The objective of this study is to develop soft computing and data reconstruction techniques for modeling monthly California Irrigation Management Information System (CIMIS) evapotranspiration (ETo) at two stations, U.C. Riverside and Durham, in California. The nonlinear dynamics of monthly CIMIS ETo is examined using autocorrelation function, phase space reconstruction, and close returns plot. The generalized regression neural networks and genetic algorithm (GRNN‐GA) conjunction model is developed for modeling monthly CIMIS ETo. Among different input variables considered, solar radiation (RAD) is found to be the most effective variable for modeling monthly CIMIS ETo using GRNN‐GA for both stations. Adding other input variables to the best 1‐input combination improves the model performance. The generalized regression neural networks and backpropagation algorithm (GRNN‐BP) conjunction model is compared with the results of GRNN‐GA for modeling monthly CIMIS ETo. Two bootstrap resampling methods are implemented to reconstruct the training data. Method 1 (1‐BGRNN‐GA) employs simple extensions of training data using the bootstrap resampling method. For each training data, method 2 (2‐BGRNN‐GA) uses individual bootstrap resampling of original training data. Results indicate that Method 2 (2‐BGRNN‐GA) improves modeling of monthly CIMIS ETo and is more stable and reliable than are GRNN‐GA, GRNN‐BP, and Method 1 (1‐BGRNN‐GA).
