capturing the complex dependencies between surface variables and Rn. Independent validation confirmed stable performance under diverse weather conditions and substantially better skill than GLASS, especially across rugged terrain and high-albedo surfaces. SHAP analysis further highlights physically meaningful behavior, with astronomical and topographic factors contributing ~70% and surface properties ~25% to predictions. Remaining challenges include dependence on continuous high-quality multi-source inputs and scale effects from mixed pixels. Future work will enhance operational deployment through automated daily preprocessing, improved sub-diurnal characterization via multi-scale data fusion, and stronger physical constraints to increase reliability.