arXiv:2603.00968stat.MLcs.LG2026-03

用纳什-萨特克利夫损失重新构建预测评估,让模型优化更科学。

Learning with the Nash-Sutcliffe loss

  • 提出纳什-萨特克利夫损失函数,作为评估多时间序列预测的新工具。
  • 证明最小化该损失等价于加权最小二乘,可实现多序列联合建模。
  • 揭示平均NSE最大化隐含假设所有序列来自同一随机过程,适合全局模型。

纳什-萨特克利夫效率(NSE)是广泛用于评估多时间序列预测的正向相对指标,但缺乏决策理论基础。为此,本文研究其负向对应形式——纳什-萨特克利夫损失($L_{\text{NS}} = 1 - \text{NSE}$),证明其对一个可识别且可引出的多维函数(称为纳什-萨特克利夫函数)是严格一致的。该函数为数据加权的分量均值。在多个序列上最大化平均NSE,等价于最小化期望$ L_{\text{NS}} $。因此,这一操作隐含假设所有序列源自同一非平稳随机过程。本文引入纳什-萨特克利夫线性回归,通过最小化平均$ L_{\text{NS}} $进行估计,其形式退化为数据加权最小二乘。通过重构样本平均损失函数,将原有评估与估计框架扩展至具有不同随机性质的多平稳依赖时间序列。这比先前形式更自然地实现了基于NSE的建模。本研究为大样本下基于NSE的模型估计与预测评估提供了决策理论基础,并进一步阐明了全局模型相较于局部模型的优势。

原文摘要 · Abstract (English)

The Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency ($\text{NSE}$) is a widely used, positively oriented relative measure for evaluating forecasts across multiple time series. However, it lacks a decision-theoretic foundation for this purpose. To address this, we examine its negatively oriented counterpart, which we refer to as Nash-Sutcliffe loss, defined as $L_{\text{NS}} = 1 - \text{NSE}$. We prove that $L_{\text{NS}}$ is strictly consistent for an elicitable and identifiable multi-dimensional functional, which we name the Nash-Sutcliffe functional. This functional is a data-weighted component-wise mean. The common practice of maximizing the average $\text{NSE}$ across multiple series is the sample analog of minimizing the expected $L_{\text{NS}}$. Consequently, this operation implicitly assumes that all series originate from a single non-stationary, stochastic process. We introduce Nash-Sutcliffe linear regression, a multi-dimensional model estimated by minimizing the average $L_{\text{NS}}$, which reduces to a data-weighted least squares formulation. By reorienting the sample average loss function, we extend the previously proposed evaluation and estimation framework to forecasting multiple stationary dependent time series with differing stochastic properties. This constitutes a more natural empirical implementation of the $\text{NSE}$ than the earlier formulation. Our results establish a decision-theoretic foundation for $\text{NSE}$-based model estimation and forecast evaluation in large datasets, while further clarifying the benefits of global over local machine learning models.

预测评估损失函数时间序列机器学习

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