Causal drivers of land‐atmosphere carbon fluxes from machine learning models and data

We extend a framework for model predictive and functional performance, which examines a suite of dependencies from all forcing variables to the observed or modeled target. Of the three model types, RF exhibited the highest functional and predictive performance, correctly capturing strong dependencies between radiation and temperature variables with Fc . Regionally trained models demonstrate lower predictive but higher functional performance compared to site‐specific models, suggesting superior reproduction of observed relationships at the expense of predictive accuracy.

This study shows that some metrics of predictive performance encapsulate functional behaviors better than others, highlighting the need for multiple metrics of both types. This study improves our understanding of carbon fluxes in an intensively managed landscape, and more generally provides insight into how model structures and forcing variables translate to interactions that are well versus poorly captured in models.