Knowledge distillation as a pathway toward next-generation intelligent ecohydrological modeling systems

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Jiang, Long, Yang, Yang, Chui, Ting Fong May, Thornwell, Morgan, Gupta, Hoshin Vijai
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2025
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author Jiang, Long
Yang, Yang
Chui, Ting Fong May
Thornwell, Morgan
Gupta, Hoshin Vijai
author_facet Jiang, Long
Yang, Yang
Chui, Ting Fong May
Thornwell, Morgan
Gupta, Hoshin Vijai
contents Simulating ecohydrological processes is essential for understanding complex environmental systems and guiding sustainable management amid accelerating climate change and human pressures. Process-based models provide physical realism but can suffer from structural rigidity, high computational costs, and complex calibration, while machine learning (ML) methods are efficient and flexible yet often lack interpretability and transferability. We propose a unified three-phase framework that integrates process-based models with ML and progressively embeds them into artificial intelligence (AI) through knowledge distillation. Phase I, behavioral distillation, enhances process models via surrogate learning and model simplification to capture key dynamics at lower computational cost. Phase II, structural distillation, reformulates process equations as modular components within a graph neural network (GNN), enabling multiscale representation and seamless integration with ML models. Phase III, cognitive distillation, embeds expert reasoning and adaptive decision-making into intelligent modeling agents using the Eyes-Brain-Hands-Mouth architecture. Demonstrations for the Samish watershed highlight the framework's applicability to ecohydrological modeling, showing that it can reproduce process-based model outputs, improve predictive accuracy, and support scenario-based decision-making. The framework offers a scalable and transferable pathway toward next-generation intelligent ecohydrological modeling systems, with the potential extension to other process-based domains.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_01972
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Knowledge distillation as a pathway toward next-generation intelligent ecohydrological modeling systems
Jiang, Long
Yang, Yang
Chui, Ting Fong May
Thornwell, Morgan
Gupta, Hoshin Vijai
Machine Learning
Geophysics
Simulating ecohydrological processes is essential for understanding complex environmental systems and guiding sustainable management amid accelerating climate change and human pressures. Process-based models provide physical realism but can suffer from structural rigidity, high computational costs, and complex calibration, while machine learning (ML) methods are efficient and flexible yet often lack interpretability and transferability. We propose a unified three-phase framework that integrates process-based models with ML and progressively embeds them into artificial intelligence (AI) through knowledge distillation. Phase I, behavioral distillation, enhances process models via surrogate learning and model simplification to capture key dynamics at lower computational cost. Phase II, structural distillation, reformulates process equations as modular components within a graph neural network (GNN), enabling multiscale representation and seamless integration with ML models. Phase III, cognitive distillation, embeds expert reasoning and adaptive decision-making into intelligent modeling agents using the Eyes-Brain-Hands-Mouth architecture. Demonstrations for the Samish watershed highlight the framework's applicability to ecohydrological modeling, showing that it can reproduce process-based model outputs, improve predictive accuracy, and support scenario-based decision-making. The framework offers a scalable and transferable pathway toward next-generation intelligent ecohydrological modeling systems, with the potential extension to other process-based domains.
title Knowledge distillation as a pathway toward next-generation intelligent ecohydrological modeling systems
topic Machine Learning
Geophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.01972