Application of the Observation‐Oriented CNOP‐P Sensitivity Analysis Method in Evapotranspiration Simulation and Prediction Over the Tibetan Plateau

Abstract To improve the ability to accurately simulate and predict evapotranspiration (ET) over the Tibetan Plateau (TP), an observation‐oriented sensitivity analysis (SA) method based on a conditional nonlinear optimal parameter perturbation (CNOP‐P) method is employed. With the observation‐oriented CNOP‐P SA method, a sensitive parameter subset among all parameters is first determined through comparison with observations of ET across the TP. Then, the sensitive parameter combination is optimized to evaluate the ET simulation ability and prediction skill over the TP. A traditional one‐at‐a‐time (OAT) method is also employed, and the results are compared with the numerical results obtained with the observation‐oriented CNOP‐P SA method. The results show that the identified parameter combination using the observation‐oriented CNOP‐P SA method is more sensitive than that using the OAT method for the estimation of ET at 13 sites on the TP. The above results demonstrate that it is important to determine the sensitive parameter combination using the observation‐oriented SA method to improve the ET simulation ability and prediction skill over the TP.