Sample records for actual evapotranspiration estimates

  1. Estimating actual evapotranspiration for forested sites: modifications to the Thornthwaite Model

    Treesearch

    Randall K. Kolka; Ann T. Wolf

    1998-01-01

    A previously coded version of the Thornthwaite water balance model was used to estimate annual actual evapotranspiration (AET) for 29 forested sites between 1900 and 1993 in the Upper Great Lakes area. Approximately 8 percent of the data sets calculated AET in error. Errors were detected in months when estimated AET was greater than potential evapotranspiration. Annual...

  2. Alternate corrections for estimating actual wetland evapotranspiration from potential evapotranspiration

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Shoemaker, W. Barclay; Sumner, D.M.

    2006-01-01

    Corrections can be used to estimate actual wetland evapotranspiration (AET) from potential evapotranspiration (PET) as a means to define the hydrology of wetland areas. Many alternate parameterizations for correction coefficients for three PET equations are presented, covering a wide range of possible data-availability scenarios. At nine sites in the wetland Everglades of south Florida, USA, the relatively complex PET Penman equation was corrected to daily total AET with smaller standard errors than the PET simple and Priestley-Taylor equations. The simpler equations, however, required less data (and thus less funding for instrumentation), with the possibility of being corrected to AET with slightly larger, comparable, or even smaller standard errors. Air temperature generally corrected PET simple most effectively to wetland AET, while wetland stage and humidity generally corrected PET Priestley-Taylor and Penman most effectively to wetland AET. Stage was identified for PET Priestley-Taylor and Penman as the data type with the most correction ability at sites that are dry part of each year or dry part of some years. Finally, although surface water generally was readily available at each monitoring site, AET was not occurring at potential rates, as conceptually expected under well-watered conditions. Apparently, factors other than water availability, such as atmospheric and stomata resistances to vapor transport, also were limiting the PET rate. ?? 2006, The Society of Wetland Scientists.

  3. Drone based estimation of actual evapotranspiration over different forest types

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Marzahn, Philip; Gampe, David; Castro, Saulo; Vega-Araya, Mauricio; Sanchez-Azofeifa, Arturo; Ludwig, Ralf

    2017-04-01

    Actual evapotranspiration (Eta) plays an important role in surface-atmosphere interactions. Traditionally, Eta is measured by means of lysimeters, eddy-covariance systems or fiber optics, providing estimates which are spatially restricted to a footprint from a few square meters up to several hectares . In the past, several methods have been developed to derive Eta by means of multi-spectral remote sensing data using thermal and VIS/NIR satellite imagery of the land surface. As such approaches do have their justification on coarser scales, they do not provide Eta information on the fine resolution plant level over large areas which is mandatory for the detection of water stress or tree mortality. In this study, we present a comparison of a drone based assessment of Eta with eddy-covariance measurements over two different forest types - a deciduous forest in Alberta, Canada and a tropical dry forest in Costa Rica. Drone based estimates of Eta were calculated applying the Triangle-Method proposed by Jiang and Islam (1999). The Triangle-Method estimates actual evapotranspiration (Eta) by means of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and land surface temperature (LST) provided by two camera systems (MicaSense RedEdge, FLIR TAU2 640) flown simultaneously on an octocopter. . Results indicate a high transferability of the original approach from Jiang and Islam (1999) developed for coarse to medium resolution satellite imagery tothe high resolution drone data, leading to a deviation in Eta estimates of 10% compared to the eddy-covariance measurements. In addition, the spatial footprint of the eddy-covariance measurement can be detected with this approach, by showing the spatial heterogeneities of Eta due to the spatial distribution of different trees and understory vegetation.

  4. Comparison of two recent models for estimating actual evapotranspiration using only regularly recorded data

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ali, M. F.; Mawdsley, J. A.

    1987-09-01

    An advection-aridity model for estimating actual evapotranspiration ET is tested with over 700 days of lysimeter evapotranspiration and meteorological data from barley, turf and rye-grass from three sites in the U.K. The performance of the model is also compared with the API model . It is observed from the test that the advection-aridity model overestimates nonpotential ET and tends to underestimate potential ET, but when tested with potential and nonpotential data together, the tendencies appear to cancel each other. On a daily basis the performance level of this model is found to be of the same order as the API model: correlation coefficients were obtained between the model estimates and lysimeter data of 0.62 and 0.68 respectively. For periods greater than one day, generally the performance of the models are improved. Proposed by Mawdsley and Ali (1979)

  5. Bulk canopy resistance: Modeling for the estimation of actual evapotranspiration of maize

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gharsallah, O.; Corbari, C.; Mancini, M.; Rana, G.

    2009-04-01

    Due to the scarcity of water resources, the correct evaluation of water losses by the crops as evapotranspiration (ET) is very important in irrigation management. This work presents a model for estimating actual evapotranspiration on hourly and daily scales of maize crop grown in well water condition in the Lombardia Region (North Italy). The maize is a difficult crop to model from the soil-canopy-atmosphere point of view, due to its very complex architecture and big height. The present ET model is based on the Penman-Monteith equation using Katerji and Perrier approach for modelling the variable canopy resistance value (rc). In fact rc is a primary factor in the evapotranspiration process and needs to be accurately estimated. Furthermore, ET also has an aerodynamic component, hence it depends on multiple factors such as meteorological variables and crop water condition. The proposed approach appears through a linear model in which rc depends on climate variables and aerodynamic resistance [rc/ra = f(r*/ra)] where ra is the aerodynamic resistance, function of wind speed and crop height, and r* is called "critical" or "climatic" resistance. Here, under humid climate, the model has been applied with good results at both hourly and daily scales. In this study, the reached good accuracy shows that the model worked well and are clearly more accurate than those obtained by using the more diffuse and known standard FAO 56 method for well watered and stressed crops.

  6. Estimation of actual evapotranspiration in the Nagqu river basin of the Tibetan Plateau

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zou, Mijun; Zhong, Lei; Ma, Yaoming; Hu, Yuanyuan; Feng, Lu

    2018-05-01

    As a critical component of the energy and water cycle, terrestrial actual evapotranspiration (ET) can be influenced by many factors. This study was mainly devoted to providing accurate and continuous estimations of actual ET for the Tibetan Plateau (TP) and analyzing the effects of its impact factors. In this study, summer observational data from the Coordinated Enhanced Observing Period (CEOP) Asia-Australia Monsoon Project (CAMP) on the Tibetan Plateau (CAMP/Tibet) for 2003 to 2004 was selected to determine actual ET and investigate its relationship with energy, hydrological, and dynamical parameters. Multiple-layer air temperature, relative humidity, net radiation flux, wind speed, precipitation, and soil moisture were used to estimate actual ET. The regression model simulation results were validated with independent data retrieved using the combinatory method. The results suggested that significant correlations exist between actual ET and hydro-meteorological parameters in the surface layer of the Nagqu river basin, among which the most important factors are energy-related elements (net radiation flux and air temperature). The results also suggested that how ET is eventually affected by precipitation and two-layer wind speed difference depends on whether their positive or negative feedback processes have a more important role. The multivariate linear regression method provided reliable estimations of actual ET; thus, 6-parameter simplified schemes and 14-parameter regular schemes were established.

  7. Estimation of Actual Evapotranspiration by Remote Sensing: Application in Thessaly Plain, Greece

    PubMed Central

    Tsouni, Alexia; Kontoes, Charalabos; Koutsoyiannis, Demetris; Elias, Panagiotis; Mamassis, Nikos

    2008-01-01

    Remote sensing can assist in improving the estimation of the geographical distribution of evapotranspiration, and consequently water demand in large cultivated areas for irrigation purposes and sustainable water resources management. In the direction of these objectives, the daily actual evapotranspiration was calculated in this study during the summer season of 2001 over the Thessaly plain in Greece, a wide irrigated area of great agricultural importance. Three different methods were adapted and applied: the remote-sensing methods by Granger (2000) and Carlson and Buffum (1989) that use satellite data in conjunction with ground meteorological measurements and an adapted FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation) Penman-Monteith method (Allen at al. 1998), which was selected to be the reference method. The satellite data were used in conjunction with ground data collected on the three closest meteorological stations. All three methods, exploit visible channels 1 and 2 and infrared channels 4 and 5 of NOAA-AVHRR (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer) sensor images to calculate albedo and NDVI (Normalised Difference Vegetation Index), as well as surface temperatures. The FAO Penman-Monteith and the Granger method have used exclusively NOAA-15 satellite images to obtain mean surface temperatures. For the Carlson-Buffum method a combination of NOAA-14 and NOAA-15 satellite images was used, since the average rate of surface temperature rise during the morning was required. The resulting estimations show that both the Carlson-Buffum and Granger methods follow in general the variations of the reference FAO Penman-Monteith method. Both methods have potential for estimating the spatial distribution of evapotranspiration, whereby the degree of the relative agreement with the reference FAO Penman-Monteith method depends on the crop growth stage. In particular, the Carlson-Buffum method performed better during the first half

  8. Estimation of Actual Evapotranspiration by Remote Sensing: Application in Thessaly Plain, Greece.

    PubMed

    Tsouni, Alexia; Kontoes, Charalabos; Koutsoyiannis, Demetris; Elias, Panagiotis; Mamassis, Nikos

    2008-06-01

    Remote sensing can assist in improving the estimation of the geographical distribution of evapotranspiration, and consequently water demand in large cultivated areas for irrigation purposes and sustainable water resources management. In the direction of these objectives, the daily actual evapotranspiration was calculated in this study during the summer season of 2001 over the Thessaly plain in Greece, a wide irrigated area of great agricultural importance. Three different methods were adapted and applied: the remotesensing methods by Granger (2000) and Carlson and Buffum (1989) that use satellite data in conjunction with ground meteorological measurements and an adapted FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation) Penman-Monteith method (Allen at al. 1998), which was selected to be the reference method. The satellite data were used in conjunction with ground data collected on the three closest meteorological stations. All three methods, exploit visible channels 1 and 2 and infrared channels 4 and 5 of NOAA-AVHRR (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer) sensor images to calculate albedo and NDVI (Normalised Difference Vegetation Index), as well as surface temperatures. The FAO Penman-Monteith and the Granger method have used exclusively NOAA-15 satellite images to obtain mean surface temperatures. For the Carlson-Buffum method a combination of NOAA-14 and ΝΟΑΑ-15 satellite images was used, since the average rate of surface temperature rise during the morning was required. The resulting estimations show that both the Carlson-Buffum and Granger methods follow in general the variations of the reference FAO Penman-Monteith method. Both methods have potential for estimating the spatial distribution of evapotranspiration, whereby the degree of the relative agreement with the reference FAO Penman-Monteith method depends on the crop growth stage. In particular, the Carlson- Buffum method performed better during the first

  9. Estimation of Regional-Scale Actual Evapotranspiration in Okayama prefecture in Japan using Complementary Relationship

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Moroizumi, T.; Yamamoto, M.; Miura, T.

    2008-12-01

    It is important to estimate accurately a water balance in watershed for proposing a reuse of water resources and a proper settlement of water utilization. Evapotranspiration (ET) is an important factor of water balance. Therefore, it is needed to estimate accurately the actual ET. The objective of this study is to estimate accurately monthly actual ET in Yoshii, Asahi, and Takahashi River watersheds in Okayama prefecture from 1999 to 2000. The monthly actual ET was calculated by a Morton and a modified Brutsaert and Stricker (B&S) method, using Automated Meteorological Data Acquisition Systems (AMeDAS) in the basin. The actual ET was estimated using land covers which were classified in 11 categories. The land covers includes the effects of albedo. The actual ET was related to the elevation at each AMeDAS station. Using this relationship, the actual ET at the 1 or 5 km grid-interval mesh in the basin was calculated, and finally, the distribution of actual ET was mapped. The monthly ET estimated by the modified B&S method were smaller than that by Morton method which showed a same tendency as the Penman potential ET (PET). The annual values of Morton"fs ET, modified B&S"fs ET, and PET were estimated as 796, 645, and 800 mm, respectively. The ET by the modified B&S was larger in hilly and mountainous areas than in settlement or city. In general, it was a reasonable result because city or settlement areas were covered with concrete and asphalt and the ET was controlled.

  10. Impacts of phenology on estimation of actual evapotranspiration with VegET model

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kovalskyy, V.; Henebry, G. M.

    2009-12-01

    The VegET model provides spatially explicit estimation of actual evapotranspiration (AET). Currently, it uses a climatology based on AVHRR NDVI image time series to modulate fluxes during growing seasons (Senay 2008). This step simplifies the model formulation, but it also introduces errors by ignoring the interannual variation in phenology. We report on a study to evaluate the effects of using an NDVI climatology in VegET rather than current season values. Using flux tower data from three sites across the US Corn Belt, we found that currently the model overestimates the duration of season. With the standard deviation of more than one week, the model results in an additional 50 to 70 mm of AET per season, which can account for about 10% of seasonal AET in drier western sites. The model showed only modest sensitivity to variation in growing season weather. This lack of sensitivity greatly decreased model accuracy during drought years: Pearson correlation coefficients between model estimates and observed values dropped from about 0.7 to 0.5, depending on vegetation type. We also evaluated an alternative approach to drive the canopy component of evapotranspiration, the Event Driven Phenology Model (EDPM). The parameterization of VegET with EDPM-simulated canopy dynamics improved the correlation by 0.1 or more and reduced the RMSE on daily AET estimates by 0.3 mm. By accounting for the progress of phenology during a particular growing season, the EDPM improves AET estimation over an NDVI climatology.

  11. Operational actual wetland evapotranspiration estimation for the Everglades using MODIS imagery

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Melesse, Assefa; Cereon, Cristobal

    2014-05-01

    Wetlands are one of the most important ecosystems with varied functions and structures. Humans have drained wetlands and altered the structure and functions of wetlands for various uses. Wetland restoration efforts require assessment of the level of ecohydrological restoration for the intended functions. Among the various indicators of success in wetland restoration, achieving the desired water level (hydrology) is the most important, faster to achieve and easier to monitor than the establishment of the hydric soils and wetland vegetation. Monitoring wetland hydrology using remote sensing based evapotranspiration (ET) is a useful tool and approach since point measurements for understanding the temporal (before and after restoration) and spatial (impacted and restored) parts of the wetland are not effective for large areas. Evapotranspiration accounts over 80% of the water budget of the wetlands necessitating the need for spatiotemporal monitoring of ET flux. A study employing remotely sensed data from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and modeling tools was conducted for a weekly spatial estimation of Everglades ET. Weekly surface temperature data were generated from the MODIS thermal band and evaporative fraction was estimated using the simplified surface energy balance (SSEB) approach. Based on the Simple Method, potential ET (PET) was estimated. Actual weekly wetland ET was computed as the (product of the PET and evaporative fraction). The ET product will be useful information for environmental restoration and wetland hydrology managers. The on-going restoration and monitoring work in the Everglades will benefit from this product and assist in evaluating progress and success in the restoration.

  12. A review of surface energy balance models for estimating actual evapotranspiration with remote sensing at high spatiotemporal resolution over large extents

    Treesearch

    Ryan R. McShane; Katelyn P. Driscoll; Roy Sando

    2017-01-01

    Many approaches have been developed for measuring or estimating actual evapotranspiration (ETa), and research over many years has led to the development of remote sensing methods that are reliably reproducible and effective in estimating ETa. Several remote sensing methods can be used to estimate ETa at the high spatial resolution of agricultural fields and the large...

  13. Microclimate and actual evapotranspiration in a humid coastal-plain environment

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Dennehy, K.F.; McMahon, P.B.

    1987-01-01

    Continuous hourly measurements of twelve meteorologic variables recorded during 1983 and 1984 were used to examine the microclimate and actual evapotranspiration at a low-level radioactive-waste burial site near Barnwell, South Carolina. The study area is in the Atlantic Coastal Plain of southwestern South Carolina. Monthly, daily, and hourly trends in net radiation, incoming and reflected short-wave radiation, incoming and emitted long-wave radiation, soil-heat flux, dry- and wet-bulb temperatures, soil temperatures, wind direction and speed, and precipitation were used to characterize the microclimate. Average daily air temperatures ranged from -9 to 32?? Celsius during the period of study. Net radiation varied from about -27 to 251 watts m-2 and was dominated by incoming short-wave radiation throughout the year. The peak net radiation during a summer day generally occurred 2-3h before the peak vapor pressure deficit. In the winter, these peaks occurred at about the same time of day. Monthly precipitation varied from 15 to 241 mm. The Bowen ratio method was used to estimate hourly evapotranspiration, which was summed to also give daily and monthly evapotranspiration. Actual evapotranspiration varied from 0.0 to 0.7 mm h-1, 0.8-5 mm d-1, and 20-140 mm month-1 during 1983 and 1984. The maximum rate of evapotranspiration generally occurred at the same time of day as maximum net radiation, suggesting net radiation was the main driving force for evapotranspiration. Precipitation exceeded evapotranspiration during 14 months of the 2yr study period. Late fall, winter, and early spring contained the majority of these months. The maximum excess precipitation was 115 mm in February 1983. ?? 1987.

  14. Testing two temporal upscaling schemes for the estimation of the time variability of the actual evapotranspiration

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Maltese, A.; Capodici, F.; Ciraolo, G.; La Loggia, G.

    2015-10-01

    Temporal availability of grapes actual evapotranspiration is an emerging issue since vineyards farms are more and more converted from rainfed to irrigated agricultural systems. The manuscript aims to verify the accuracy of the actual evapotranspiration retrieval coupling a single source energy balance approach and two different temporal upscaling schemes. The first scheme tests the temporal upscaling of the main input variables, namely the NDVI, albedo and LST; the second scheme tests the temporal upscaling of the energy balance output, the actual evapotranspiration. The temporal upscaling schemes were implemented on: i) airborne remote sensing data acquired monthly during a whole irrigation season over a Sicilian vineyard; ii) low resolution MODIS products released daily or weekly; iii) meteorological data acquired by standard gauge stations. Daily MODIS LST products (MOD11A1) were disaggregated using the DisTrad model, 8-days black and white sky albedo products (MCD43A) allowed modeling the total albedo, and 8-days NDVI products (MOD13Q1) were modeled using the Fisher approach. Results were validated both in time and space. The temporal validation was carried out using the actual evapotranspiration measured in situ using data collected by a flux tower through the eddy covariance technique. The spatial validation involved airborne images acquired at different times from June to September 2008. Results aim to test whether the upscaling of the energy balance input or output data performed better.

  15. Predicting water suppy and actual evapotranspiration of street trees

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wessolek, Gerd; Heiner, Moreen; Trinks, Steffen

    2017-04-01

    It's well known that street trees cool air temperature in summer-time by transpiration and shading and also reduce runoff. However, it's difficult to analyse if trees have water shortage or not. This contribution focus on predicting water supply, actual evapotranspiration, and runoff by using easily available climate data (precipiation, potential evapotranspiration) and site characteristics (water retention, space, sealing degree, groundwater depth). These parameter were used as input data for Hydro-Pedotransfer-Functions (HPTFs) allowing the estimation of the annual water budget. Results give statements on water supply of trees, drought stress, and additional water demand by irrigation. Procedure also analyse, to which extent the surrounding partly sealed surfaces deliver water to the trees. Four representative street canyons of Berlin City were analysed and evaluated within in training program for M.A. students of „Urban Eco-system Science" at the Technische Universität Berlin.

  16. Groundwater Modelling For Recharge Estimation Using Satellite Based Evapotranspiration

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Soheili, Mahmoud; (Tom) Rientjes, T. H. M.; (Christiaan) van der Tol, C.

    2017-04-01

    Groundwater movement is influenced by several factors and processes in the hydrological cycle, from which, recharge is of high relevance. Since the amount of aquifer extractable water directly relates to the recharge amount, estimation of recharge is a perquisite of groundwater resources management. Recharge is highly affected by water loss mechanisms the major of which is actual evapotranspiration (ETa). It is, therefore, essential to have detailed assessment of ETa impact on groundwater recharge. The objective of this study was to evaluate how recharge was affected when satellite-based evapotranspiration was used instead of in-situ based ETa in the Salland area, the Netherlands. The Methodology for Interactive Planning for Water Management (MIPWA) model setup which includes a groundwater model for the northern part of the Netherlands was used for recharge estimation. The Surface Energy Balance Algorithm for Land (SEBAL) based actual evapotranspiration maps from Waterschap Groot Salland were also used. Comparison of SEBAL based ETa estimates with in-situ abased estimates in the Netherlands showed that these SEBAL estimates were not reliable. As such results could not serve for calibrating root zone parameters in the CAPSIM model. The annual cumulative ETa map produced by the model showed that the maximum amount of evapotranspiration occurs in mixed forest areas in the northeast and a portion of central parts. Estimates ranged from 579 mm to a minimum of 0 mm in the highest elevated areas with woody vegetation in the southeast of the region. Variations in mean seasonal hydraulic head and groundwater level for each layer showed that the hydraulic gradient follows elevation in the Salland area from southeast (maximum) to northwest (minimum) of the region which depicts the groundwater flow direction. The mean seasonal water balance in CAPSIM part was evaluated to represent recharge estimation in the first layer. The highest recharge estimated flux was for autumn

  17. Assessing actual evapotranspiration via surface energy balance aiming to optimize water and energy consumption in large scale pressurized irrigation systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Awada, H.; Ciraolo, G.; Maltese, A.; Moreno Hidalgo, M. A.; Provenzano, G.; Còrcoles, J. I.

    2017-10-01

    Satellite imagery provides a dependable basis for computational models that aimed to determine actual evapotranspiration (ET) by surface energy balance. Satellite-based models enables quantifying ET over large areas for a wide range of applications, such as monitoring water distribution, managing irrigation and assessing irrigation systems' performance. With the aim to evaluate the energy and water consumption of a large scale on-turn pressurized irrigation system in the district of Aguas Nuevas, Albacete, Spain, the satellite-based image-processing model SEBAL was used for calculating actual ET. The model has been applied to quantify instantaneous, daily, and seasonal actual ET over high- resolution Landsat images for the peak water demand season (May to September) and for the years 2006 - 2008. The model provided a direct estimation of the distribution of main energy fluxes, at the instant when the satellite overpassed over each field of the district. The image acquisition day Evapotranspiration (ET24) was obtained from instantaneous values by assuming a constant evaporative fraction (Λ) for the entire day of acquisition; then, monthly and seasonal ET were estimated from the daily evapotranspiration (ETdaily) assuming that ET24 varies in proportion to reference ET (ETr) at the meteorological station, thus accounting for day to day variation in meteorological forcing. The comparison between the hydrants water consumption and the actual evapotranspiration, considering an irrigation efficiency of 85%, showed that a considerable amount of water and energy can be saved at district level.

  18. Feedback Loop of Data Infilling Using Model Result of Actual Evapotranspiration from Satellites and Hydrological Model

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Murdi Hartanto, Isnaeni; Alexandridis, Thomas K.; van Andel, Schalk Jan; Solomatine, Dimitri

    2014-05-01

    Using satellite data in a hydrological model has long been occurring in modelling of hydrological processes, as a source of low cost regular data. The methods range from using satellite products as direct input, model validation, and data assimilation. However, the satellite data frequently face the missing value problem, whether due to the cloud cover or the limited temporal coverage. The problem could seriously affect its usefulness in hydrological model, especially if the model uses it as direct input, so data infilling becomes one of the important parts in the whole modelling exercise. In this research, actual evapotranspiration product from satellite is directly used as input into a spatially distributed hydrological model, and validated by comparing the catchment's end discharge with measured data. The instantaneous actual evapotranspiration is estimated from MODIS satellite images using a variation of the energy balance model for land (SEBAL). The eight-day cumulative actual evapotranspiration is then obtained by a temporal integration that uses the reference evapotranspiration calculated from meteorological data [1]. However, the above method cannot fill in a cell if the cell is constantly having no-data value during the eight-day periods. The hydrological model requires full set of data without no-data cells, hence, the no-data cells in the satellite's evapotranspiration map need to be filled in. In order to fills the no-data cells, an output of hydrological model is used. The hydrological model is firstly run with reference evapotranspiration as input to calculate discharge and actual evapotranspiration. The no-data cells in the eight-day cumulative map from the satellite are then filled in with the output of the first run of hydrological model. The final data is then used as input in a hydrological model to calculate discharge, thus creating a loop. The method is applied in the case study of Rijnland, the Netherlands where in the winter, cloud cover is

  19. Determination of the actual evapotranspiration by using remote sensing methods

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bora, Eser

    2017-10-01

    Evapotranspiration is so crucial for determining amount of the irrigation and the effective water management planning. Moreover, it is vital for determining agricultural drought management and determination the actual evapotranspiration ın a region is critical for early drought warning systems. The main object of this study was to assess accuracy of the remote sensing method (METRIC) by calibrating with the bowen ratio observations at the same time. The research was carried out in the west of Marmara Region, Turkey. Landsat 5 images was used to determine the metric algorithm. By using this algorithms are found. Landsat 5 images file were used to determine actual evapotranspiration and the image's date was June 11 in 2010. This date was used for calibration with available terrestrial observation by using bowen ratio in that time. Landsat images obtained from the web site, earthexplorer.usgs.gov, and results of bowen ratio taken from micrometeorology station. As a result, energy balance parameters that are net radiation, soil heat flux and latent heat flux were compared both metric algorithm and the bowen ration in the images time. The results are found so close to each other.

  20. REDRAW-Based Evapotranspiration Estimation in Chongli, North China

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhang, Z.; Wang, Z.

    2017-12-01

    Evapotranspiration (ET) is the key component of hydrological cycle and spatial estimates of ET are important elements of atmospheric circulation and hydrologic models. Quantifying the ET over large region is significant for water resources planning, hydrologic water balances, water rights management, and water division. In this study, Evapotranspiration (ET) was estimated using REDRAW model in the Chongli on 2014. REDRAW is a satellite-based balance algorithm with reference dry and wet limits model developed to estimate ET. Remote sensing data obtained from MODIS and meteorological data from China Meteorological Data Sharing Service System were used in ET model. In order to analyze the distribution and time variation of ET over the study region, daily, monthly and yearly ET were calculated for the study area, and ET of different land cover types were calculated. In terms of the monthly ET, the figure was low in winter and high in other seasons, and reaches the maximum value in August, showing a high monthly difference. The ET value of water body was the highest and that of barren or sparse vegetation were the lowest, which accorded with local actual condition. Evaluating spatial temporal distribution of actual ET could assist to understand the water consumption regularity in region and figure out the effect from different land cover, which helped to establish links between land use, water allocation, and water use planning in study region. Due to the groundwater recession in north China, the evaluation of regional total water resources become increasingly essential, and the result of this study can be used to plan the water use. As the Chongli will prepare the ski slopes for Winter Olympics on 2022, accuracy estimation of actual ET can efficiently resolve water conflict and relieve water scarcity.

  1. A comparison of operational remote sensing-based models for estimating crop evapotranspiration

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    The integration of remotely sensed data into models of actual evapotranspiration has allowed for the estimation of water consumption across agricultural regions. Two modeling approaches have been successfully applied. The first approach computes a surface energy balance using the radiometric surface...

  2. On the downscaling of actual evapotranspiration maps based on combination of MODIS and landsat-based actual evapotranspiration estimates

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Singh, Ramesh K.; Senay, Gabriel B.; Velpuri, Naga Manohar; Bohms, Stefanie; Verdin, James P.

    2014-01-01

     Downscaling is one of the important ways of utilizing the combined benefits of the high temporal resolution of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) images and fine spatial resolution of Landsat images. We have evaluated the output regression with intercept method and developed the Linear with Zero Intercept (LinZI) method for downscaling MODIS-based monthly actual evapotranspiration (AET) maps to the Landsat-scale monthly AET maps for the Colorado River Basin for 2010. We used the 8-day MODIS land surface temperature product (MOD11A2) and 328 cloud-free Landsat images for computing AET maps and downscaling. The regression with intercept method does have limitations in downscaling if the slope and intercept are computed over a large area. A good agreement was obtained between downscaled monthly AET using the LinZI method and the eddy covariance measurements from seven flux sites within the Colorado River Basin. The mean bias ranged from −16 mm (underestimation) to 22 mm (overestimation) per month, and the coefficient of determination varied from 0.52 to 0.88. Some discrepancies between measured and downscaled monthly AET at two flux sites were found to be due to the prevailing flux footprint. A reasonable comparison was also obtained between downscaled monthly AET using LinZI method and the gridded FLUXNET dataset. The downscaled monthly AET nicely captured the temporal variation in sampled land cover classes. The proposed LinZI method can be used at finer temporal resolution (such as 8 days) with further evaluation. The proposed downscaling method will be very useful in advancing the application of remotely sensed images in water resources planning and management.

  3. [Variation characteristics and influencing factors of actual evapotranspiration under various vegetation types: A case study in the Huaihe River Basin, China.

    PubMed

    Wu, Rong Jun; Xing, Xiao Yong

    2016-06-01

    The actual evapotranspiration was modelled utilizing the boreal ecosystem productivity simulator (BEPS) in Huaihe River Basin from 2001 to 2012. In the meantime, the quantitative analyses of the spatial-temporal variations of actual evapotranspiration characteristics and its influencing factors under different vegetation types were conducted. The results showed that annual evapotranspiration gradually decreased from southeast to northwest, tended to increase annually, and the monthly change for the average annual evapotranspiration was double-peak curve. The differences of evapotranspiration among vegetation types showed that the farmland was the largest contributor for the evapotranspiration of Huaihe Basin. The annual actual evapotranspiration of the mixed forest per unit area was the largest, and that of the bare ground per unit area was the smallest. The changed average annual evapotranspiration per unit area for various vegetation types indicated an increased tendency other than the bare ground, with a most significant increase trend for the evergreen broadleaf forest. The thermodynamic factors (such as average temperature) were the dominant factors affecting the actual evapotranspiration in the Huaihe Basin, followed by radiation and moisture factors.

  4. [Applicability of established drought index in Huang-Huai-Hai region based on actual evapotranspiration.

    PubMed

    Wang, Ying; Wu, Rong Jun; Guo, Zhao Bing

    2016-05-01

    Based on the modeled products of actual evapotranspiration with NOAH land surface model, the temporal and spatial variations of actual evapotranspiration were analyzed for the Huang-Huai-Hai region in 2002-2010. In the meantime, the agricultural drought index, namely, drought severity index (DSI) was constructed, incorporated with products of MOD17 potential evapotranspiration and MOD13 NDVI. Furthermore, the applicability of established DSI in this region in the whole year of 2002 was investigated based on the Palmer drought severity index (PDSI), the yield reduction rate of winter wheat, and drought severity data. The results showed that the annual average actual evapotranspiration within the survey region increased from the northwest to the southeast, with the maximum of 800-900 mm in the southeast and the minimum less than 300 mm in the northwest. The DSI and PDSI had positive correlation (R 2 =0.61) and high concordance in change trend. They all got the low point (-0.61 and -1.33) in 2002 and reached the peak (0.81 and 0.92) in 2003. The correlation between DSI and yield reduction rate of winter wheat (R 2 =0.43) was more significant than that between PDSI and yield reduction rate of winter wheat (R 2 =0.06). So, the DSI reflected a high spatial resolution of drought pattern and could reflect the region agricultural drought severity and intensity more accurately.

  5. Actual evapotranspiration estimation in a Mediterranean mountain region by means of Landsat-5 TM and TERRA/AQUA MODIS imagery and Sap Flow measurements in Pinus sylvestris forest stands.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cristóbal, J.; Poyatos, R.; Ninyerola, M.; Pons, X.; Llorens, P.

    2009-04-01

    Evapotranspiration monitoring has important implications on global and regional climate modelling, as well as in the knowledge of the hydrological cycle and in the assessment of environmental stress that affects forest and agricultural ecosystems. An increase of evapotranspiration while precipitation remains constant, or is reduced, could decrease water availability for natural and agricultural systems and human needs. Consequently, water balance methods, as the evapotranspiration modelling, have been widely used to estimate crop and forest water needs, as well as the global change effects. Nowadays, radiometric measurements provided by Remote Sensing and GIS analysis are the technologies used to compute evapotranspiration at regional scales in a feasible way. Currently, the 38% of Catalonia (NE of the Iberian Peninsula) is covered by forests, and one of the most important forest species is Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris) which represents the 18.4% of the area occupied by forests. The aim of this work is to model actual evapotranspiration in Pinus sylvestris forest stands, in a Mediterranean mountain region, using remote sensing data, and compare it with stand-scale sap flow measurements measured in the Vallcebre research area (42° 12' N, 1° 49' E), in the Eastern Pyrenees. To perform this study a set of 30 cloud-free TERRA-MODIS images and 10 Landsat-5 TM images of path 198 and rows 31 and 32 from June 2003 to January 2005 have been selected to perform evapotranspiration modelling in Pinus sylvestris forest stands. TERRA/AQUA MODIS images have been downloaded by means of the EOS Gateway. We have selected two different types of products which contain the remote sensing data we have used to model daily evapotranspiration, daily LST product and daily calibrated reflectances product. Landsat-5 TM images have been corrected by means of conventional techniques based on first order polynomials taking into account the effect of land surface relief using a Digital

  6. Quantitative Estimation of Land Surface Characteristic Parameters and Actual Evapotranspiration in the Nagqu River Basin over the Tibetan Plateau

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhong, L.; Ma, Y.; Ma, W.; Zou, M.; Hu, Y.

    2016-12-01

    Actual evapotranspiration (ETa) is an important component of the water cycle in the Tibetan Plateau. It is controlled by many hydrological and meteorological factors. Therefore, it is of great significance to estimate ETa accurately and continuously. It is also drawing much attention of scientific community to understand land surface parameters and land-atmosphere water exchange processes in small watershed-scale areas. Based on in-situ meteorological data in the Nagqu river basin and surrounding regions, the main meteorological factors affecting the evaporation process were quantitatively analyzed and the point-scale ETa estimation models in the study area were successfully built. On the other hand, multi-source satellite data (such as SPOT, MODIS, FY-2C) were used to derive the surface characteristics in the river basin. A time series processing technique was applied to remove cloud cover and reconstruct data series. Then improved land surface albedo, improved downward shortwave radiation flux and reconstructed normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) were coupled into the topographical enhanced surface energy balance system to estimate ETa. The model-estimated results were compared with those ETa values determined by combinatory method. The results indicated that the model-estimated ETa agreed well with in-situ measurements with correlation coefficient, mean bias error and root mean square error of 0.836, 0.087 and 0.140 mm/h respectively.

  7. [Spatiotemporal variation characteristics and related affecting factors of actual evapotranspiration in the Hun-Taizi River Basin, Northeast China].

    PubMed

    Feng, Xue; Cai, Yan-Cong; Guan, De-Xin; Jin, Chang-Jie; Wang, An-Zhi; Wu, Jia-Bing; Yuan, Feng-Hui

    2014-10-01

    Based on the meteorological and hydrological data from 1970 to 2006, the advection-aridity (AA) model with calibrated parameters was used to calculate evapotranspiration in the Hun-Taizi River Basin in Northeast China. The original parameter of the AA model was tuned according to the water balance method and then four subbasins were selected to validate. Spatiotemporal variation characteristics of evapotranspiration and related affecting factors were analyzed using the methods of linear trend analysis, moving average, kriging interpolation and sensitivity analysis. The results showed that the empirical parameter value of 0.75 of AA model was suitable for the Hun-Taizi River Basin with an error of 11.4%. In the Hun-Taizi River Basin, the average annual actual evapotranspiration was 347.4 mm, which had a slightly upward trend with a rate of 1.58 mm · (10 a(-1)), but did not change significantly. It also indicated that the annual actual evapotranspiration presented a single-peaked pattern and its peak value occurred in July; the evapotranspiration in summer was higher than in spring and autumn, and it was the smallest in winter. The annual average evapotranspiration showed a decreasing trend from the northwest to the southeast in the Hun-Taizi River Basin from 1970 to 2006 with minor differences. Net radiation was largely responsible for the change of actual evapotranspiration in the Hun-Taizi River Basin.

  8. A coupled remote sensing and the Surface Energy Balance based algorithms to estimate actual evapotranspiration over the western and southern regions of Saudi Arabia

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mahmoud, Shereif H.; Alazba, A. A.

    2016-07-01

    In countries with absolute water scarcity such as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), large-scale actual evapotranspiration estimation is of great concern in water use practices. Herein, spatial and temporal distribution of actual evapotranspiration (AET) in the western and southern regions of KSA during 1992-2014 was estimated using the SEBAL model with field observations. Zonal statistics for each land use-cover type were also identified, in order to understand their effects on water consumption. In addition, daily and seasonal water consumption for major crops was computed. Results revealed a gradual increase in monthly AET values from January to April and subsequent decline from May to December. The maximum monthly AET values were observed for irrigated cropland in southwestern, central, and southeastern regions of Asir Province, central and southwestern regions of Al-Baha Province, central and the plains region of Jazan Province, southern portion of Makkah Province, and limited areas in the northern regions of Madinah Province. The annual AET ranged from 418.8 to 3442.3 mm yr-1. The normal distribution of mean annual AET values ranged from 717 to 1020 mm yr-1. Forty-two percent of the study area had an annual AET that ranged from 717 to 1020 mm yr-1. The second highest range of frequencies was concentrated around 1020-1322 mm yr-1, representing the majority of agricultural land. The consumptive water use of the different land cover types in study area indicated that irrigated cropland which occupied 14.6% of the study area had AET rates much higher than other land uses. Water bodies are the next highest, with forest and shrubland and sparse vegetation slightly lower, and very low AET rates from bare soil. Daily and seasonal water consumption of major cropping systems varied spatially depending on cropping practices and climatic conditions.

  9. Basin Scale Estimates of Evapotranspiration Using GRACE and other Observations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Rodell, M.; Famiglietti, J. S.; Chen, J.; Seneviratne, S. I.; Viterbo, P.; Holl, S.; Wilson, C. R.

    2004-01-01

    Evapotranspiration is integral to studies of the Earth system, yet it is difficult to measure on regional scales. One estimation technique is a terrestrial water budget, i.e., total precipitation minus the sum of evapotranspiration and net runoff equals the change in water storage. Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite gravity observations are now enabling closure of this equation by providing the terrestrial water storage change. Equations are presented here for estimating evapotranspiration using observation based information, taking into account the unique nature of GRACE observations. GRACE water storage changes are first substantiated by comparing with results from a land surface model and a combined atmospheric-terrestrial water budget approach. Evapotranspiration is then estimated for 14 time periods over the Mississippi River basin and compared with output from three modeling systems. The GRACE estimates generally lay in the middle of the models and may provide skill in evaluating modeled evapotranspiration.

  10. Actual Evapotranspiration (AET) and tree species richness in the eastern U.S.A.

    Treesearch

    Weihong Fan; Richard H. Waring

    2009-01-01

    Although many studies confirm that competition and disturbance play important roles in determining tree diversity locally, climatic constraints become increasingly important at broader geographic scales. We evaluate the extent that annual actual evapotranspiration (AET) might account for observed variation in tree diversity across the entire eastern U.S. and within 24...

  11. Drought impacts and resilience on crops via evapotranspiration estimations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Timmermans, Joris; Asadollahi Dolatabad, Saeid

    2015-04-01

    Currently, the global needs for food and water is at a critical level. It has been estimated that 12.5 % of the global population suffers from malnutrition and 768 million people still do not have access to clean drinking water. This need is increasing because of population growth but also by climate change. Changes in precipitation patterns will result either in flooding or droughts. Consequently availability, usability and affordability of water is becoming challenge and efficient use of water and water management is becoming more important, particularly during severe drought events. Drought monitoring for agricultural purposes is very hard. While meteorological drought can accurately be monitored using precipitation only, estimating agricultural drought is more difficult. This is because agricultural drought is dependent on the meteorological drought, the impacts on the vegetation, and the resilience of the crops. As such not only precipitation estimates are required but also evapotranspiration at plant/plot scale. Evapotranspiration (ET) describes the amount of water evaporated from soil and vegetation. As 65% of precipitation is lost by ET, drought severity is highly linked with this variable. In drought research, the precise quantification of ET and its spatio-temporal variability is therefore essential. In this view, remote sensing based models to estimate ET, such as SEBAL and SEBS, are of high value. However the resolution of current evapotranspiration products are not good enough for monitoring the impact of the droughts on the specific crops. This limitation originates because plot scales are in general smaller than the resolution of the available satellite ET products. As such remote sensing estimates of evapotranspiration are always a combination of different land surface types and cannot be used for plant health and drought resilience studies. The goal of this research is therefore to enable adequate resolutions of daily evapotranspiration estimates

  12. A review of surface energy balance models for estimating actual evapotranspiration with remote sensing at high spatiotemporal resolution over large extents

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    McShane, Ryan R.; Driscoll, Katelyn P.; Sando, Roy

    2017-09-27

    Many approaches have been developed for measuring or estimating actual evapotranspiration (ETa), and research over many years has led to the development of remote sensing methods that are reliably reproducible and effective in estimating ETa. Several remote sensing methods can be used to estimate ETa at the high spatial resolution of agricultural fields and the large extent of river basins. More complex remote sensing methods apply an analytical approach to ETa estimation using physically based models of varied complexity that require a combination of ground-based and remote sensing data, and are grounded in the theory behind the surface energy balance model. This report, funded through cooperation with the International Joint Commission, provides an overview of selected remote sensing methods used for estimating water consumed through ETa and focuses on Mapping Evapotranspiration at High Resolution with Internalized Calibration (METRIC) and Operational Simplified Surface Energy Balance (SSEBop), two energy balance models for estimating ETa that are currently applied successfully in the United States. The METRIC model can produce maps of ETa at high spatial resolution (30 meters using Landsat data) for specific areas smaller than several hundred square kilometers in extent, an improvement in practice over methods used more generally at larger scales. Many studies validating METRIC estimates of ETa against measurements from lysimeters have shown model accuracies on daily to seasonal time scales ranging from 85 to 95 percent. The METRIC model is accurate, but the greater complexity of METRIC results in greater data requirements, and the internalized calibration of METRIC leads to greater skill required for implementation. In contrast, SSEBop is a simpler model, having reduced data requirements and greater ease of implementation without a substantial loss of accuracy in estimating ETa. The SSEBop model has been used to produce maps of ETa over very large extents (the

  13. A coupled remote sensing and simplified surface energy balance approach to estimate actual evapotranspiration from irrigated fields

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Senay, G.B.; Budde, Michael; Verdin, J.P.; Melesse, Assefa M.

    2007-01-01

    Accurate crop performance monitoring and production estimation are critical for timely assessment of the food balance of several countries in the world. Since 2001, the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) has been monitoring crop performance and relative production using satellite-derived data and simulation models in Africa, Central America, and Afghanistan where ground-based monitoring is limited because of a scarcity of weather stations. The commonly used crop monitoring models are based on a crop water-balance algorithm with inputs from satellite-derived rainfall estimates. These models are useful to monitor rainfed agriculture, but they are ineffective for irrigated areas. This study focused on Afghanistan, where over 80 percent of agricultural production comes from irrigated lands. We developed and implemented a Simplified Surface Energy Balance (SSEB) model to monitor and assess the performance of irrigated agriculture in Afghanistan using a combination of 1-km thermal data and 250m Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data, both from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor. We estimated seasonal actual evapotranspiration (ETa) over a period of six years (2000-2005) for two major irrigated river basins in Afghanistan, the Kabul and the Helmand, by analyzing up to 19 cloud-free thermal and NDVI images from each year. These seasonal ETa estimates were used as relative indicators of year-to-year production magnitude differences. The temporal water-use pattern of the two irrigated basins was indicative of the cropping patterns specific to each region. Our results were comparable to field reports and to estimates based on watershed-wide crop water-balance model results. For example, both methods found that the 2003 seasonal ETa was the highest of all six years. The method also captured water management scenarios where a unique year-to-year variability was identified in addition to water-use differences between

  14. A Coupled Remote Sensing and Simplified Surface Energy Balance Approach to Estimate Actual Evapotranspiration from Irrigated Fields

    PubMed Central

    Senay, Gabriel B.; Budde, Michael; Verdin, James P.; Melesse, Assefa M.

    2007-01-01

    Accurate crop performance monitoring and production estimation are critical for timely assessment of the food balance of several countries in the world. Since 2001, the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) has been monitoring crop performance and relative production using satellite-derived data and simulation models in Africa, Central America, and Afghanistan where ground-based monitoring is limited because of a scarcity of weather stations. The commonly used crop monitoring models are based on a crop water-balance algorithm with inputs from satellite-derived rainfall estimates. These models are useful to monitor rainfed agriculture, but they are ineffective for irrigated areas. This study focused on Afghanistan, where over 80 percent of agricultural production comes from irrigated lands. We developed and implemented a Simplified Surface Energy Balance (SSEB) model to monitor and assess the performance of irrigated agriculture in Afghanistan using a combination of 1-km thermal data and 250-m Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data, both from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor. We estimated seasonal actual evapotranspiration (ETa) over a period of six years (2000-2005) for two major irrigated river basins in Afghanistan, the Kabul and the Helmand, by analyzing up to 19 cloud-free thermal and NDVI images from each year. These seasonal ETa estimates were used as relative indicators of year-to-year production magnitude differences. The temporal water-use pattern of the two irrigated basins was indicative of the cropping patterns specific to each region. Our results were comparable to field reports and to estimates based on watershed-wide crop water-balance model results. For example, both methods found that the 2003 seasonal ETa was the highest of all six years. The method also captured water management scenarios where a unique year-to-year variability was identified in addition to water-use differences between

  15. Methods to estimate irrigated reference crop evapotranspiration - a review.

    PubMed

    Kumar, R; Jat, M K; Shankar, V

    2012-01-01

    Efficient water management of crops requires accurate irrigation scheduling which, in turn, requires the accurate measurement of crop water requirement. Irrigation is applied to replenish depleted moisture for optimum plant growth. Reference evapotranspiration plays an important role for the determination of water requirements for crops and irrigation scheduling. Various models/approaches varying from empirical to physically base distributed are available for the estimation of reference evapotranspiration. Mathematical models are useful tools to estimate the evapotranspiration and water requirement of crops, which is essential information required to design or choose best water management practices. In this paper the most commonly used models/approaches, which are suitable for the estimation of daily water requirement for agricultural crops grown in different agro-climatic regions, are reviewed. Further, an effort has been made to compare the accuracy of various widely used methods under different climatic conditions.

  16. Improving Evapotranspiration Estimates Using Multi-Platform Remote Sensing

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Knipper, Kyle; Hogue, Terri; Franz, Kristie; Scott, Russell

    2016-04-01

    Understanding the linkages between energy and water cycles through evapotranspiration (ET) is uniquely challenging given its dependence on a range of climatological parameters and surface/atmospheric heterogeneity. A number of methods have been developed to estimate ET either from primarily remote-sensing observations, in-situ measurements, or a combination of the two. However, the scale of many of these methods may be too large to provide needed information about the spatial and temporal variability of ET that can occur over regions with acute or chronic land cover change and precipitation driven fluxes. The current study aims to improve the spatial and temporal variability of ET utilizing only satellite-based observations by incorporating a potential evapotranspiration (PET) methodology with satellite-based down-scaled soil moisture estimates in southern Arizona, USA. Initially, soil moisture estimates from AMSR2 and SMOS are downscaled to 1km through a triangular relationship between MODIS land surface temperature (MYD11A1), vegetation indices (MOD13Q1/MYD13Q1), and brightness temperature. Downscaled soil moisture values are then used to scale PET to actual ET (AET) at a daily, 1km resolution. Derived AET estimates are compared to observed flux tower estimates, the North American Land Data Assimilation System (NLDAS) model output (i.e. Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) Macroscale Hydrologic Model, Mosiac Model, and Noah Model simulations), the Operational Simplified Surface Energy Balance Model (SSEBop), and a calibrated empirical ET model created specifically for the region. Preliminary results indicate a strong increase in correlation when incorporating the downscaling technique to original AMSR2 and SMOS soil moisture values, with the added benefit of being able to decipher small scale heterogeneity in soil moisture (riparian versus desert grassland). AET results show strong correlations with relatively low error and bias when compared to flux tower

  17. Use of eddy-covariance methods to "calibrate" simple estimators of evapotranspiration

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Sumner, David M.; Geurink, Jeffrey S.; Swancar, Amy

    2017-01-01

    Direct measurement of actual evapotranspiration (ET) provides quantification of this large component of the hydrologic budget, but typically requires long periods of record and large instrumentation and labor costs. Simple surrogate methods of estimating ET, if “calibrated” to direct measurements of ET, provide a reliable means to quantify ET. Eddy-covariance measurements of ET were made for 12 years (2004-2015) at an unimproved bahiagrass (Paspalum notatum) pasture in Florida. These measurements were compared to annual rainfall derived from rain gage data and monthly potential ET (PET) obtained from a long-term (since 1995) U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) statewide, 2-kilometer, daily PET product. The annual proportion of ET to rainfall indicates a strong correlation (r2=0.86) to annual rainfall; the ratio increases linearly with decreasing rainfall. Monthly ET rates correlated closely (r2=0.84) to the USGS PET product. The results indicate that simple surrogate methods of estimating actual ET show positive potential in the humid Florida climate given the ready availability of historical rainfall and PET.

  18. Characteristics and Impact Factors of Parameter Alpha in the Nonlinear Advection-Aridity Method for Estimating Evapotranspiration at Interannual Scale in the Loess Plateau

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhou, H.; Liu, W.; Ning, T.

    2017-12-01

    Land surface actual evapotranspiration plays a key role in the global water and energy cycles. Accurate estimation of evapotranspiration is crucial for understanding the interactions between the land surface and the atmosphere, as well as for managing water resources. The nonlinear advection-aridity approach was formulated by Brutsaert to estimate actual evapotranspiration in 2015. Subsequently, this approach has been verified, applied and developed by many scholars. The estimation, impact factors and correlation analysis of the parameter alpha (αe) of this approach has become important aspects of the research. According to the principle of this approach, the potential evapotranspiration (ETpo) (taking αe as 1) and the apparent potential evapotranspiration (ETpm) were calculated using the meteorological data of 123 sites of the Loess Plateau and its surrounding areas. Then the mean spatial values of precipitation (P), ETpm and ETpo for 13 catchments were obtained by a CoKriging interpolation algorithm. Based on the runoff data of the 13 catchments, actual evapotranspiration was calculated using the catchment water balance equation at the hydrological year scale (May to April of the following year) by ignoring the change of catchment water storage. Thus, the parameter was estimated, and its relationships with P, ETpm and aridity index (ETpm/P) were further analyzed. The results showed that the general range of annual parameter value was 0.385-1.085, with an average value of 0.751 and a standard deviation of 0.113. The mean annual parameter αe value showed different spatial characteristics, with lower values in northern and higher values in southern. The annual scale parameter linearly related with annual P (R2=0.89) and ETpm (R2=0.49), while it exhibited a power function relationship with the aridity index (R2=0.83). Considering the ETpm is a variable in the nonlinear advection-aridity approach in which its effect has been incorporated, the relationship of

  19. Estimating wheat and maize daily evapotranspiration using artificial neural network

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Abrishami, Nazanin; Sepaskhah, Ali Reza; Shahrokhnia, Mohammad Hossein

    2018-02-01

    In this research, artificial neural network (ANN) is used for estimating wheat and maize daily standard evapotranspiration. Ten ANN models with different structures were designed for each crop. Daily climatic data [maximum temperature (T max), minimum temperature (T min), average temperature (T ave), maximum relative humidity (RHmax), minimum relative humidity (RHmin), average relative humidity (RHave), wind speed (U 2), sunshine hours (n), net radiation (Rn)], leaf area index (LAI), and plant height (h) were used as inputs. For five structures of ten, the evapotranspiration (ETC) values calculated by ETC = ET0 × K C equation (ET0 from Penman-Monteith equation and K C from FAO-56, ANNC) were used as outputs, and for the other five structures, the ETC values measured by weighing lysimeter (ANNM) were used as outputs. In all structures, a feed forward multiple-layer network with one or two hidden layers and sigmoid transfer function and BR or LM training algorithm was used. Favorite network was selected based on various statistical criteria. The results showed the suitable capability and acceptable accuracy of ANNs, particularly those having two hidden layers in their structure in estimating the daily evapotranspiration. Best model for estimation of maize daily evapotranspiration is «M»ANN1 C (8-4-2-1), with T max, T min, RHmax, RHmin, U 2, n, LAI, and h as input data and LM training rule and its statistical parameters (NRMSE, d, and R2) are 0.178, 0.980, and 0.982, respectively. Best model for estimation of wheat daily evapotranspiration is «W»ANN5 C (5-2-3-1), with T max, T min, Rn, LAI, and h as input data and LM training rule, its statistical parameters (NRMSE, d, and R 2) are 0.108, 0.987, and 0.981 respectively. In addition, if the calculated ETC used as the output of the network for both wheat and maize, higher accurate estimation was obtained. Therefore, ANN is suitable method for estimating evapotranspiration of wheat and maize.

  20. Simple models to predict grassland ecosystem C exchange and actual evapotranspiration using NDVI and environmental variables

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Semiarid grasslands contribute significantly to net terrestrial carbon flux as plant productivity and heterotrophic respiration in these moisture-limited systems are correlated with metrics related to water availability (e.g., precipitation, Actual EvapoTranspiration or AET). These variables are als...

  1. Utility of Penman-Monteith, Priestley-Taylor, reference evapotranspiration, and pan evaporation methods to estimate pasture evapotranspiration

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Sumner, D.M.; Jacobs, J.M.

    2005-01-01

    Actual evapotranspiration (ETa) was measured at 30-min resolution over a 19-month period (September 28, 2000-April 23, 2002) from a nonirrigated pasture site in Florida, USA, using eddy correlation methods. The relative magnitude of measured ETa (about 66% of long-term annual precipitation at the study site) indicates the importance of accurate ET a estimates for water resources planning. The time and cost associated with direct measurements of ETa and the rarity of historical measurements of ETa make the use of methods relying on more easily obtainable data desirable. Several such methods (Penman-Monteith (PM), modified Priestley-Taylor (PT), reference evapotranspiration (ET 0), and pan evaporation (Ep)) were related to measured ETa using regression methods to estimate PM bulk surface conductance, PT ??, ET0 vegetation coefficient, and Ep pan coefficient. The PT method, where the PT ?? is a function of green-leaf area index (LAI) and solar radiation, provided the best relation with ET a (standard error (SE) for daily ETa of 0.11 mm). The PM method, in which the bulk surface conductance was a function of net radiation and vapor-pressure deficit, was slightly less effective (SE=0.15 mm) than the PT method. Vegetation coefficients for the ET0 method (SE=0.29 mm) were found to be a simple function of LAI. Pan coefficients for the Ep method (SE=0.40 mm) were found to be a function of LAI and Ep. Historical or future meteorological, LAI, and pan evaporation data from the study site could be used, along with the relations developed within this study, to provide estimates of ETa in the absence of direct measurements of ETa. Additionally, relations among PM, PT, and ET0 methods and ETa can provide estimates of ETa in other, environmentally similar, pasture settings for which meteorological and LAI data can be obtained or estimated. ?? 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  2. Testing an Energy Balance Model for Estimating Actual Evapotranspiration Using Remotely Sensed Data. [Hannover, West Germany barley and wheat fields

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Gurney, R. J.; Camillo, P. J.

    1985-01-01

    An energy-balance model is used to estimate daily evapotranspiration for 3 days for a barley field and a wheat field near Hannover, Federal Republic of Germany. The model was calibrated using once-daily estimates of surface temperatures, which may be remotely sensed. The evaporation estimates were within the 95% error bounds of independent eddy correlation estimates for the daytime periods for all three days for both sites, but the energy-balance estimates are generally higher; it is unclear which estimate is biassed. Soil moisture in the top 2 cm of soil, which may be remotely sensed, may be used to improve these evaporation estimates under partial ground cover. Sensitivity studies indicate the amount of ground data required is not excessive.

  3. Evaluation of different methods to estimate daily reference evapotranspiration in ungauged basins in Southern Brazil

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ribeiro Fontoura, Jessica; Allasia, Daniel; Herbstrith Froemming, Gabriel; Freitas Ferreira, Pedro; Tassi, Rutineia

    2016-04-01

    Evapotranspiration is a key process of hydrological cycle and a sole term that links land surface water balance and land surface energy balance. Due to the higher information requirements of the Penman-Monteith method and the existing data uncertainty, simplified empirical methods for calculating potential and actual evapotranspiration are widely used in hydrological models. This is especially important in Brazil, where the monitoring of meteorological data is precarious. In this study were compared different methods for estimating evapotranspiration for Rio Grande do Sul, the Southernmost State of Brazil, aiming to suggest alternatives to the recommended method (Penman-Monteith-FAO 56) for estimate daily reference evapotranspiration (ETo) when meteorological data is missing or not available. The input dataset included daily and hourly-observed data from conventional and automatic weather stations respectively maintained by the National Weather Institute of Brazil (INMET) from the period of 1 January 2007 to 31 January 2010. Dataset included maximum temperature (Tmax, °C), minimum temperature (Tmin, °C), mean relative humidity (%), wind speed at 2 m height (u2, m s-1), daily solar radiation (Rs, MJ m- 2) and atmospheric pressure (kPa) that were grouped at daily time-step. Was tested the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Penman-Monteith method (PM) at its full form, against PM assuming missing several variables not normally available in Brazil in order to calculate daily reference ETo. Missing variables were estimated as suggested in FAO56 publication or from climatological means. Furthermore, PM was also compared against the following simplified empirical methods: Hargreaves-Samani, Priestley-Taylor, Mccloud, McGuiness-Bordne, Romanenko, Radiation-Temperature, Tanner-Pelton. The statistical analysis indicates that even if just Tmin and Tmax are available, it is better to use PM estimating missing variables from syntetic data than

  4. Trends in pan evaporation and actual evapotranspiration across the conterminous U.S.: paradoxical or complementary?

    Treesearch

    Michael T. Hobbins; Jorge A. Ramirez; Thomas C. Brown

    2004-01-01

    Pan evaporation (ETpan) has decreased at 64% of pans in the conterminous U.S. over the past half-century. Comparing trends in ETpan and water budget-derived actual evapotranspiration (ET*a), we observe the so-called ‘‘Pan Evaporation Paradox,’’ which we confirm is no more than a...

  5. Estimating seasonal evapotranspiration from temporal satellite images

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Singh, Ramesh K.; Liu, Shu-Guang; Tieszen, Larry L.; Suyker, Andrew E.; Verma, Shashi B.

    2012-01-01

    Estimating seasonal evapotranspiration (ET) has many applications in water resources planning and management, including hydrological and ecological modeling. Availability of satellite remote sensing images is limited due to repeat cycle of satellite or cloud cover. This study was conducted to determine the suitability of different methods namely cubic spline, fixed, and linear for estimating seasonal ET from temporal remotely sensed images. Mapping Evapotranspiration at high Resolution with Internalized Calibration (METRIC) model in conjunction with the wet METRIC (wMETRIC), a modified version of the METRIC model, was used to estimate ET on the days of satellite overpass using eight Landsat images during the 2001 crop growing season in Midwest USA. The model-estimated daily ET was in good agreement (R2 = 0.91) with the eddy covariance tower-measured daily ET. The standard error of daily ET was 0.6 mm (20%) at three validation sites in Nebraska, USA. There was no statistically significant difference (P > 0.05) among the cubic spline, fixed, and linear methods for computing seasonal (July–December) ET from temporal ET estimates. Overall, the cubic spline resulted in the lowest standard error of 6 mm (1.67%) for seasonal ET. However, further testing of this method for multiple years is necessary to determine its suitability.

  6. Operational Retrievals of Evapotranspiration: Are we there yet?

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Neale, C. M. U.; Anderson, M. C.; Hain, C.; Schull, M.; Isidro, C., Sr.; Goncalves, I. Z.

    2017-12-01

    Remote sensing based retrievals of evapotranspiration (ET) have progressed significantly over the last two decades with the improvement of methods and algorithms and the availability of multiple satellite sensors with shortwave and thermal infrared bands on polar orbiting platforms. The modeling approaches include simpler vegetation index (VI) based methods such as the reflectance-based crop coefficient approach coupled with surface reference evapotranspiration estimates to derive actual evapotranspiration of crops or, direct inputs to the Penman-Monteith equation through VI relationships with certain input variables. Methods that are more complex include one-layer or two-layer energy balance approaches that make use of both shortwave and longwave spectral band information to estimate different inputs to the energy balance equation. These models mostly differ in the estimation of sensible heat fluxes. For continental and global scale applications, other satellite-based products such as solar radiation, vegetation leaf area and cover are used as inputs, along with gridded re-analysis weather information. This presentation will review the state-of-the-art in satellite-based evapotranspiration estimation, giving examples of existing efforts to obtain operational ET retrievals over continental and global scales and discussing difficulties and challenges.

  7. Estimation of evapotranspiration rate in irrigated lands using stable isotopes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Umirzakov, Gulomjon; Windhorst, David; Forkutsa, Irina; Brauer, Lutz; Frede, Hans-Georg

    2013-04-01

    Agriculture in the Aral Sea basin is the main consumer of water resources and due to the current agricultural management practices inefficient water usage causes huge losses of freshwater resources. There is huge potential to save water resources in order to reach a more efficient water use in irrigated areas. Therefore, research is required to reveal the mechanisms of hydrological fluxes in irrigated areas. This paper focuses on estimation of evapotranspiration which is one of the crucial components in the water balance of irrigated lands. Our main objective is to estimate the rate of evapotranspiration on irrigated lands and partitioning of evaporation into transpiration using stable isotopes measurements. Experiments has done in 2 different soil types (sandy and sandy loam) irrigated areas in Ferghana Valley (Uzbekistan). Soil samples were collected during the vegetation period. The soil water from these samples was extracted via a cryogenic extraction method and analyzed for the isotopic ratio of the water isotopes (2H and 18O) based on a laser spectroscopy method (DLT 100, Los Gatos USA). Evapotranspiration rates were estimated with Isotope Mass Balance method. The results of evapotranspiration obtained using isotope mass balance method is compared with the results of Catchment Modeling Framework -1D model results which has done in the same area and the same time.

  8. Estimation of land surface evapotranspiration with A satellite remote sensing procedure

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Irmak, A.; Ratcliffe, I.; Ranade, P.; Hubbard, K.G.; Singh, Ramesh K.; Kamble, B.; Kjaersgaard, J.

    2011-01-01

    There are various methods available for estimating magnitude and trends of evapotranspiration. Bowen ratio energy balance system and eddy correlation techniques offer powerful alternatives for measuring land surface evapotranspiration. In spite of the elegance, high accuracy, and theoretical attractions of these techniques for measuring evapotranspiration, their practical use over large areas can be limited due to the number of sites needed and the related expense. Application of evapotranspiration mapping from satellite measurements can overcome the limitations. The objective of this study was to utilize the METRICTM (Mapping Evapotranspiration at High Resolution using Internalized Calibration) model in Great Plains environmental settings to understand water use in managed ecosystems on a regional scale. We investigated spatiotemporal distribution of a fraction of reference evapotranspiration (ETrF) using eight Landsat 5 images during the 2005 and 2006 growing season for path 29, row 32. The ETrF maps generated by METRICTM allowed us to follow the magnitude and trend in ETrF for major land-use classes during the growing season. The ETrF was lower early in the growing season for agricultural crops and gradually increased as the normalized difference vegetation index of crops increased, thus presenting more surface area over which water could transpire toward the midseason. Comparison of predictions with Bowen ratio energy balance system measurements at Clay Center, NE, showed that METRICTM performed well at the field scale for predicting evapotranspiration from a cornfield. If calibrated properly, the model could be a viable tool to estimate water use in managed ecosystems in subhumid climates at a large scale.

  9. The complementary relationship in estimation of regional evapotranspiration: An enhanced Advection-Aridity model

    Treesearch

    Michael T. Hobbins; Jorge A. Ramirez; Thomas C. Brown

    2001-01-01

    Long-term monthly evapotranspiration estimates from Brutsaert and Stricker’s Advection-Aridity model were compared with independent estimates of evapotranspiration derived from long-term water balances for 139 undisturbed basins across the conterminous United States. On an average annual basis for the period 1962-1988 the original model, which uses a Penman wind...

  10. Comparison of estimates of evapotranspiration and consumptive use in Palo Verde Valley, California

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Raymond, Lee H.; Owen-Joyce, Sandra J.

    1987-01-01

    Estimates of evapotranspiration and consumptive use by vegetation in Palo Verde Valley, California, were compared for calendar years 1981 to 1984. Vegetation types were classified, and the areas covered by each type were computed from Landsat satellite digital-image analysis. Evapotranspiration was calculated by multiplying the area of each vegetation type by a corresponding water use rate adjusted for year-to-year variations in climate. The vegetation classification slightly underestimates the total vegetated area when compared to crop reports, because not all multiple cropping could be identified. The accuracy of evapotranspiration calculated from vegetation classification depends primarily on the correct classification of alfalfa and cotton because alfalfa and cotton have larger acreages and use more water/acre than the other crops in the valley. Consumptive use was calculated using a water budget for each of the 4 years. Estimates of evapotranspiration and consumptive use by vegetation, respectively, were: (1) 439,400 and 483,500 acre-ft in 1981, (2) 430,700 and 452,700 acre-ft in 1982, (3) 402,000 and 364,400 acre-ft in 1983, and (4) 406,700 and 373,800 acre-ft in 1984. Evapotranspiration estimates were lower than consumptive use estimates in 1981 and 1982 and higher in 1983 and 1984. Both estimates were lower in 1983 and 1984 than in 1981 and 1982. Yearly differences in estimates correspond most closely to significant changes in stage of the lower Colorado River caused by flood control releases in 1983 and 1984 and to changes in cropping practices. (Author 's abstract)

  11. Estimation of Regional Evapotranspiration Using Remotely Sensed Land Surface Temperature. Part 2: Application of Equilibrium Evaporation Model to Estimate Evapotranspiration by Remote Sensing Technique. [Japan

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Kotoda, K.; Nakagawa, S.; Kai, K.; Yoshino, M. M.; Takeda, K.; Seki, K.

    1985-01-01

    In a humid region like Japan, it seems that the radiation term in the energy balance equation plays a more important role for evapotranspiration then does the vapor pressure difference between the surface and lower atmospheric boundary layer. A Priestley-Taylor type equation (equilibrium evaporation model) is used to estimate evapotranspiration. Net radiation, soil heat flux, and surface temperature data are obtained. Only temperature data obtained by remotely sensed techniques are used.

  12. Daily reference crop evapotranspiration with reduced data sets in the humid environments of Azores islands using estimates of actual vapor pressure, solar radiation, and wind speed

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Paredes, P.; Fontes, J. C.; Azevedo, E. B.; Pereira, L. S.

    2017-11-01

    Reference crop evapotranspiration (ETo) estimations using the FAO Penman-Monteith equation (PM-ETo) require a set of weather data including maximum and minimum air temperatures (T max, T min), actual vapor pressure (e a), solar radiation (R s), and wind speed (u 2). However, those data are often not available, or data sets are incomplete due to missing values. A set of procedures were proposed in FAO56 (Allen et al. 1998) to overcome these limitations, and which accuracy for estimating daily ETo in the humid climate of Azores islands is assessed in this study. Results show that after locally and seasonally calibrating the temperature adjustment factor a d used for dew point temperature (T dew) computation from mean temperature, ETo estimations shown small bias and small RMSE ranging from 0.15 to 0.53 mm day-1. When R s data are missing, their estimation from the temperature difference (T max-T min), using a locally and seasonal calibrated radiation adjustment coefficient (k Rs), yielded highly accurate ETo estimates, with RMSE averaging 0.41 mm day-1 and ranging from 0.33 to 0.58 mm day-1. If wind speed observations are missing, the use of the default u 2 = 2 m s-1, or 3 m s-1 in case of weather measurements over clipped grass in airports, revealed appropriated even for the windy locations (u 2 > 4 m s-1), with RMSE < 0.36 mm day-1. The appropriateness of procedure to estimating the missing values of e a, R s, and u 2 was confirmed.

  13. A comparison of estimates of basin-scale soil-moisture evapotranspiration and estimates of riparian groundwater evapotranspiration with implications for water budgets in the Verde Valley, Central Arizona, USA

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Tillman, Fred; Wiele, Stephen M.; Pool, Donald R.

    2015-01-01

    Population growth in the Verde Valley in Arizona has led to efforts to better understand water availability in the watershed. Evapotranspiration (ET) is a substantial component of the water budget and a critical factor in estimating groundwater recharge in the area. In this study, four estimates of ET are compared and discussed with applications to the Verde Valley. Higher potential ET (PET) rates from the soil-water balance (SWB) recharge model resulted in an average annual ET volume about 17% greater than for ET from the basin characteristics (BCM) recharge model. Annual BCM PET volume, however, was greater by about a factor of 2 or more than SWB actual ET (AET) estimates, which are used in the SWB model to estimate groundwater recharge. ET also was estimated using a method that combines MODIS-EVI remote sensing data and geospatial information and by the MODFLOW-EVT ET package as part of a regional groundwater-flow model that includes the study area. Annual ET volumes were about same for upper-bound MODIS-EVI ET for perennial streams as for the MODFLOW ET estimates, with the small differences between the two methods having minimal impact on annual or longer groundwater budgets for the study area.

  14. Actual evapotranspiration modeling using the operational Simplified Surface Energy Balance (SSEBop) approach

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Savoca, Mark E.; Senay, Gabriel B.; Maupin, Molly A.; Kenny, Joan F.; Perry, Charles A.

    2013-01-01

    Remote-sensing technology and surface-energy-balance methods can provide accurate and repeatable estimates of actual evapotranspiration (ETa) when used in combination with local weather datasets over irrigated lands. Estimates of ETa may be used to provide a consistent, accurate, and efficient approach for estimating regional water withdrawals for irrigation and associated consumptive use (CU), especially in arid cropland areas that require supplemental water due to insufficient natural supplies from rainfall, soil moisture, or groundwater. ETa in these areas is considered equivalent to CU, and represents the part of applied irrigation water that is evaporated and/or transpired, and is not available for immediate reuse. A recent U.S. Geological Survey study demonstrated the application of the remote-sensing-based Simplified Surface Energy Balance (SSEB) model to estimate 10-year average ETa at 1-kilometer resolution on national and regional scales, and compared those ETa values to the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Water-Use Information Program’s 1995 county estimates of CU. The operational version of the operational SSEB (SSEBop) method is now used to construct monthly, county-level ETa maps of the conterminous United States for the years 2000, 2005, and 2010. The performance of the SSEBop was evaluated using eddy covariance flux tower datasets compiled from 2005 datasets, and the results showed a strong linear relationship in different land cover types across diverse ecosystems in the conterminous United States (correlation coefficient [r] ranging from 0.75 to 0.95). For example, r for woody savannas (0.75), grassland (0.75), forest (0.82), cropland (0.84), shrub land (0.89), and urban (0.95). A comparison of the remote-sensing SSEBop method for estimating ETa and the Hamon temperature method for estimating potential ET (ETp) also was conducted, using regressions of all available county averages of ETa for 2005 and 2010, and yielded correlations of r = 0

  15. A comparison of six potential evapotranspiration methods for regional use in the Southeastern United States

    Treesearch

    Jianbiao Lu; Ge Sun; Steven G. McNulty; Devendra Amatya

    2005-01-01

    Potential evapotranspiration (PET) is an important index of hydrologic budgets at different spatial scales and is a critical variable for understanding regional biological processes. It is often an important variable in estimating actual evapotranspiration (AET) in rainfall-runoff and ecosystem modeling. However, PET is defined in different ways in the literature and...

  16. Geohydrology and evapotranspiration at Franklin Lake playa, Inyo County, California; with a section on estimating evapotranspiration using the energy-budget eddy-correlation technique

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Czarnecki, John B.; Stannard, David I.

    1997-01-01

    Franklin Lake playa is one of the principal discharge areas of the ground-water-flow system associated with Yucca Mountain, Nevada, the potential site of a high-level nuclear-waste repository. By using the energy-budget eddy-correlation technique, measurements made between June 1983 and April 1984 to estimate evapotranspiration were found to range from 0.1 centimeter per day during winter months to about 0.3 centimeter per day during summer months; the annual average was 0.16 centimeter per day. These estimates were compared with evapotranspiration estimates calculated from six other methods.

  17. Vegetation index methods for estimating evapotranspiration by remote sensing

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Glenn, Edward P.; Nagler, Pamela L.; Huete, Alfredo R.

    2010-01-01

    Evapotranspiration (ET) is the largest term after precipitation in terrestrial water budgets. Accurate estimates of ET are needed for numerous agricultural and natural resource management tasks and to project changes in hydrological cycles due to potential climate change. We explore recent methods that combine vegetation indices (VI) from satellites with ground measurements of actual ET (ETa) and meteorological data to project ETa over a wide range of biome types and scales of measurement, from local to global estimates. The majority of these use time-series imagery from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer on the Terra satellite to project ET over seasons and years. The review explores the theoretical basis for the methods, the types of ancillary data needed, and their accuracy and limitations. Coefficients of determination between modeled ETa and measured ETa are in the range of 0.45–0.95, and root mean square errors are in the range of 10–30% of mean ETa values across biomes, similar to methods that use thermal infrared bands to estimate ETa and within the range of accuracy of the ground measurements by which they are calibrated or validated. The advent of frequent-return satellites such as Terra and planed replacement platforms, and the increasing number of moisture and carbon flux tower sites over the globe, have made these methods feasible. Examples of operational algorithms for ET in agricultural and natural ecosystems are presented. The goal of the review is to enable potential end-users from different disciplines to adapt these methods to new applications that require spatially-distributed ET estimates.

  18. Application of the Combination Approach for Estimating Evapotranspiration in Puerto Rico

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Harmsen, Eric; Luvall, Jeffrey; Gonzalez, Jorge

    2005-01-01

    The ability to estimate short-term fluxes of water vapor from the land surface is important for validating latent heat flux estimates from high resolution remote sensing techniques. A new, relatively inexpensive method is presented for estimating t h e ground-based values of the surface latent heat flux or evapotranspiration.

  19. Evapotranspiration: Mass balance measurements compared with flux estimation methods

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Evapotranspiration (ET) may be measured by mass balance methods and estimated by flux sensing methods. The mass balance methods are typically restricted in terms of the area that can be represented (e.g., surface area of weighing lysimeter (LYS) or equivalent representative area of neutron probe (NP...

  20. TDR Technique for Estimating the Intensity of Evapotranspiration of Turfgrasses.

    PubMed

    Janik, Grzegorz; Wolski, Karol; Daniel, Anna; Albert, Małgorzata; Skierucha, Wojciech; Wilczek, Andrzej; Szyszkowski, Paweł; Walczak, Amadeusz

    2015-01-01

    The paper presents a method for precise estimation of evapotranspiration of selected turfgrass species. The evapotranspiration functions, whose domains are only two relatively easy to measure parameters, were developed separately for each of the grass species. Those parameters are the temperature and the volumetric moisture of soil at the depth of 2.5 cm. Evapotranspiration has the character of a modified logistic function with empirical parameters. It assumes the form ETR(θ (2.5 cm), T (2.5 cm)) = A/(1 + B · e (-C · (θ (2.5 cm) · T (2.5 cm)), where: ETR(θ (2.5 cm), T (2.5 cm)) is evapotranspiration [mm · h(-1)], θ (2.5 cm) is volumetric moisture of soil at the depth of 2.5 cm [m(3) · m(-3)], T (2.5 cm) is soil temperature at the depth of 2.5 cm [°C], and A, B, and C are empirical coefficients calculated individually for each of the grass species [mm · h(1)], and [-], [(m(3) · m(-3) · °C)(-1)]. The values of evapotranspiration calculated on the basis of the presented function can be used as input data for the design of systems for the automatic control of irrigation systems ensuring optimum moisture conditions in the active layer of lawn swards.

  1. Estimating evapotranspiration in natural and constructed wetlands

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Lott, R. Brandon; Hunt, Randall J.

    2001-01-01

    Difficulties in accurately calculating evapotranspiration (ET) in wetlands can lead to inaccurate water balances—information important for many compensatory mitigation projects. Simple meteorological methods or off-site ET data often are used to estimate ET, but these approaches do not include potentially important site-specific factors such as plant community, root-zone water levels, and soil properties. The objective of this study was to compare a commonly used meterological estimate of potential evapotranspiration (PET) with direct measurements of ET (lysimeters and water-table fluctuations) and small-scale root-zone geochemistry in a natural and constructed wetland system. Unlike what has been commonly noted, the results of the study demonstrated that the commonly used Penman combination method of estimating PET underestimated the ET that was measured directly in the natural wetland over most of the growing season. This result is likely due to surface heterogeneity and related roughness efffects not included in the simple PET estimate. The meterological method more closely approximated season-long measured ET rates in the constructed wetland but may overestimate the ET rate late in the growing season. ET rates also were temporally variable in wetlands over a range of time scales because they can be influenced by the relation of the water table to the root zone and the timing of plant senescence. Small-scale geochemical sampling of the shallow root zone was able to provide an independent evaluation of ET rates, supporting the identification of higher ET rates in the natural wetlands and differences in temporal ET rates due to the timing of senescence. These discrepancies illustrate potential problems with extrapolating off-site estimates of ET or single measurements of ET from a site over space or time.

  2. Spatially distributed evapotranspiration and recharge estimation for sand regions of Hungary in the context of climate change

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Csáki, Péter; Kalicz, Péter; Gribovszki, Zoltán

    2016-04-01

    Water balance of sand regions of Hungary was analysed using remote-sensing based evapotranspiration (ET) maps (1*1 km spatial resolution) by CREMAP model over the 2000-2008 period. The mean annual (2000-2008) net groundwater recharge (R) estimated as the difference in mean annual precipitation (P) and ET, taking advantage that for sand regions the surface runoff is commonly negligible. For the examined nine-year period (2000-2008) the ET and R were about 90 percent and 10 percent of the P. The mean annual ET and R were analysed in the context of land cover types. A Budyko-model was used in spatially-distributed mode for the climate change impact analysis. The parameters of the Budyko-model (α) was calculated for pixels without surplus water. For the extra-water affected pixels a linear model with β-parameters (actual evapotranspiration / pan-evapotranspiration) was used. These parameter maps can be used for evaluating future ET and R in spatially-distributed mode (1*1 km resolution). By using the two parameter maps (α and β) and data of regional climate models (mean annual temperature and precipitation) evapotranspiration and net groundwater recharge projections have been done for three future periods (2011-2040, 2041-2070, 2071-2100). The expected ET and R changes have been determined relative to a reference period (1981-2010). According to the projections, by the end of the 21th century, ET may increase while in case of R a heavy decrease can be detected for the sand regions of Hungary. This research has been supported by Agroclimate.2 VKSZ_12-1-2013-0034 project. Keywords: evapotranspiration, net groundwater recharge, climate change, Budyko-model

  3. Comparison of Methods for Estimating Evapotranspiration using Remote Sensing Data

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Beamer, J. P.; Morton, C.; Huntington, J. L.; Pohll, G.

    2010-12-01

    Estimating the annual evapotranspiration (ET) in arid and semi-arid environments is important for managing water resources. In this study we use remote sensing methods to estimate ET from different areas located in western and eastern Nevada. Surface energy balance (SEB) and vegetation indices (VI) are two common methods for estimating ET using satellite data. The purpose of this study is to compare these methods for estimating annual ET and highlight strengths and weaknesses in both methods. The SEB approach used is based on the Mapping Evapotranspiration at high Resolution with Internalized Calibration (METRIC) model, which estimates ET as a residual of the energy balance. METRIC has been shown to produce accurate results in agricultural and riparian settings. The VI approach used is based on statistical relationships between annual ET and various VI’s. The VI approaches have also shown to produce fairly accurate estimates of ET for various vegetation types, however consideration for spatial variations in potential ET and precipitation amount are generally ignored, leading to restrictions in their application. In this work we develop a VI approach that considers the study area potential ET and precipitation amount and compare this approach to METRIC and flux tower estimates of annual ET for several arid phreatophyte shrubs and irrigated agriculture settings.

  4. Estimating actual evapotranspiration from remote sensing imagery using R: the package 'TriangleMethod'.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gampe, David; Huber García, Verena; Marzahn, Philip; Ludwig, Ralf

    2017-04-01

    Actual evaporation (Eta) is an essential variable to assess water availability, drought risk and food security, among others. Measurements of Eta are however limited to a small footprint, hampering a spatially explicit analysis and application and are very often not available at all. To overcome the problem of data scarcity, Eta can be assessed by various remote sensing approaches such as the Triangle Method (Jiang & Islam, 1999). Here, Eta is estimated by using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and land surface temperature (LST). In this study, the R-package 'TriangleMethod' was compiled to efficiently perform the calculations of NDVI and processing LST to finally derive Eta from the applied data set. The package contains all necessary calculation steps and allows easy processing of a large data base of remote sensing images. By default, the parameterization for the Landsat TM and ETM+ sensors are implemented, however, the algorithms can be easily extended to additional sensors. The auxiliary variables required to estimate Eta with this method, such as elevation, solar radiation and air temperature at the overpassing time, can be processed as gridded information to allow for a better representation of the study area. The package was successfully applied in various studies in Spain, Palestine, Costa Rica and Canada.

  5. Integrating satellite actual evapotranspiration patterns into distributed model parametrization and evaluation for a mesoscale catchment

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Demirel, M. C.; Mai, J.; Stisen, S.; Mendiguren González, G.; Koch, J.; Samaniego, L. E.

    2016-12-01

    Distributed hydrologic models are traditionally calibrated and evaluated against observations of streamflow. Spatially distributed remote sensing observations offer a great opportunity to enhance spatial model calibration schemes. For that it is important to identify the model parameters that can change spatial patterns before the satellite based hydrologic model calibration. Our study is based on two main pillars: first we use spatial sensitivity analysis to identify the key parameters controlling the spatial distribution of actual evapotranspiration (AET). Second, we investigate the potential benefits of incorporating spatial patterns from MODIS data to calibrate the mesoscale Hydrologic Model (mHM). This distributed model is selected as it allows for a change in the spatial distribution of key soil parameters through the calibration of pedo-transfer function parameters and includes options for using fully distributed daily Leaf Area Index (LAI) directly as input. In addition the simulated AET can be estimated at the spatial resolution suitable for comparison to the spatial patterns observed using MODIS data. We introduce a new dynamic scaling function employing remotely sensed vegetation to downscale coarse reference evapotranspiration. In total, 17 parameters of 47 mHM parameters are identified using both sequential screening and Latin hypercube one-at-a-time sampling methods. The spatial patterns are found to be sensitive to the vegetation parameters whereas streamflow dynamics are sensitive to the PTF parameters. The results of multi-objective model calibration show that calibration of mHM against observed streamflow does not reduce the spatial errors in AET while they improve only the streamflow simulations. We will further examine the results of model calibration using only multi spatial objective functions measuring the association between observed AET and simulated AET maps and another case including spatial and streamflow metrics together.

  6. Estimation of evapotranspiration over the terrestrial ecosystems in China

    Treesearch

    Xianglan Li; Shunlin Liang; Wenping Yuan; Guirui Yu; Xiao Cheng; Yang Chen; Tianbao Zhao; Jinming Feng; Zhuguo Ma; Mingguo Ma; Shaomin Liu; Jiquan Chen; Changliang Shao; Shenggong Li; Xudong Zhang; Zhiqiang Zhang; Ge Sun; Shiping Chen; Takeshi Ohta; Andrej Varlagin; Akira Miyata; Kentaro Takagi; Nobuko Saiqusa; Tomomichi Kato

    2014-01-01

    Quantifying regional evapotranspiration (ET) and environmental constraints are particularly important for understanding water and carbon cycles of terrestrial ecosystems. However, a large uncertainty in the regional estimation of ET still remains for the terrestrial ecosystems in China. This study used ET measurements of 34 eddy covariance sites within China and...

  7. Estimating basin scale evapotranspiration (ET) by water balance and remote sensing methods

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Senay, G.B.; Leake, S.; Nagler, P.L.; Artan, G.; Dickinson, J.; Cordova, J.T.; Glenn, E.P.

    2011-01-01

    Evapotranspiration (ET) is an important hydrological process that can be studied and estimated at multiple spatial scales ranging from a leaf to a river basin. We present a review of methods in estimating basin scale ET and its applications in understanding basin water balance dynamics. The review focuses on two aspects of ET: (i) how the basin scale water balance approach is used to estimate ET; and (ii) how ‘direct’ measurement and modelling approaches are used to estimate basin scale ET. Obviously, the basin water balance-based ET requires the availability of good precipitation and discharge data to calculate ET as a residual on longer time scales (annual) where net storage changes are assumed to be negligible. ET estimated from such a basin water balance principle is generally used for validating the performance of ET models. On the other hand, many of the direct estimation methods involve the use of remotely sensed data to estimate spatially explicit ET and use basin-wide averaging to estimate basin scale ET. The direct methods can be grouped into soil moisture balance modelling, satellite-based vegetation index methods, and methods based on satellite land surface temperature measurements that convert potential ET into actual ET using a proportionality relationship. The review also includes the use of complementary ET estimation principles for large area applications. The review identifies the need to compare and evaluate the different ET approaches using standard data sets in basins covering different hydro-climatic regions of the world.

  8. Exploring the use of WRF-3DVar for Estimating reference evapotranspiration in semi arid regions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bray, Michaela; Liu, Jia; Abdulhamza, Ali; Bocklemann-Evans, Bettina

    2013-04-01

    Evapotranspiration is an important process in hydrology and is central to the analysis of water balances and water resource management. Significant water losses can occur in large drainage basins under semi arid climate conditions, moreover with the lack of measured data, the exact losses are hard to quantify. Since direct measurements for evapotranspiration are difficult to obtain it is common to estimate the process by using evapotranspiration models such as the Priestley-Taylor model, Shuttleworth -Wallace model and the FAO Penmann-Monteith. However these models depend on several atmospheric variables such as atmospheric pressure, wind speed, air temperature, net radiation and relative humidity. Some of these variables are also difficult to acquire from in-situ measurements; in addition these measurements provide local information which need to be interpolated to cover larger catchment areas over long time scales. Mesoscale Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) modelling has become more accessible to the hydrometeorological community in recent years and is frequently used for modelling precipitation at the catchment scale. However these NWPs can also provide the atmospheric variables needed for evapotranspiration estimation at finer resolutions than can be attained from in situ measurements, offering a practical water resource tool. Moreover there is evidence that assimilation of real time observations can help improve the accuracy of mesoscale weather modelling which in turn would improve the overall evapotranspiration estimate. This study explores the effect of data assimilation in the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model to derive evapotranspiration estimates for the Tigris water basin, Iraq. Two types of traditional observations, SYNOP and SOUND are assimilated by WRF-3DVAR.which contain surface and upper-level measurements of pressure, temperature, humidity and wind. The downscaled weather variables are used to determine evapostranspiration estimates

  9. TDR Technique for Estimating the Intensity of Evapotranspiration of Turfgrasses

    PubMed Central

    Janik, Grzegorz; Wolski, Karol; Daniel, Anna; Albert, Małgorzata; Wilczek, Andrzej; Szyszkowski, Paweł; Walczak, Amadeusz

    2015-01-01

    The paper presents a method for precise estimation of evapotranspiration of selected turfgrass species. The evapotranspiration functions, whose domains are only two relatively easy to measure parameters, were developed separately for each of the grass species. Those parameters are the temperature and the volumetric moisture of soil at the depth of 2.5 cm. Evapotranspiration has the character of a modified logistic function with empirical parameters. It assumes the form ETR(θ 2.5 cm, T 2.5 cm) = A/(1 + B · e −C·(θ2.5 cm · T2.5 cm)), where: ETR(θ 2.5 cm, T 2.5 cm) is evapotranspiration [mm·h−1], θ 2.5 cm is volumetric moisture of soil at the depth of 2.5 cm [m3·m−3], T 2.5 cm is soil temperature at the depth of 2.5 cm [°C], and A, B, and C are empirical coefficients calculated individually for each of the grass species [mm·h1], and [—], [(m3·m−3·°C)−1]. The values of evapotranspiration calculated on the basis of the presented function can be used as input data for the design of systems for the automatic control of irrigation systems ensuring optimum moisture conditions in the active layer of lawn swards. PMID:26448964

  10. Modeling Actual Evapotranspiration From Forested Watersheds Across the Southeastern United States

    Treesearch

    Jianbiao Lu; Ge Sun; Steven G. McNulty; Devendra M. Amatya

    2003-01-01

    About 50 to 80 percent of precipitation in the southeastern United States returns to the atmosphere by evapotranspiration. As evapotranspiration is a major component in the forest water balances, accurately quantifying it is critical to predicting the effects of forest management and global change on water, sediment, and nutrient yield from forested watersheds. However...

  11. A general predictive model for estimating monthly ecosystem evapotranspiration

    Treesearch

    Ge Sun; Karrin Alstad; Jiquan Chen; Shiping Chen; Chelcy R. Ford; al. et.

    2011-01-01

    Accurately quantifying evapotranspiration (ET) is essential for modelling regional-scale ecosystem water balances. This study assembled an ET data set estimated from eddy flux and sapflow measurements for 13 ecosystems across a large climatic and management gradient from the United States, China, and Australia. Our objectives were to determine the relationships among...

  12. Interannual covariability between actual evapotranspiration and PAL and GIMMS NDVIs of northern Asia

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Suzuki, Rikie; Masuda, Kooiti; Dye, Dennis G.

    2007-01-01

    This study examined the covariability between interannual changes in the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and actual evapotranspiration (ET). To reduce possible uncertainty in the NDVI time series, two NDVI datasets derived from Pathfinder AVHRR Land (PAL) data and the Global Inventory Monitoring and Modeling Studies (GIMMS) group were used. Analyses were conducted using data over northern Asia from 1982 to 2000. Interannual changes over 19 years in the PAL-NDVI and GIMMS-NDVI were compared with interannual changes in ET estimated from model-assimilated atmospheric data and gridded precipitation data. For both NDVI datasets, the annual maximum correlation with ET occurred in June, which is the beginning of the vegetation growing season. The PAL and GIMMS datasets showed a significant, positive correlation between interannual changes in the NDVI and ET over most of the vegetated land area in June. These results suggest that interannual changes in vegetation activity predominantly control interannual changes in ET in June. Based on analyses of interannual changes in temperature, precipitation, and the NDVI in June, the study area can be roughly divided into two regions, the warmth-dominated northernmost region and the wetness-dominated southern region, indicating that interannual changes in vegetation and the resultant interannual changes in ET are controlled by warmth and wetness in these two regions, respectively.

  13. Long-term potential and actual evapotranspiration of two different forests on the Atlantic Coastal Plain

    Treesearch

    Devendra Amatya; S. Tian; Z. Dai; Ge Sun

    2016-01-01

    A reliable estimate of potential evapotranspiration (PET) for a forest ecosystem is critical in ecohydrologic modeling related with water supply, vegetation dynamics, and climate change and yet is a challenging task due to its complexity. Based on long-term on-site measured hydro-climatic data and predictions from earlier validated hydrologic modeling studies...

  14. Annual regression-based estimates of evapotranspiration for the contiguous United States based on climate, remote sensing, and stream gage data

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Reitz, M. D.; Sanford, W. E.; Senay, G. B.; Cazenas, J.

    2015-12-01

    Evapotranspiration (ET) is a key quantity in the hydrologic cycle, accounting for ~70% of precipitation across the contiguous United States (CONUS). However, it is a challenge to estimate, due to difficulty in making direct measurements and gaps in our theoretical understanding. Here we present a new data-driven, ~1km2 resolution map of long-term average actual evapotranspiration rates across the CONUS. The new ET map is a function of the USGS Landsat-derived National Land Cover Database (NLCD), precipitation, temperature, and daily average temperature range (from the PRISM climate dataset), and is calibrated to long-term water balance data from 679 watersheds. It is unique from previously presented ET maps in that (1) it was co-developed with estimates of runoff and recharge; (2) the regression equation was chosen from among many tested, previously published and newly proposed functional forms for its optimal description of long-term water balance ET data; (3) it has values over open-water areas that are derived from separate mass-transfer and humidity equations; and (4) the data include additional precipitation representing amounts converted from 2005 USGS water-use census irrigation data. The regression equation is calibrated using data from 2000-2013, but can also be applied to individual years with their corresponding input datasets. Comparisons among this new map, the more detailed remote-sensing-based estimates of MOD16 and SSEBop, and AmeriFlux ET tower measurements shows encouraging consistency, and indicates that the empirical ET estimate approach presented here produces closer agreement with independent flux tower data for annual average actual ET than other more complex remote sensing approaches.

  15. Evaluation of Physically and Empirically Based Models for the Estimation of Green Roof Evapotranspiration

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Digiovanni, K. A.; Montalto, F. A.; Gaffin, S.; Rosenzweig, C.

    2010-12-01

    Green roofs and other urban green spaces can provide a variety of valuable benefits including reduction of the urban heat island effect, reduction of stormwater runoff, carbon sequestration, oxygen generation, air pollution mitigation etc. As many of these benefits are directly linked to the processes of evaporation and transpiration, accurate and representative estimation of urban evapotranspiration (ET) is a necessary tool for predicting and quantifying such benefits. However, many common ET estimation procedures were developed for agricultural applications, and thus carry inherent assumptions that may only be rarely applicable to urban green spaces. Various researchers have identified the estimation of expected urban ET rates as critical, yet poorly studied components of urban green space performance prediction and cite that further evaluation is needed to reconcile differences in predictions from varying ET modeling approaches. A small scale green roof lysimeter setup situated on the green roof of the Ethical Culture Fieldston School in the Bronx, NY has been the focus of ongoing monitoring initiated in June 2009. The experimental setup includes a 0.6 m by 1.2 m Lysimeter replicating the anatomy of the 500 m2 green roof of the building, with a roof membrane, drainage layer, 10 cm media depth, and planted with a variety of Sedum species. Soil moisture sensors and qualitative runoff measurements are also recorded in the Lysimeter, while a weather station situated on the rooftop records climatologic data. Direct quantification of actual evapotranspiration (AET) from the green roof weighing lysimeter was achieved through a mass balance approaches during periods absent of precipitation and drainage. A comparison of AET to estimates of potential evapotranspiration (PET) calculated from empirically and physically based ET models was performed in order to evaluate the applicability of conventional ET equations for the estimation of ET from green roofs. Results have

  16. Using Landsat data to estimate evapotranspiration of winter wheat

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Kanemasu, E. T.; Heilman, J. L.; Bagley, J. O.; Powers, W. L.

    1977-01-01

    Results obtained from an evapotranspiration model as applied to Kansas winter wheatfields were compared with results determined by a weighing lysimeter, and the standard deviation was found to be less than 0.5 mm/day (however, the 95% confidence interval was between plus and minus 0.2 mm/day). Model inputs are solar radiation, temperature, precipitation, and leaf area index; an equation was developed to estimate the leaf area index from Landsat data. The model provides estimates of transpiration, evaporation, and soil moisture.

  17. Remote estimation of a managed pine forest evapotranspiration with geospatial technology

    Treesearch

    S. Panda; D.M. Amatya; G Sun; A. Bowman

    2016-01-01

    Remote sensing has increasingly been used to estimate evapotranspiration (ET) and its supporting parameters in a rapid, accurate, and cost-effective manner. The goal of this study was to develop remote sensing-based models for estimating ET and the biophysical parameters canopy conductance (gc), upper-canopy temperature, and soil moisture for a mature loblolly pine...

  18. Comparison of prognostic and diagnostic approached to modeling evapotranspiration in the Nile river basin

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Actual evapotranspiration (ET) can be estimated using both prognostic and diagnostic modeling approaches, providing independent yet complementary information for hydrologic applications. Both approaches have advantages and disadvantages. When provided with temporally continuous atmospheric forcing d...

  19. Determination of actual crop evapotranspiration (ETc) and dual crop coefficients (Kc) for cotton, wheat and maize in Fergana Valley: integration of the FAO-56 approach and BUDGET

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kenjabaev, Shavkat; Dernedde, Yvonne; Frede, Hans-Georg; Stulina, Galina

    2014-05-01

    Determination of the actual crop evapotranspiration (ETc) during the growing period is important for accurate irrigation scheduling in arid and semi-arid regions. Development of a crop coefficient (Kc) can enhance ETc estimations in relation to specific crop phenological development. This research was conducted to determine daily and growth-stage-specific Kc and ETc values for cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.), winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and maize (Zea mays L.) for silage at fields in Fergana Valley (Uzbekistan). The soil water balance model - Budget with integration of the dual crop procedure of the FAO-56 was used to estimate the ETc and separate it into evaporation (Ec) and transpiration (Tc) components. An empirical equation was developed to determine the daily Kc values based on the estimated Ec and Tc. The ETc, Kc determination and comparison to existing FAO Kc values were performed based on 10, 5 and 6 study cases for cotton, wheat and maize, respectively. Mean seasonal amounts of crop water consumption in terms of ETc were 560±50, 509±27 and 243±39 mm for cotton, wheat and maize, respectively. The growth-stage-specific Kc for cotton, wheat and maize was 0.15, 0.27 and 0.11 at initial; 1.15, 1.03 and 0.56 at mid; and 0.45, 0.89 and 0.53 at late season stages. These values correspond to those reported by the FAO-56. Development of site specific Kc helps tremendously in irrigation management and furthermore provides precise water applications in the region. The developed simple approach to estimate daily Kc for the three main crops grown in the Fergana region was a first attempt to meet this issue. Keywords: Actual crop evapotranspiration, evaporation and transpiration, crop coefficient, model BUDGET, Fergana Valley.

  20. Divergence of actual and reference evapotranspiration observations for irrigated sugarcane with windy tropical conditions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Anderson, R. G.; Wang, D.; Tirado-Corbalá, R.; Zhang, H.; Ayars, J. E.

    2015-01-01

    Standardized reference evapotranspiration (ET) and ecosystem-specific vegetation coefficients are frequently used to estimate actual ET. However, equations for calculating reference ET have not been well validated in tropical environments. We measured ET (ETEC) using eddy covariance (EC) towers at two irrigated sugarcane fields on the leeward (dry) side of Maui, Hawaii, USA in contrasting climates. We calculated reference ET at the fields using the short (ET0) and tall (ETr) vegetation versions of the American Society for Civil Engineers (ASCE) equation. The ASCE equations were compared to the Priestley-Taylor ET (ETPT) and ETEC. Reference ET from the ASCE approaches exceeded ETEC during the mid-period (when vegetation coefficients suggest ETEC should exceed reference ET). At the windier tower site, cumulative ETr exceeded ETEC by 854 mm over the course of the mid-period (267 days). At the less windy site, mid-period ETr still exceeded ETEC, but the difference was smaller (443 mm). At both sites, ETPT approximated mid-period ETEC more closely than the ASCE equations ((ETPT-ETEC) < 170 mm). Analysis of applied water and precipitation, soil moisture, leaf stomatal resistance, and canopy cover suggest that the lower observed ETEC was not the result of water stress or reduced vegetation cover. Use of a custom-calibrated bulk canopy resistance improved the reference ET estimate and reduced seasonal ET discrepancy relative to ETPT and ETEC in the less windy field and had mixed performance in the windier field. These divergences suggest that modifications to reference ET equations may be warranted in some tropical regions.

  1. On estimating total daily evapotranspiration from remote surface temperature measurements

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Carlson, Toby N.; Buffum, Martha J.

    1989-01-01

    A method for calculating daily evapotranspiration from the daily surface energy budget using remotely sensed surface temperature and several meteorological variables is presented. Vaules of the coefficients are determined from simulations with a one-dimensional boundary layer model with vegetation cover. Model constants are obtained for vegetation and bare soil at two air temperature and wind speed levels over a range of surface roughness and wind speeds. A different means of estimating the daily evapotranspiration based on the time rate of increase of surface temperature during the morning is also considered. Both the equations using our model-derived constants and field measurements are evaluated, and a discussion of sources of error in the use of the formulation is given.

  2. A parabolic function to modify Thornthwaite estimates of potential evapotranspiration for the eastern United States

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    McCabe, G.J.

    1989-01-01

    Errors of the Thornthwaite model can be analyzed using adjusted pan evaporation as an index of potential evapotranspiration. An examination of ratios of adjusted pan evaporation to Thornthwaite potential evapotranspiration indicates that the ratios are highest in the winter and lowest during summer months. This trend suggests a parabolic pattern. In this study a parabolic function is used to adjust Thornthwaite estimates of potential evapotranspiration. Forty locations east of the Rocky Mountains are analyzed. -from Author

  3. Measuring Evapotranspiration in Urban Irrigated Lawns in Two Kansas Cities

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Shonkwiler, K. B.; Bremer, D.; Ham, J. M.

    2011-12-01

    Conservation of water is becoming increasingly critical in many metropolitan areas. The use of automated irrigation systems for the maintenance of lawns and landscapes is rising and these systems are typically maladjusted to apply more water than necessary, resulting in water wastage. Provision of accurate estimates of actual lawn water use may assist urbanites in conserving water through better adjustment of automatic irrigation systems. Micrometeorological methods may help determine actual lawn water use by measuring evapotranspiration (ET) from urban lawns. From April - August of 2011, four small tripod-mounted weather stations (tripods, five total) were deployed in twelve residential landscapes in the Kansas cities of Manhattan (MHK) and Wichita (ICT) in the USA (six properties in each city). Each tripod was instrumented to estimate reference crop evapotranspiration (ETo) via the FAO-56 method. During tripod deployment in residential lawns, actual evapotranspiration (ETactual) was measured nearby using a stationary, trailer-mounted eddy covariance (EC) station. The EC station sampled well-watered turf at the K-State Rocky Ford Turfgrass Center within 5 km of the study properties in MHK, and was also deployed at a commercial sod farm 15 - 40 km from the study residences in the greater ICT metro area. The fifth tripod was deployed in the source area of the EC station to estimate ETo in conjunction with tripods in the lawns (i.e., to serve as a reference). Data from EC allowed for computation of a so-called lawn coefficient (Kc) by determining the ratio of ETo from the tripods in residential lawns to ETo from the EC station (ETo,EC); hence, Kc = ETo,tripod / ETo,EC. Using this method, ETactual can be estimated for individual tripods within a lawn. Data suggests that it may be more accurate to quantify ET within individual lawns by microclimate (i.e., determine coefficients for "shaded" and "open/unshaded" portions of a lawn). By finding microclimate coefficients

  4. Estimation of evapotranspiration in an arid region by remote sensing—A case study in the middle reaches of the Heihe River Basin

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Li, Xingmin; Lu, Ling; Yang, Wenfeng; Cheng, Guodong

    2012-07-01

    Estimating surface evapotranspiration is extremely important for the study of water resources in arid regions. Data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (NOAA/AVHRR), meteorological observations and data obtained from the Watershed Allied Telemetry Experimental Research (WATER) project in 2008 are applied to the evaporative fraction model to estimate evapotranspiration over the Heihe River Basin. The calculation method for the parameters used in the model and the evapotranspiration estimation results are analyzed and evaluated. The results observed within the oasis and the banks of the river suggest that more evapotranspiration occurs in the inland river basin in the arid region from May to September. Evapotranspiration values for the oasis, where the land surface types and vegetations are highly variable, are relatively small and heterogeneous. In the Gobi desert and other deserts with little vegetation, evapotranspiration remains at its lowest level during this period. These results reinforce the conclusion that rational utilization of water resources in the oasis is essential to manage the water resources in the inland river basin. In the remote sensing-based evapotranspiration model, the accuracy of the parameter estimate directly affects the accuracy of the evapotranspiration results; more accurate parameter values yield more precise values for evapotranspiration. However, when using the evaporative fraction to estimate regional evapotranspiration, better calculation results can be achieved only if evaporative fraction is constant in the daytime.

  5. Estimating Daily Evapotranspiration Based on A Model of Evapotranspiration Fraction (EF) for Mixed Pixels

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Xin, X.; Li, F.; Peng, Z.; Qinhuo, L.

    2017-12-01

    Land surface heterogeneities significantly affect the reliability and accuracy of remotely sensed evapotranspiration (ET), and it gets worse for lower resolution data. At the same time, temporal scale extrapolation of the instantaneous latent heat flux (LE) at satellite overpass time to daily ET are crucial for applications of such remote sensing product. The purpose of this paper is to propose a simple but efficient model for estimating daytime evapotranspiration considering heterogeneity of mixed pixels. In order to do so, an equation to calculate evapotranspiration fraction (EF) of mixed pixels was derived based on two key assumptions. Assumption 1: the available energy (AE) of each sub-pixel equals approximately to that of any other sub-pixels in the same mixed pixel within acceptable margin of bias, and as same as the AE of the mixed pixel. It's only for a simpification of the equation, and its uncertainties and resulted errors in estimated ET are very small. Assumption 2: EF of each sub-pixel equals to the EF of the nearest pure pixel(s) of same land cover type. This equation is supposed to be capable of correcting the spatial scale error of the mixed pixels EF and can be used to calculated daily ET with daily AE data.The model was applied to an artificial oasis in the midstream of Heihe River. HJ-1B satellite data were used to estimate the lumped fluxes at the scale of 300 m after resampling the 30-m resolution datasets to 300 m resolution, which was used to carry on the key step of the model. The results before and after correction were compare to each other and validated using site data of eddy-correlation systems. Results indicated that the new model is capable of improving accuracy of daily ET estimation relative to the lumped method. Validations at 12 sites of eddy-correlation systems for 9 days of HJ-1B overpass showed that the R² increased to 0.82 from 0.62; the RMSE decreased to 1.60 MJ/m² from 2.47MJ/m²; the MBE decreased from 1.92 MJ/m² to 1

  6. Hydrological model uncertainty due to spatial evapotranspiration estimation methods

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yu, Xuan; Lamačová, Anna; Duffy, Christopher; Krám, Pavel; Hruška, Jakub

    2016-05-01

    Evapotranspiration (ET) continues to be a difficult process to estimate in seasonal and long-term water balances in catchment models. Approaches to estimate ET typically use vegetation parameters (e.g., leaf area index [LAI], interception capacity) obtained from field observation, remote sensing data, national or global land cover products, and/or simulated by ecosystem models. In this study we attempt to quantify the uncertainty that spatial evapotranspiration estimation introduces into hydrological simulations when the age of the forest is not precisely known. The Penn State Integrated Hydrologic Model (PIHM) was implemented for the Lysina headwater catchment, located 50°03‧N, 12°40‧E in the western part of the Czech Republic. The spatial forest patterns were digitized from forest age maps made available by the Czech Forest Administration. Two ET methods were implemented in the catchment model: the Biome-BGC forest growth sub-model (1-way coupled to PIHM) and with the fixed-seasonal LAI method. From these two approaches simulation scenarios were developed. We combined the estimated spatial forest age maps and two ET estimation methods to drive PIHM. A set of spatial hydrologic regime and streamflow regime indices were calculated from the modeling results for each method. Intercomparison of the hydrological responses to the spatial vegetation patterns suggested considerable variation in soil moisture and recharge and a small uncertainty in the groundwater table elevation and streamflow. The hydrologic modeling with ET estimated by Biome-BGC generated less uncertainty due to the plant physiology-based method. The implication of this research is that overall hydrologic variability induced by uncertain management practices was reduced by implementing vegetation models in the catchment models.

  7. Estimating riparian and agricultural evapotranspiration by reference crop evapotranspiration and MODIS Enhanced Vegetation Index

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Nagler, Pamela L.; Glenn, Edward P.; Nguyen, Uyen; Scott, Russell; Doody, Tania

    2013-01-01

    Dryland river basins frequently support both irrigated agriculture and riparian vegetation and remote sensing methods are needed to monitor water use by both crops and natural vegetation in irrigation districts. We developed an algorithm for estimating actual evapotranspiration (ETa) based on the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) sensor on the EOS-1 Terra satellite and locally-derived measurements of reference crop ET (ETo). The algorithm was calibrated with five years of ETa data from three eddy covariance flux towers set in riparian plant associations on the upper San Pedro River, Arizona, supplemented with ETa data for alfalfa and cotton from the literature. The algorithm was based on an equation of the form ETa = ETo [a(1 − e−bEVI) − c], where the term (1 − e−bEVI) is derived from the Beer-Lambert Law to express light absorption by a canopy, with EVI replacing leaf area index as an estimate of the density of light-absorbing units. The resulting algorithm capably predicted ETa across riparian plants and crops (r2 = 0.73). It was then tested against water balance data for five irrigation districts and flux tower data for two riparian zones for which season-long or multi-year ETa data were available. Predictions were within 10% of measured results in each case, with a non-significant (P = 0.89) difference between mean measured and modeled ETa of 5.4% over all validation sites. Validation and calibration data sets were combined to present a final predictive equation for application across crops and riparian plant associations for monitoring individual irrigation districts or for conducting global water use assessments of mixed agricultural and riparian biomes.

  8. Operational estimates of areal evapotranspiration and their significance to the science and practice of hydrology

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Morton, F. I.

    1983-10-01

    Reliable estimates of areal evapotranspiration are essential to significant improvements in the science and practice of hydrology. Direct measurements, such as those provided by lysimeters, eddy flux instrumentation or Bowen-ratio instrumentation, give point values, require constant attendance by skilled personnel and are based on unverified assumptions. A critical review of the methods used for estimating areal evapotranspiration indicates that the conventional conceptual techniques, such as those used in current watershed models, are based on assumptions that are completely divorced from reality; and that causal techniques based on processes and interactions in the soil-plant-atmosphere system are not likely to prove useful for another generation. However, the complementary relationship can do much to fill the gap until such time as causal techniques become practicable because it provides the basis for models that permit areal evapotranspiration to be estimated from its effects on the routine climatological observations needed to estimate potential evapotranspiration. Such models have a realistic conceptual and empirical basis, by-pass the complexity of the soil-plant system and require no local calibration of coefficients. Therefore, they are falsifiable (i.e. can be tested rigorously) so that errors in the associated assumptions and relationships can be detected and corrected by progressive testing over an ever-widening range of environments. Such a methodology uses the entire world as a laboratory and requires that a correction made to obtain agreement between model and river-basin water budget estimates in one environment must be applicable without modification in all other environment. The most recent version of the complementary relationship areal evapotranspiration (CRAE) models is formulated and documented. The reliability of the independent operational estimates of areal evapotranspiration is tested with comparable long-term water-budget estimates for

  9. Global cross-station assessment of neuro-fuzzy models for estimating daily reference evapotranspiration

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Shiri, Jalal; Nazemi, Amir Hossein; Sadraddini, Ali Ashraf; Landeras, Gorka; Kisi, Ozgur; Fard, Ahmad Fakheri; Marti, Pau

    2013-02-01

    SummaryAccurate estimation of reference evapotranspiration is important for irrigation scheduling, water resources management and planning and other agricultural water management issues. In the present paper, the capabilities of generalized neuro-fuzzy models were evaluated for estimating reference evapotranspiration using two separate sets of weather data from humid and non-humid regions of Spain and Iran. In this way, the data from some weather stations in the Basque Country and Valencia region (Spain) were used for training the neuro-fuzzy models [in humid and non-humid regions, respectively] and subsequently, the data from these regions were pooled to evaluate the generalization capability of a general neuro-fuzzy model in humid and non-humid regions. The developed models were tested in stations of Iran, located in humid and non-humid regions. The obtained results showed the capabilities of generalized neuro-fuzzy model in estimating reference evapotranspiration in different climatic zones. Global GNF models calibrated using both non-humid and humid data were found to successfully estimate ET0 in both non-humid and humid regions of Iran (the lowest MAE values are about 0.23 mm for non-humid Iranian regions and 0.12 mm for humid regions). non-humid GNF models calibrated using non-humid data performed much better than the humid GNF models calibrated using humid data in non-humid region while the humid GNF model gave better estimates in humid region.

  10. Comparison of methods for estimating evapotranspiration in a small rangeland catchment

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Evapotranspiration (ET) was quantified for two rangeland vegetation types, aspen and sagebrush/grassland, over an eight year study period by comparing several approaches for estimating ET: eddy covariance systems (EC, available for only six years); soil water storage loss measured by time domain ref...

  11. Estimating Evapotranspiration with Land Data Assimilation Systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Peters-Lidard, C. D.; Kumar, S. V.; Mocko, D. M.; Tian, Y.

    2011-01-01

    Advancements in both land surface models (LSM) and land surface data assimilation, especially over the last decade, have substantially advanced the ability of land data assimilation systems (LDAS) to estimate evapotranspiration (ET). This article provides a historical perspective on international LSM intercomparison efforts and the development of LDAS systems, both of which have improved LSM ET skill. In addition, an assessment of ET estimates for current LDAS systems is provided along with current research that demonstrates improvement in LSM ET estimates due to assimilating satellite-based soil moisture products. Using the Ensemble Kalman Filter in the Land Information System, we assimilate both NASA and Land Parameter Retrieval Model (LPRM) soil moisture products into the Noah LSM Version 3.2 with the North American LDAS phase 2 (NLDAS-2) forcing to mimic the NLDAS-2 configuration. Through comparisons with two global reference ET products, one based on interpolated flux tower data and one from a new satellite ET algorithm, over the NLDAS2 domain, we demonstrate improvement in ET estimates only when assimilating the LPRM soil moisture product.

  12. Evapotranspiration Calculator Desktop Tool

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    The Evapotranspiration Calculator estimates evapotranspiration time series data for hydrological and water quality models for the Hydrologic Simulation Program - Fortran (HSPF) and the Stormwater Management Model (SWMM).

  13. Actual evapotranspiration for a reference crop within measured and future changing climate periods in the Mediterranean region

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Katerji, Nader; Rana, Gianfranco; Ferrara, Rossana Monica

    2017-08-01

    The study compares two formulas for calculating the daily evapotranspiration ET0 for a reference crop. The first formula was proposed by Allen et al. (AL), while the second one was proposed by Katerji and Perrier with the addition of the carbon dioxide (CO2) effect on evapotranspiration (KP). The study analyses the impact of the calculation by the two formulas on the irrigation requirement (IR). Both formulas are based on the Penman-Monteith equation but adopt different approaches for parameterising the canopy resistance r c . In the AL formula, r c is assumed constant and not sensitive to climate change, whereas in the KP formula, r c is first parameterised as a function of climatic variables, then ET0 is corrected for the air CO2 concentration. The two formulas were compared in two periods. The first period involves data from two sites in the Mediterranean region within a measured climate change period (1981-2006) when all the input climatic variables were measured. The second period (2070-2100) involves data from a future climate change period at one site when the input climatic variables were forecasted for two future climate scenarios (A2 and B2). The annual cumulated values of ET0 calculated by the AL formula are systematically lower than those determined by the KP formula. The differences between the ET0 estimation with the AL and KP formulas have a strong impact on the determination of the IR for the reference crop. In fact, for the two periods, the annual values of IR when ET0 is calculated by the AL formula are systematically lower than those calculated by the KP formula. For the actual measured climate change period, this reduction varied from 26 to 28 %, while for the future climate change period, it varied based on the scenario from 16 % (A2) to 20 % (B2).

  14. Evapotranspiration Calculations for an Alpine Marsh Meadow Site in Three-river Headwater Region

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhou, B.; Xiao, H.

    2016-12-01

    Daily radiation and meteorological data were collected at an alpine marsh meadow site in the Three-river Headwater Region(THR). Use them to assess radiation models determined after comparing the performance between Zuo model and the model recommend by FAO56P-M.Four methods, FAO56P-M, Priestley-Taylor, Hargreaves, and Makkink methods were applied to determine daily reference evapotranspiration( ETr) for the growing season and built the empirical models for estimating daily actual evapotranspiration ETa between ETr derived from the four methods and evapotranspiration derived from Bowen Ratio method on alpine marsh meadow in this region. After comparing the performance of four empirical models by RMSE, MAE and AI, it showed these models all can get the better estimated daily ETaon alpine marsh meadow in this region, and the best performance of the FAO56 P-M, Makkink empirical model were better than Priestley-Taylor and Hargreaves model.

  15. Crop biomass and evapotranspiration estimation using SPOT and Formosat-2 Data

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Veloso, Amanda; Demarez, Valérie; Ceschia, Eric; Claverie, Martin

    2013-04-01

    The use of crop models allows simulating plant development, growth and yield under different environmental and management conditions. When combined with high spatial and temporal resolution remote sensing data, these models provide new perspectives for crop monitoring at regional scale. We propose here an approach to estimate time courses of dry aboveground biomass, yield and evapotranspiration (ETR) for summer (maize, sunflower) and winter crops (wheat) by assimilating Green Area Index (GAI) data, obtained from satellite observations, into a simple crop model. Only high spatial resolution and gap-free satellite time series can provide enough information for efficient crop monitoring applications. The potential of remote sensing data is often limited by cloud cover and/or gaps in observation. Data from different sensor systems need then to be combined. For this work, we employed a unique set of Formosat-2 and SPOT images (164 images) and in-situ measurements, acquired from 2006 to 2010 in southwest France. Among the several land surface biophysical variables accessible from satellite observations, the GAI is the one that has a key role in soil-plant-atmosphere interactions and in biomass accumulation process. Many methods have been developed to relate GAI to optical remote sensing signal. Here, seasonal dynamics of remotely sensed GAI were estimated by applying a method based on the inversion of a radiative transfer model using artificial neural networks. The modelling approach is based on the Simple Algorithm for Yield and Evapotranspiration estimate (SAFYE) model, which couples the FAO-56 model with an agro-meteorological model, based on Monteith's light-use efficiency theory. The SAFYE model is a daily time step crop model that simulates time series of GAI, dry aboveground biomass, grain yield and ETR. Crop and soil model parameters were determined using both in-situ measurements and values found in the literature. Phenological parameters were calibrated by the

  16. Estimation of evapotranspiration across the conterminous United States using a regression with climate and land-cover data

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Sanford, Ward E.; Selnick, David L.

    2013-01-01

    Evapotranspiration (ET) is an important quantity for water resource managers to know because it often represents the largest sink for precipitation (P) arriving at the land surface. In order to estimate actual ET across the conterminous United States (U.S.) in this study, a water-balance method was combined with a climate and land-cover regression equation. Precipitation and streamflow records were compiled for 838 watersheds for 1971-2000 across the U.S. to obtain long-term estimates of actual ET. A regression equation was developed that related the ratio ET/P to climate and land-cover variables within those watersheds. Precipitation and temperatures were used from the PRISM climate dataset, and land-cover data were used from the USGS National Land Cover Dataset. Results indicate that ET can be predicted relatively well at a watershed or county scale with readily available climate variables alone, and that land-cover data can also improve those predictions. Using the climate and land-cover data at an 800-m scale and then averaging to the county scale, maps were produced showing estimates of ET and ET/P for the entire conterminous U.S. Using the regression equation, such maps could also be made for more detailed state coverages, or for other areas of the world where climate and land-cover data are plentiful.

  17. Estimating watershed evapotranspiration across the United States using multiple methods

    Treesearch

    Ge Sun; Shanlei Sun; Jingfeng Xiao; Peter Caldwell; Devendra Amatya; Suat Irmak; Prasanna H. Gowda; Sudhanshu Panda; Steve McNulty; Yang Zhang

    2016-01-01

    Evapotranspiration (ET) is the largest watershed water balance component only next to precipitation in the United States. ET is closely coupled with ecosystem carbon and energy fluxes, affects flooding or drought magnitude, and is also a good predictor for biodiversity at a regional scale.Thus, accurately estimating ET is of paramount importance to quantify the effects...

  18. Evapotranspiration and microclimate at a low-level radioactive-waste disposal site in northwestern Illinois

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Healy, R.W.; DeVries, M.P.; Sturrock, Alex M.

    1989-01-01

    From July 1982 through June 1984, a study was made of the evapotranspiration and microclimate at a low-level radioactive-waste disposal site near Sheffield, Bureau County, Illinois. Vegetation at the site consists of mixed pasture grasses, primarily awnless brome (Bromus inermis) and red clover (Trifoleum pratense). Three methods were used to estimate evapotranspiration: (1) an energy budget with the Bowen ratio, (2) an aerodynamic profile, and (3) a soil-based water budget. For the aerodynamic-profile method, sensible-heat flux was estimated by a profile equation and evapotranspiration was then calculated as the residual in the energy-balance equation. Estimates by the energy-budget and aerodynamic-profile methods were computed from hourly data and then summed by days and months. Yearly estimates (for March through November) by these methods were in close agreement: 648 and 626 millimeters, respectively. Daily estimates reach a maximum of about 6 millimeters. The water-budget method produced only monthly estimates based on weekly or biweekly soil-moisture content measurements. The yearly evapotranspiration estimated by this method (which actually included only the months of April through October) was 655 millimeters. The March-through-November average for the three methods of 657 millimeters was equivalent to 70 percent of total precipitation. Continuous measurements were made of incoming and reflected shortwave radiation, incoming and emitted longwave radiation, net radiation, soil-heat flux, soil temperature, horizontal windspeed, and wet- and dry-bulb air temperature. Windspeed and air temperature were measured at heights of 0.5 and 2.0 meters (and also at 1.0 meter after September 1983). Soilmoisture content of the soil zone was measured with a gamma-attenuation gage. Annual precipitation (938 millimeters) and average temperature (10.8 degrees Celsius) at the Sheffield site were virtually identical to long-term averages from nearby National Weather Service

  19. Modeling actual evapotranspiration with routine meteorological variables in the data-scarce region of the Tibetan Plateau: Comparisons and implications

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ma, Ning; Zhang, Yinsheng; Xu, Chong-Yu; Szilagyi, Jozsef

    2015-08-01

    Quantitative estimation of actual evapotranspiration (ETa) by in situ measurements and mathematical modeling is a fundamental task for physical understanding of ETa as well as the feedback mechanisms between land and the ambient atmosphere. However, the ETa information in the Tibetan Plateau (TP) has been greatly impeded by the extremely sparse ground observation network in the region. Approaches for estimating ETa solely from routine meteorological variables are therefore important for investigating spatiotemporal variations of ETa in the data-scarce region of the TP. Motivated by this need, the complementary relationship (CR) and Penman-Monteith approaches were evaluated against in situ measurements of ETa on a daily basis in an alpine steppe region of the TP. The former includes the Nonlinear Complementary Relationship (Nonlinear-CR) as well as the Complementary Relationship Areal Evapotranspiration (CRAE) models, while the latter involves the Katerji-Perrier and the Todorovic models. Results indicate that the Nonlinear-CR, CRAE, and Katerji-Perrier models are all capable of efficiently simulating daily ETa, provided their parameter values were appropriately calibrated. The Katerji-Perrier model performed best since its site-specific parameters take the soil water status into account. The Nonlinear-CR model also performed well with the advantage of not requiring the user to choose between a symmetric and asymmetric CR. The CRAE model, even with a relatively low Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE) value, is also an acceptable approach in this data-scarce region as it does not need information of wind speed and ground surface conditions. In contrast, application of the Todorovic model was found to be inappropriate in the dry regions of the TP due to its significant overestimation of ETa as it neglects the effect of water stress on the bulk surface resistance. Sensitivity analysis of the parameter values demonstrated the relative importance of each parameter in the

  20. Drought assessment by evapotranspiration mapping in Twente

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Eden, U.; Timmermans, J.; van der Velde, R.; Su, Z.

    2012-04-01

    Drought is a reoccurring worldwide problem with impacts ranging from food production to infrastructure. Droughts are different from other natural hazards (floods, hurricanes, and earthquakes) because the effects can only be witnessed slowly and with a time delay. Effects of droughts are diverse, like famine and migration of people. Droughts are caused by natural causes but also by interaction between the natural events and water demand. Not only typical dry regions, like the Horn of Africa, are affected, but even semi-humid environments, like Europe. Temperature rise and precipitation deficit in the summers of 2003 and 2006 caused substantial crop losses in the agricultural sector in the Netherlands. In addition increased river water temperatures and low water levels caused cooling problems for power plants. Heat waves and prolonged absence of precipitation is expected to increase due to climate change. Therefore assessing and monitoring drought in the Netherlands is thus very important. Various drought indices are available to assess the severity, duration and spatial extend of the drought. Some of the commonly indices used are Standardized precipitation index (SPI) and the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI). However each of these indices do not take into account the actual state of the land surface in respect to the dryness. By analysing drought through actual evapotranspiration (ET) estimations from remote sensing this can be circumvented. The severity of the droughts was quantified by ET-mapping from 2003-2010. The assessment was based on the spatial and temporal distribution of ET using the Evapotranspiration Deficit Index (ETDI) drought index. Surface energy fluxes, like ET, were estimated using WACMOS methodology. The input data consisted of remote sensing products like land surface temperature, LAI, and albedo from MODIS; and meteorological data like air-temperature, humidity and wind speed from the European Centre for Medium weather forecast (ECMWF

  1. Evaluation of remotely sensed actual evapotranspiration data for modeling small scale irrigation in Ethiopia.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Taddele, Y. D.; Ayana, E.; Worqlul, A. W.; Srinivasan, R.; Gerik, T.; Clarke, N.

    2017-12-01

    The research presented in this paper is conducted in Ethiopia, which is located in the horn of Africa. Ethiopian economy largely depends on rainfed agriculture, which employs 80% of the labor force. The rainfed agriculture is frequently affected by droughts and dry spells. Small scale irrigation is considered as the lifeline for the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in Ethiopia. Biophysical models are highly used to determine the agricultural production, environmental sustainability, and socio-economic outcomes of small scale irrigation in Ethiopia. However, detailed spatially explicit data is not adequately available to calibrate and validate simulations from biophysical models. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model was setup using finer resolution spatial and temporal data. The actual evapotranspiration (AET) estimation from the SWAT model was compared with two remotely sensed data, namely the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS). The performance of the monthly satellite data was evaluated with correlation coefficient (R2) over the different land use groups. The result indicated that over the long term and monthly the AVHRR AET captures the pattern of SWAT simulated AET reasonably well, especially on agricultural dominated landscapes. A comparison between SWAT simulated AET and AVHRR AET provided mixed results on grassland dominated landscapes and poor agreement on forest dominated landscapes. Results showed that the AVHRR AET products showed superior agreement with the SWAT simulated AET than MODIS AET. This suggests that remotely sensed products can be used as valuable tool in properly modeling small scale irrigation.

  2. Assessment of actual transpiration rate in olive tree field combining sap-flow, leaf area index and scintillometer measurements

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Agnese, C.; Cammalleri, C.; Ciraolo, G.; Minacapilli, M.; Provenzano, G.; Rallo, G.; de Bruin, H. A. R.

    2009-09-01

    Models to estimate the actual evapotranspiration (ET) in sparse vegetation area can be fundamental for agricultural water managements, especially when water availability is a limiting factor. Models validation must be carried out by considering in situ measurements referred to the field scale, which is the relevant scale of the modelled variables. Moreover, a particular relevance assumes to consider separately the components of plant transpiration (T) and soil evaporation (E), because only the first is actually related to the crop stress conditions. Objective of the paper was to assess a procedure aimed to estimate olive trees actual transpiration by combining sap flow measurements with the scintillometer technique at field scale. The study area, located in Western Sicily (Italy), is mainly cultivated with olive crop and is characterized by typical Mediterranean semi-arid climate. Measurements of sap flow and crop actual evapotranspiration rate were carried out during 2008 irrigation season. Crop transpiration fluxes, measured on some plants by means of sap flow sensors, were upscaled considering the leaf area index (LAI). The comparison between evapotranspiration values, derived by displaced-beam small-aperture scintillometer (DBSAS-SLS20, Scintec AG), with the transpiration fluxes obtained by the sap flow sensors, also allowed to evaluate the contribute of soil evaporation in an area characterized by low vegetation coverage.

  3. Remote sensing-aided systems for snow qualification, evapotranspiration estimation, and their application in hydrologic models

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Korram, S.

    1977-01-01

    The design of general remote sensing-aided methodologies was studied to provide the estimates of several important inputs to water yield forecast models. These input parameters are snow area extent, snow water content, and evapotranspiration. The study area is Feather River Watershed (780,000 hectares), Northern California. The general approach involved a stepwise sequence of identification of the required information, sample design, measurement/estimation, and evaluation of results. All the relevent and available information types needed in the estimation process are being defined. These include Landsat, meteorological satellite, and aircraft imagery, topographic and geologic data, ground truth data, and climatic data from ground stations. A cost-effective multistage sampling approach was employed in quantification of all the required parameters. The physical and statistical models for both snow quantification and evapotranspiration estimation was developed. These models use the information obtained by aerial and ground data through appropriate statistical sampling design.

  4. Evapotranspiration and microclimate at a low-level radioactive-waste disposal site in northwestern Illinois

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Healy, R.W.; DeVries, M.P.; Sturrock, A.M.

    1987-01-01

    From July 1982 through June 1984, a study was made of the microclimate and evapotranspiration at a low-level radioactive-waste disposal site near Sheffield, Bureau County, Illinois. Vegetation at the site consists of mixed pasture grasses, primarily brome (Bromus inermis) and red clover (Trifoleum pratense). Three methods were used to estimate evapotranspiration: (1) an energy-budget with the Bowen ratio, (2) an aerodynamic-profile, and (3) a soil-based water-budget. For the aerodynamic-profile method, sensible-heat flux was estimated by a profile equation and evapotranspiration was then calculated as the residual in the energy-balance equation. Estimates by the energy-budget and aerodynamic-profile methods were computed from hourly data, then summed by days and months. Yearly estimates for March through November, by these methods, were quite close--648 and 626 millimeters, respectively. Daily estimates range up to a maximum of about 6 millimeters. The water-budget method produced only monthly estimates based on weekly or biweekly soil-moisture content measurements. The yearly evapotranspiration estimated by this method (which actually included only the months of April through October) was 655 millimeters. The March-through-November average for the three methods of 657 millimeters was equivalent to 70 percent of precipitation. Continuous measurements were made of incoming and reflected shortwave radiation, incoming and emitted longwave radiation, net radiation, soil-heat flux, soil temperature, horizontal windspeed, and wet- and dry-bulb air temperature. Windspeed and air temperature were measured at heights of 0.5 and 2.0 meters (and also at 1.0 meter after September 1983). Soil-moisture content of the soil zone was measured with a gamma-attenuation gage. Annual precipitation (938 millimeters) and average temperature (10.8 degrees Celsius) were virtually identical to long-term averages from nearby National Weather Service stations. Solar radiation averaged 65

  5. Heterogeneous terrain: a challenge to derive evapotranspiration with remote sensing and scintillometry

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Thiem, Christina; Sun, Liya; Müller, Benjamin; Bernhardt, Matthias; Schulz, Karsten

    2014-05-01

    Despite the importance of evapotranspiration for Meteorology, Hydrology and Agronomy, obtaining area-averaged evapotranspiration estimates is cost as well as maintenance intensive: usually area-averaged evapotranspiration estimates are obtained by distributed sensor networks or remotely sensed with a scintillometer. A low cost alternative for evapotranspiration estimates are satellite images, as many of them are freely available. This approach has been proven to be worthwhile above homogeneous terrain, and typically evapotranspiration data obtained with scintillometry are applied for validation. We will extend this approach to heterogeneous terrain: evapotranspiration estimates from ASTER 2013 images will be compared to scintillometer derived evapotranspiration estimates. The goodness of the correlation will be presented as well as an uncertainty estimation for both the ASTER derived and the scintillometer derived evapotranspiration.

  6. Evaluating the complementary relationship of evapotranspiration in an arid shrublands, Heihe river basin

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yu, Zhongbo; Xu, Shiqin; Ji, Xibin; Sudicky, Edward A.

    2018-06-01

    Accurate estimates of evapotranspiration and its components are essential for quantifying the water and energy fluxes and water resources management in arid regions. To this end, daily actual evapotranspiration (ETa), pan evaporation, and concurrent microclimate from an arid shrublands were measured over two growing seasons (2014-2015) to determine water budgets and to test the validity of the complementary relationship (CR) at this temporal scale. The average ETa is 229.32 ± 45.86 mm during two growing seasons, while canopy transpiration, soil evaporation, and interception accounted for 68.1 ± 16.5%, 29.1 ± 2.5% and 2.8 ± 0.6%, respectively. Actual evapotranspiration and Penman potential evapotranspiration, or pan evaporation exhibit complementary behavior, where the complementary relationship is asymmetric. Daily ETa rates are significantly overestimated by the symmetric Advection-Aridity (AA) model. Employing the modified AA model, where parameters are calibrated locally and wet environment evapotranspiration is evaluated at wet environment air temperature as opposed to the measured air temperature, the prediction accuracy of ETa is dramatically improved. With calibrated parameters, the E601B sunken pan can satisfactorily describe the dynamics of daily ETa, while the D20 aboveground pan underestimates it to some extent. Moreover, the modified AA model is able to capture the dynamics of groundwater usage by vegetation during dry summer. These findings gain our new knowledge on the capability of CR theory to resolve special issue occurred in phreatophytic shrublands, and can also provide beneficial reference to water resource and eco-environment management in arid regions.

  7. Use of Landsat and environmental satellite data in evapotranspiration estimation from a wildland area

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Khorram, S.; Smith, H. G.

    1979-01-01

    A remote sensing-aided procedure was applied to the watershed-wide estimation of water loss to the atmosphere (evapotranspiration, ET). The approach involved a spatially referenced databank based on both remotely sensed and ground-acquired information. Physical models for both estimation of ET and quantification of input parameters are specified, and results of the investigation are outlined.

  8. [MODIS-driven estimation of regional evapotranspiration in Karst area of Southwest China based on the Penman-Monteith-Leuning algorithm.

    PubMed

    Zhong, Hao Zhe; Xu, Xian Li; Zhang, Rong Fei; Liu, Mei Xian

    2018-05-01

    Karst area in southwestern China is characterized with complex topography, low soil water capacity, and fragile ecosystem. Accurate estimation of regional evapotranspiration is essential for ecological restoration and water resources management in southwestern China. Based on observed evapotranspiration and meteorological data, this study aimed to estimate spatial upscale evapotranspiration using the MOD15A2 LAI and Penman-Monteith-Leuning (PML) model, within which the stomatal conductance and soil wetness index were optimized by the least-square method. The results showed that the modeled ET well fitted with the observations, with the determination coefficient, Nash efficiency coefficient and RMSE being 0.85, 0.75 and 1.56 mm·d -1 , respectively. The ET exhibited clear seasonality and reached to its maximum in summer, coinciding with vegetation phenology. The annual ET ranged from 534 to 1035 mm·a -1 , with strong spatial heterogeneity which highly related to the precipitation. Evapotranspiration may be affected by precipitation as well as land use types.

  9. Drought trends indicated by evapotranspiration deficit over the contiguous United States during 1896-2013

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kim, Daeha; Rhee, Jinyoung

    2016-04-01

    Evapotranspiration (ET) has received a great attention in drought assessment as it is closely related to atmospheric water demand. The hypothetical potential ET (ETp) has been predominantly used, nonetheless it does not actually exist in the hydrologic cycle. In this work, we used a complementary method for ET estimation to obtain wet-environment ET (ETw) and actual ET (ETa) from routinely observed climatic data. By combining ET deficits (ETw minus ETa) and the structure of the Standardized Precipitation-Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI), we proposed a novel ET-based drought index, the Standardized Evapotranspiration Deficit Index (SEDI). We carried out historical drought identification for the contiguous United States using temperature datasets of the PRISM Climate Group. SEDI presented spatial distributions of drought areas similar to the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) and Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) for major drought events. It indicates that SEDI can be used for validating other drought indices. Using the non-parametric Mann-Kendall test, we found a significant decreasing trend of SEDI (increasing drought risk) similar to PDSI and SPI in the western United States. This study suggests a potential of ET-based indices for drought quantification even with no involvement of precipitation data.

  10. Crop evapotranspiration estimation using remote sensing and the existing network of meteorological stations in Cyprus

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Papadavid, G.; Hadjimitsis, D.; Michaelides, S.; Nisantzi, A.

    2011-05-01

    Cyprus is frequently confronted with severe droughts and the need for accurate and systematic data on crop evapotranspiration (ETc) is essential for decision making, regarding water irrigation management and scheduling. The aim of this paper is to highlight how data from meteorological stations in Cyprus can be used for monitoring and determining the country's irrigation demands. This paper shows how daily ETc can be estimated using FAO Penman-Monteith method adapted to satellite data and auxiliary meteorological parameters. This method is widely used in many countries for estimating crop evapotranspiration using auxiliary meteorological data (maximum and minimum temperatures, relative humidity, wind speed) as inputs. Two case studies were selected in order to determine evapotranspiration using meteorological and low resolution satellite data (MODIS - TERRA) and to compare it with the results of the reference method (FAO-56) which estimates the reference evapotranspiration (ETo) by using only meteorological data. The first approach corresponds to the FAO Penman-Monteith method adapted for using both meteorological and remotely sensed data. Furthermore, main automatic meteorological stations in Cyprus were mapped using Geographical Information System (GIS). All the agricultural areas of the island were categorized according to the nearest meteorological station which is considered as "representative" of the area. Thiessen polygons methodology was used for this purpose. The intended goal was to illustrate what can happen to a crop, in terms of water requirements, if meteorological data are retrieved from other than the representative stations. The use of inaccurate data can result in low yields or excessive irrigation which both lead to profit reduction. The results have shown that if inappropriate meteorological data are utilized, then deviations from correct ETc might be obtained, leading to water losses or crop water stress.

  11. Regional ground-water evapotranspiration and ground-water budgets, Great Basin, Nevada

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Nichols, William D.

    2000-01-01

    PART A: Ground-water evapotranspiration data from five sites in Nevada and seven sites in Owens Valley, California, were used to develop equations for estimating ground-water evapotranspiration as a function of phreatophyte plant cover or as a function of the depth to ground water. Equations are given for estimating mean daily seasonal and annual ground-water evapotranspiration. The equations that estimate ground-water evapotranspiration as a function of plant cover can be used to estimate regional-scale ground-water evapotranspiration using vegetation indices derived from satellite data for areas where the depth to ground water is poorly known. Equations that estimate ground-water evapotranspiration as a function of the depth to ground water can be used where the depth to ground water is known, but for which information on plant cover is lacking. PART B: Previous ground-water studies estimated groundwater evapotranspiration by phreatophytes and bare soil in Nevada on the basis of results of field studies published in 1912 and 1932. More recent studies of evapotranspiration by rangeland phreatophytes, using micrometeorological methods as discussed in Chapter A of this report, provide new data on which to base estimates of ground-water evapotranspiration. An approach correlating ground-water evapotranspiration with plant cover is used in conjunction with a modified soil-adjusted vegetation index derived from Landsat data to develop a method for estimating the magnitude and distribution of ground-water evapotranspiration at a regional scale. Large areas of phreatophytes near Duckwater and Lockes in Railroad Valley are believed to subsist on ground water discharged from nearby regional springs. Ground-water evapotranspiration by the Duckwater phreatophytes of about 11,500 acre-feet estimated by the method described in this report compares well with measured discharge of about 13,500 acre-feet from the springs near Duckwater. Measured discharge from springs near Lockes

  12. Evaluation of HYDRUS-1D for Estimating Evapotranspiration of Bell Pepper Regulated by Cloud-based Fertigation System in Greenhouse

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ito, Y.; Honda, R.; Takesako, H.; Ozawa, K.; Kita, E.; Kanno, M.; Noborio, K.

    2017-12-01

    A fertile surface layer, contaminated with radiocesium resulting from the accident of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in 2011, was removed and replaced by non-fertile soil in Fukushima farmlands. In a greenhouse, we used a commercially-available cloud-based fertigation system (CBFS) for regulating an application rate of liquid fertilizer to bell pepper grown in the non-fertile soil. Although the CBFS regulates the application rate based on a weekly trend of volumetric water content (Θw) remotely measured at the soil surface using a soil moisture sensor if all applied water being consumed by plants in a greenhouse is not known. Evapotranspiration of green pepper grown with the CBFS was estimated by HYDRUS-1D. Experiments in a greenhouse were conducted in Fukushima, Japan, from September 1st to October 31st in 2016. Bell pepper plants were transplanted in the begging of June in 2016. The Penman-Monteith equation was used to estimate evapotranspiration, representing transpiration since the soil surface was covered with plastic mulch. Time domain reflectometry (TDR) probes were horizontally installed to monitor changes in Θw at 5, 10, 20, and 30 cm deep from the soil surface. The van Genuchten-Mualem hydraulic model for water and heat flow in soil was used for HYDRUS-1D. A precipitation rate for the upper boundary condition was given as an irrigation rate. We assumed wind speed was always 0.6 m s-1 for the Penman-Monteith equation. The amount of evapotranspiration estimated with the Penman-Monteith equation agreed well with the amount of irrigated water measured. The evapotranspiration simulated with HYDRUS-1D agreed well with that estimated with the Penman-Monteith equation. However, Θw at all depth were underestimated with Hydrus-1D by approximately 0.05 m3 m-3 and differences of Θw between measured and estimated with HYDRYS-1D became larger at deeper the soil depths. This might be attributed to larger water flow occurred because of a free drainage used

  13. Evapotranspiration from areas of native vegetation in west-central Florida

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Bidlake, W.R.; Woodham, W.M.; Lopez, M.A.

    1993-01-01

    A study was made to examine the suitability of three different micrometeorological methods for estimating evapotranspiration from selected areas of native vegetation in west-central Florida and to estimate annual evapotranspiration from those areas. Evapotranspiration was estimated using the energy- balance Bowen ratio and eddy correlation methods. Potential evapotranspiration was computed using the Penman equation. The energy-balance Bowen ratio method was used to estimate diurnal evapotrans- piration at unforested sites and yielded reasonable results; however, measurements indicated that the magnitudes of air temperature and vapor-pressure gradients above the forested sites were too small to obtain reliable evapotranspiration measurements with the energy balance Bowen ratio system. Analysis of the surface energy-balance indicated that sensible and latent heat fluxes computed using standard eddy correlation computation methods did not adequately account for available energy. Eddy correlation data were combined with the equation for the surface energy balance to yield two additional estimates of evapotranspiration. Daily potential evapotranspiration and evapotranspira- tion estimated using the energy-balance Bowen ratio method were not correlated at a unforested, dry prairie site, but they were correlated at a marsh site. Estimates of annual evapotranspiration for sites within the four vegetation types, which were based on energy-balance Bowen ratio and eddy correlation measurements, were 1,010 millimeters for dry prairie sites, 990 millimeters for marsh sites, 1,060 millimeters for pine flatwood sites, and 970 millimeters for a cypress swamp site.

  14. Timescales of Land Surface Evapotranspiration Response

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Scott, Russell; Entekhabi, Dara; Koster, Randal; Suarez, Max

    1997-01-01

    Soil and vegetation exert strong control over the evapotranspiration rate, which couples the land surface water and energy balances. A method is presented to quantify the timescale of this surface control using daily general circulation model (GCM) simulation values of evapotranspiration and precipitation. By equating the time history of evaporation efficiency (ratio of actual to potential evapotranspiration) to the convolution of precipitation and a unit kernel (temporal weighting function), response functions are generated that can be used to characterize the timescales of evapotranspiration response for the land surface model (LSM) component of GCMS. The technique is applied to the output of two multiyear simulations of a GCM, one using a Surface-Vegetation-Atmosphere-Transfer (SVAT) scheme and the other a Bucket LSM. The derived response functions show that the Bucket LSM's response is significantly slower than that of the SVAT across the globe. The analysis also shows how the timescales of interception reservoir evaporation, bare soil evaporation, and vegetation transpiration differ within the SVAT LSM.

  15. Barren area evapotranspiration estimates generated from energy budget measurements in the Gila River valley of Arizona

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Leppanen, O.E.

    1980-01-01

    Estimates of evapotranspiration for 479 successive days were created by using energy budget measurements. The measurement point was on the 2-kilometer wide flood plain of the Gila River in east-central Arizona, about 18 kilometers above Coolidge Dam. The flood plain had been cleared of all tall vegetation for distances of about 20 kilometers upstream and 5 kilometers downstream from the measurement site. Chaining, raking, and burning had been used to clear the area immediately surrounding the measurement site about 6 months before measurements began. Ground cover was sparse volunteer Bermudagrass and scattered seepwillow for a distance of at least 1 kilometer in all directions from the measurement point . The water table was deep , so most of the evaporated water came from rainfall, but some came from soil moisture deeper than 2 meters. The March to March water loss (evapotranspiration less rain) was about 47 millimeters, evapotranspiration demand was 377 millimeters. Daily rates varied from very small amounts of condensation to almost 5 millimeters of evapotranspiration. (USGS)

  16. Regional Evapotranspiration Estimation by Using Wireless Sap Flow and Soil Moisture Measurement Systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kuo, C.; Yu, P.; Yang, T.; Davis, T. W.; Liang, X.; Tseng, C.; Cheng, C.

    2011-12-01

    The objective of this study proposed herein is to estimate regional evapotranspiration via sap flow and soil moisture measurements associated with wireless sensor network in the field. Evapotranspiration is one of the important factors in water balance computation. Pan evaporation collected from the meteorological station can only be accounted as a single-point scale measurement rather than the water loss of the entire region. Thus, we need a multiple-site measurement for understanding the regional evapotranspiration. Applying sap flow method with self-made probes, we could calculate transpiration. Soil moisture measurement was used to monitor the daily soil moisture variety for evaporation. Sap flow and soil moisture measurements in multiple sites are integrated by using wireless sensor network (WSN). Then, the measurement results of each site were scaled up and combined into the regional evapotranspiration. This study used thermal dissipation method to measure sap flow in trees to represent the plant transpiration. Sap flow was measured by using the self-made sap probes which needed to be calibrated before setting up at the observation field. Regional transpiration was scaled up through the Leaf Area Index (LAI). The LAI of regional scale was from the MODIS image calculated at 1km X 1km grid size. The soil moistures collected from areas outside the distributing area of tree roots and tree canopy were used to represent the evaporation. The observation was undertaken to collect soil moisture variety from five different soil depths of 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 cm respectively. The regional evaporation can be estimated by averaging the variation of soil moisture from each site within the region. The result data measured by both sap flow and soil moisture measurements of each site were collected through the wireless sensor network. The WSN performs the functions of P2P and mesh networking. That can collect data in multiple locations simultaneously and has less power

  17. Using the TIMS to estimate evapotranspiration from a forest

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Teskey, Robert

    1991-01-01

    The main goals were: (1) to characterize the evapotranspiration (Et) of two forested watersheds using direct measurement techniques, and (2) to evaluate if remotely sensed surface temperatures could be used to estimate Et from the same watersheds. Two independent approaches for estimating the Et from watersheds were used. The first was derived using the Penman-Monteith Equation. This model requires the direct measurement of the microclimate of the site as well as biological measurements, i.e., stomatal conductance to water vapor and the leaf area of the stand. The primary limitation of this approach is that the measurement of stomatal conductance is time consuming, and in large trees, access to the foliage is difficult so the sample must be limited to the small number of trees. In the study, the sample was limited to the trees which could be measured from a single tower in each stand.

  18. Understanding the relationship between actual and potential evapotranspirations from long- term water balance analysis and flux observation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yang, D.; Yang, H.; Sun, F.

    2007-12-01

    Increase in air temperature and decrease in pan evaporation was found to be common worldwide during the past half century. This results in controversy in view of the changes to the hydrological cycle. Increases in precipitation have been expected due to the Clausius¡§CClapyeron relation in that the specific humidity increases exponentially with the greenhouse-gas induced temperature increasing and confirmed by measurements over northern extratropical land areas. The hydrologic cycle is expected to be intensified (or accelerated). However, the decreased pan evaporation is found to be well related to the global dimming, i.e., the decreased solar radiation induced by the pollution increasing, thus evaporation (i.e., the latent heat flux) should be steadily decreasing from the energy balance perspective. Many researchers explained that the potential evaporation (usually measured by pan) is decreased with increasing of precipitation; however, the increased soil moisture (due to precipitation increasing) can be evaporated because of extra energy available. Therefore, the actual and potential evaporation are in complementary relationship, which is expected to unify the controversy between global warming and dimming. This means that pan evaporation decrease implicates acceleration of the global hydrologic cycle, i.e., increase in the terrestrial evaporation. Based on the complementary theory, many operational formulae have been introduced to estimated actual evaporation from the potential evaporation. Our recent water balance analysis of 108 catchments in non-humid regions of China has shown that there are no general opposite trends between potential and actual evaporation in the same period. A novel phenomenon has been found that the complementary relationships in evaporation are distinctly confirmed when the annual actual and potential evaporation are plotted against annual precipitation; However, complementary relationships disappear in many catchments when actual and

  19. Estimates of evapotranspiration in alkaline scrub and meadow communities of Owens Valley, California, using the Bowen-ratio, eddy-correlation, and Penman-combination methods

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Duell, L. F. W.

    1988-01-01

    In Owens Valley, evapotranspiration (ET) is one of the largest components of outflow in the hydrologic budget and the least understood. ET estimates for December 1983 through October 1985 were made for seven representative locations selected on the basis of geohydrology and the characteristics of phreatophytic alkaline scrub and meadow communities. The Bowen-ratio, eddy-correlation, and Penman-combination methods were used to estimate ET. The results of the analyses appear satisfactory when compared to other estimates of ET. Results by the eddy-correlation method are for a direct and a residual latent-heat flux that is based on sensible-heat flux and energy budget measurements. Penman-combination potential ET estimates were determined to be unusable because they overestimated actual ET. Modification in the psychrometer constant of this method to account for differences between heat-diffusion resistance and vapor-diffusion resistance permitted actual ET to be estimated. The methods may be used for studies in similar semiarid and arid rangeland areas in the Western United States. Meteorological data for three field sites are included in the appendix. Simple linear regression analysis indicates that ET estimates are correlated to air temperature, vapor-density deficit, and net radiation. Estimates of annual ET range from 300 mm at a low-density scrub site to 1,100 mm at a high-density meadow site. The monthly percentage of annual ET was determined to be similar for all sites studied. (Author 's abstract)

  20. Estimates of evapotranspiration in alkaline scrub and meadow communities of Owens Valley, California, using the Bowen-ratio, eddy-correlation, and penman-combination methods

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Duell, Lowell F. W.

    1990-01-01

    In Owens Valley, evapotranspiration (ET) is one of the largest components of outflow in the hydrologic budget and the least understood. ET estimates for December 1983 through October 1985 were made for seven representative locations selected on the basis of geohydrology and the characteristics of phreatophytic alkaline scrub and meadow communities. The Bowen-ratio, eddy-correlation, and Penman-combination methods were used to estimate ET. The results of the analyses appear satisfactory when compared with other estimates of ET. Results by the eddy-correlation method are for a direct and a residual latent-heat flux that is based on sensible-heat flux and energy-budget measurements. Penman-combination potential-ET estimates were determined to be unusable because they overestimated actual ET. Modification of the psychrometer constant of this method to account for differences between heat-diffusion resistance and vapor-diffusion resistance permitted actual ET to be estimated. The methods described in this report may be used for studies in similar semiarid and arid rangeland areas in the Western United States. Meteorological data for three field sites are included in the appendix of this report. Simple linear regression analysis indicates that ET estimates are correlated to air temperature, vapor-density deficit, and net radiation. Estimates of annual ET range from 301 millimeters at a low-density scrub site to 1,137 millimeters at a high-density meadow site. The monthly percentage of annual ET was determined to be similar for all sites studied.

  1. Modeling soybean canopy resistance from micrometeorological and plant variables for estimating evapotranspiration using one-step Penman-Monteith approach

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Irmak, Suat; Mutiibwa, Denis; Payero, Jose; Marek, Thomas; Porter, Dana

    2013-12-01

    Canopy resistance (rc) is one of the most important variables in evapotranspiration, agronomy, hydrology and climate change studies that link vegetation response to changing environmental and climatic variables. This study investigates the concept of generalized nonlinear/linear modeling approach of rc from micrometeorological and plant variables for soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] canopy at different climatic zones in Nebraska, USA (Clay Center, Geneva, Holdrege and North Platte). Eight models estimating rc as a function of different combination of micrometeorological and plant variables are presented. The models integrated the linear and non-linear effects of regulating variables (net radiation, Rn; relative humidity, RH; wind speed, U3; air temperature, Ta; vapor pressure deficit, VPD; leaf area index, LAI; aerodynamic resistance, ra; and solar zenith angle, Za) to predict hourly rc. The most complex rc model has all regulating variables and the simplest model has only Rn, Ta and RH. The rc models were developed at Clay Center in the growing season of 2007 and applied to other independent sites and years. The predicted rc for the growing seasons at four locations were then used to estimate actual crop evapotranspiration (ETc) as a one-step process using the Penman-Monteith model and compared to the measured data at all locations. The models were able to account for 66-93% of the variability in measured hourly ETc across locations. Models without LAI generally underperformed and underestimated due to overestimation of rc, especially during full canopy cover stage. Using vapor pressure deficit or relative humidity in the models had similar effect on estimating rc. The root squared error (RSE) between measured and estimated ETc was about 0.07 mm h-1 for most of the models at Clay Center, Geneva and Holdrege. At North Platte, RSE was above 0.10 mm h-1. The results at different sites and different growing seasons demonstrate the robustness and consistency of the

  2. Evapotranspiration from areas of native vegetation in west-central Florida

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Bidlake, W.R.; Woodham, W.M.; Lopez, Miguel Angel

    1996-01-01

    The micrometeorological methods of energy-balance Bowen ratio and eddy correlation probably are suitable for determining evapotranspiration from unforested sites, but the aerodynamic effects of tall tree canopies need to be considered when the methods are used for forested sites. Potential evapotranspiration methods might not yield reliable estimates of evapotranspiration for all areas of native vegetation. Estimates of annual evapotranspiration ranged from 970 millimeters for a cypress swamp site to 1,060 millimeters for a pine flatwood site.

  3. An investigation of spectral change as influenced by irrigation and evapotranspiration volume estimation in western Nebraska

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Seevers, P.M.; Sadowski, F.C.; Lauer, D.T.

    1990-01-01

    Retrospective satellite image data were evaluated for their ability to demonstrate the influence of center-pivot irrigation development in western Nebraska on spectral change and climate-related factors for the region. Periodic images of an albedo index and a normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) were generated from calibrated Landsat multispectral scanner (MSS) data and used to monitor spectral changes associated with irrigation development from 1972 through 1986. The albedo index was not useful for monitoring irrigation development. For the NDVI, it was found that proportions of counties in irrigated agriculture, as discriminated by a threshold, were more highly correlated with reported ground estimates of irrigated agriculture than were county mean greenness values. A similar result was achieved when using coarse resolution Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) image data for estimating irrigated agriculture. The NDVI images were used to evaluate a procedure for making areal estimates of actual evapotranspiration (ET) volumes. Estimates of ET volumes for test counties, using reported ground acreages and corresponding standard crop coefficients, were correlated with the estimates of ET volume using crop coefficients scaled to NDVI values and pixel counts of crop areas. These county estimates were made under the assumption that soil water availability was unlimited. For nonirrigated vegetation, this may result in over-estimation of ET volumes. Ground information regarding crop types and acreages are required to derive the NDVI scaling factor. Potential ET, estimated with the Jensen-Haise model, is common to both methods. These results, achieved with both MSS and AVHRR data, show promise for providing climatologically important land surface information for regional and global climate models. ?? 1990 Kluwer Academic Publishers.

  4. Validating HYLARSMET: a Hydrologically Consistent Land Surface Model for Soil Moisture and Evapotranspiration Modelling over Southern Africa using Remote Sensing and Meteorological Data

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sinclair, Scott; Pegram, Geoff; Mengitsu, Michael; Everson, Colin

    2015-04-01

    Timeous knowledge of the spatial distribution of soil moisture and evapotranspiration over a large region in fine detail has great value for coping with two weather extremes: flash floods and droughts, since the state of the wetness of the land surface has a major impact on runoff response. Also, the ability to monitor the wetness of the soil and the actual evapotranspiration over large regions, without having to laboriously take expensive samples, is a bonus for agricultural managers who need to predict crop yields. We present samples of the daily national Soil Moisture and Evapotranspiration estimates on a grid of 7300 locations centred in 12 km squares, then move on to the results of a validation study for soil moisture and evapotranspiration estimated using the PyTOPKAPI hydrological model in Land Surface Modelling mode, a system called HYLARSMET. The HYLARSMET estimates are compared with detailed evapotranspiration and soil moisture measurements made at the Baynesfield experimental farm in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa, run by the University of KZN. The HYLARSMET evapotranspiration estimates compared very well with the measured estimates for the two chosen crop types, in spite of the fact that the HYLARSMET estimates were not designed to explicitly account for the crop types at each site. The same seasonality effects were evident in all 3 estimates, and there was a stronger ET relationship between HYLARSMET and the Soybean site (Pearson r = 0.81) than for Maize, (r = 0.59). The soil moisture relationship was stronger between the two in situ measured estimates (r = 0.98 at 0.5 m depth) than it was between HYLARSMET and the field estimates (r about 0.52 in both cases). Overall there was a reasonably good relationship between HYLARSMET and the in situ measurements of ET and SM at each site, indicating the value of the modelling procedure.

  5. Water Footprint of a Super-intensive Olive Grove Under Mediterranean Climate using Ground-based Evapotranspiration Measurements and Remote Sensing

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nogueira, A. M.; Paço, T. A.; Silvestre, J. C.; Gonzalez, L. F.; Santos, F. L.; Pereira, L. S.

    2012-04-01

    measurements were used to calculate water footprint instead of the common procedure (using evapotranspiration estimates), this might have also introduced some differences. The potential of using remote sensing techniques for the assessment of water footprint of crops has been discussed in recent literature. It can provide estimates of actual evapotranspiration, of precipitation, of surface runoff and of irrigation needs when associated with modelling. In this study we further compare the water footprint estimates using in situ evapotranspiration measurements and water footprint estimates using remote sensing techniques. A comparison with the irrigation records for this particular olive orchard will be used to validate the approaches.

  6. Evapotranspiration and remote sensing

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Schmugge, T. J.; Gurney, R.

    1982-01-01

    There are three things required for evapotranspiration to occur: (1) energy (580 cal/gm) for the change of phase of the water; (2) a source of the water, i.e., adequate soil moisture in the surface layer or in the root zone of the plant; and (3) a sink for the water, i.e., a moisture deficit in the air above the ground. Remote sensing can contribute information to the first two of these conditions by providing estimates of solar insolation, surface albedo, surface temperature, vegetation cover, and soil moisture content. In addition there have been attempts to estimate precipitation and shelter air temperature from remotely sensed data. The problem remains to develop methods for effectively using these sources of information to make large area estimates of evapotranspiration.

  7. Estimating plant available water content from remotely sensed evapotranspiration

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    van Dijk, A. I. J. M.; Warren, G.; Doody, T.

    2012-04-01

    Plant available water content (PAWC) is an emergent soil property that is a critical variable in hydrological modelling. PAWC determines the active soil water storage and, in water-limited environments, is the main cause of different ecohydrological behaviour between (deep-rooted) perennial vegetation and (shallow-rooted) seasonal vegetation. Conventionally, PAWC is estimated for a combination of soil and vegetation from three variables: maximum rooting depth and the volumetric water content at field capacity and permanent wilting point, respectively. Without elaborate local field observation, large uncertainties in PAWC occur due to the assumptions associated with each of the three variables. We developed an alternative, observation-based method to estimate PAWC from precipitation observations and CSIRO MODIS Reflectance-based Evapotranspiration (CMRSET) estimates. Processing steps include (1) removing residual systematic bias in the CMRSET estimates, (2) making spatially appropriate assumptions about local water inputs and surface runoff losses, (3) using mean seasonal patterns in precipitation and CMRSET to estimate the seasonal pattern in soil water storage changes, (4) from these, calculating the mean seasonal storage range, which can be treated as an estimate of PAWC. We evaluate the resulting PAWC estimates against those determined in field experiments for 180 sites across Australia. We show that the method produces better estimates of PAWC than conventional techniques. In addition, the method provides detailed information with full continental coverage at moderate resolution (250 m) scale. The resulting maps can be used to identify likely groundwater dependent ecosystems and to derive PAWC distributions for each combination of soil and vegetation type.

  8. Evaluation from 3-Years Time Serie of Daily Actual Evapotranspiration over the Tibetan Plateau

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Faivre, R.; Menenti, M.

    2016-08-01

    The estimation of turbulent uxes is of primary interest for hydrological and climatological studies. Also the use of optical remote sensing data in the VNIR and TIR domain already proved to allow for the parameterization of surface energy balance, leading to many algorithms. Their use over arid high elevation areas require detailed characterisation of key surface physical properties and atmospheric statement at a reference level. Satellite products aquired over the Tibetan Plateau and simulations results delivered in the frame of the CEOP-AEGIS project provide incentives for a regular analysis at medium scale.This work aims at evaluating the use Feng-Yun 2 series and MODIS data (VNIR and TIR) for land surface evapotranspiration (ET) daily mapping based on SEBI algorithm, over the whole Tibetan Plateau (Faivre, 2014). An evaluation is performed over some reference sites set-up through the Tibetan Plateau.

  9. Environmental controls on seasonal ecosystem evapotranspiration/potential evapotranspiration ratio as determined by the global eddy flux measurements

    Treesearch

    Chunwei Liu; Ge Sun; Steve McNulty; Asko Noormets; Yuan Fang

    2017-01-01

    The evapotranspiration / potential evapotranspiration (AET / PET) ratio is traditionally termed as the crop coefficient (Kc) and has been generally used as ecosystem evaporative stress index. In the current hydrology literature, Kc has been widely used as a parameter to estimate crop water demand by water managers but has...

  10. Estimating shortwave solar radiation using net radiation and meteorological measurements

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Shortwave radiation has a wide variety of uses in land-atmosphere interactions research. Actual evapotranspiration estimation that involves stomatal conductance models like Jarvis and Ball-Berry require shortwave radiation to estimate photon flux density. However, in most weather stations, shortwave...

  11. Evapotranspiration from the Lower Walker River Basin, West-Central Nevada, Water Years 2005-07

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Allander, Kip K.; Smith, J. LaRue; Johnson, Michael J.

    2009-01-01

    evapotranspiration station in a saltcedar grove, measurements indicated a possible decrease in evapotranspiration of about 50 percent due to defoliation of the saltcedar by the saltcedar leaf beetle. Total evapotranspiration from the evapotranspiration units identified in the Lower Walker River basin was about 231,000 acre-feet per year (acre-ft/yr). Of this amount, about 45,000 acre-ft/yr originated from direct precipitation, resulting in net evapotranspiration of about 186,000 acre-ft/yr. More than 80 percent of net evapotranspiration in the Lower Walker River basin was through evaporation from Walker Lake. Total evaporation from Walker Lake was about 161,000 acre-ft/yr and net evaporation was about 149,000 acre-ft/yr. Some previous estimates of evaporation from Walker Lake based on water-budget analysis actually represent total evaporation minus ground-water inflow to the lake. Historical evaporation rates determined on the basis of water budget analysis were less than the evaporation rate measured directly during this study. The difference could represent ground-water inflow to Walker Lake of 16,000 to 26,000 acre-ft/yr or could indicate that ground-water inflow to Walker Lake is decreasing over time as the lake perimeter recedes.

  12. Global estimation of evapotranspiration using a leaf area index-based surface energy and water balance model

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Studies of global hydrologic cycles, carbon cycles and climate change are greatly facilitated when global estimates of evapotranspiration (E) are available. We have developed an air-relative-humidity-based two-source (ARTS) E model that simulates the surface energy balance, soil water balance, and e...

  13. Improving the complementary methods to estimate evapotranspiration under diverse climatic and physical conditions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Anayah, F. M.; Kaluarachchi, J. J.

    2014-06-01

    Reliable estimation of evapotranspiration (ET) is important for the purpose of water resources planning and management. Complementary methods, including complementary relationship areal evapotranspiration (CRAE), advection aridity (AA) and Granger and Gray (GG), have been used to estimate ET because these methods are simple and practical in estimating regional ET using meteorological data only. However, prior studies have found limitations in these methods especially in contrasting climates. This study aims to develop a calibration-free universal method using the complementary relationships to compute regional ET in contrasting climatic and physical conditions with meteorological data only. The proposed methodology consists of a systematic sensitivity analysis using the existing complementary methods. This work used 34 global FLUXNET sites where eddy covariance (EC) fluxes of ET are available for validation. A total of 33 alternative model variations from the original complementary methods were proposed. Further analysis using statistical methods and simplified climatic class definitions produced one distinctly improved GG-model-based alternative. The proposed model produced a single-step ET formulation with results equal to or better than the recent studies using data-intensive, classical methods. Average root mean square error (RMSE), mean absolute bias (BIAS) and R2 (coefficient of determination) across 34 global sites were 20.57 mm month-1, 10.55 mm month-1 and 0.64, respectively. The proposed model showed a step forward toward predicting ET in large river basins with limited data and requiring no calibration.

  14. Estimations of evapotranspiration in an age sequence of Eucalyptus plantations in subtropical China

    PubMed Central

    Fan, Houbao; Duan, Honglang; Li, Qiang; Yuan, Yinghong; Zhang, Hao

    2017-01-01

    Eucalyptus species are widely planted for reforestation in subtropical China. However, the effects of Eucalyptus plantations on the regional water use remain poorly understood. In an age sequence of 2-, 4- and 6-year-old Eucalyptus plantations, the tree water use and soil evaporation were examined by linking model estimations and field observations. Results showed that annual evapotranspiration of each age sequence Eucalyptus plantations was 876.7, 944.1 and 1000.7 mm, respectively, accounting for 49.81%, 53.64% and 56.86% of the annual rainfall. In addition, annual soil evaporations of 2-, 4- and 6-year-old were 318.6, 336.1, and 248.7 mm of the respective Eucalyptus plantations. Our results demonstrated that Eucalyptus plantations would potentially reduce water availability due to high evapotranspiration in subtropical regions. Sustainable management strategies should be implemented to reduce water consumption in Eucalyptus plantations in the context of future climate change scenarios such as drought and warming. PMID:28399174

  15. Estimations of evapotranspiration in an age sequence of Eucalyptus plantations in subtropical China.

    PubMed

    Liu, Wenfei; Wu, Jianping; Fan, Houbao; Duan, Honglang; Li, Qiang; Yuan, Yinghong; Zhang, Hao

    2017-01-01

    Eucalyptus species are widely planted for reforestation in subtropical China. However, the effects of Eucalyptus plantations on the regional water use remain poorly understood. In an age sequence of 2-, 4- and 6-year-old Eucalyptus plantations, the tree water use and soil evaporation were examined by linking model estimations and field observations. Results showed that annual evapotranspiration of each age sequence Eucalyptus plantations was 876.7, 944.1 and 1000.7 mm, respectively, accounting for 49.81%, 53.64% and 56.86% of the annual rainfall. In addition, annual soil evaporations of 2-, 4- and 6-year-old were 318.6, 336.1, and 248.7 mm of the respective Eucalyptus plantations. Our results demonstrated that Eucalyptus plantations would potentially reduce water availability due to high evapotranspiration in subtropical regions. Sustainable management strategies should be implemented to reduce water consumption in Eucalyptus plantations in the context of future climate change scenarios such as drought and warming.

  16. Application of remote sensing in estimating evapotranspiration in the Platte river basin

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Blad, B. L.; Rosenberg, N. J.

    1976-01-01

    A 'resistance model' and a mass transport model for estimating evapotranspiration (ET) were tested on large fields of naturally subirrigated alfalfa. Both models make use of crop canopy temperature data. Temperature data were obtained with an IR thermometer and with leaf thermocouples. A Bowen ratio-energy balance (BREB) model, adjusted to account for underestimation of ET during periods of strong sensible heat advection, was used as the standard against which the resistance and mass transport models were compared. Daily estimates by the resistance model were within 10% of estimates made by the BREB model. Daily estimates by the mass transport model did not agree quite as well. Performance was good on clear and cloudy days and also during periods of non-advection and strong advection of sensible heat. The performance of the mass transport and resistance models was less satisfactory for estimation of fluxes of latent heat for short term periods. Both models tended to overestimate at low LE fluxes.

  17. Remote sensing based crop type mapping and evapotranspiration estimates at the farm level in arid regions of the globe

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ozdogan, M.; Serrat-Capdevila, A.; Anderson, M. C.

    2017-12-01

    Despite increasing scarcity of freshwater resources, there is dearth of spatially explicit information on irrigation water consumption through evapotranspiration, particularly in semi-arid and arid geographies. Remote sensing, either alone or in combination with ground surveys, is increasingly being used for irrigation water management by quantifying evaporative losses at the farm level. Increased availability of observations, sophisticated algorithms, and access to cloud-based computing is also helping this effort. This presentation will focus on crop-specific evapotranspiration estimates at the farm level derived from remote sensing in a number of water-scarce regions of the world. The work is part of a larger effort to quantify irrigation water use and improve use efficiencies associated with several World Bank projects. Examples will be drawn from India, where groundwater based irrigation withdrawals are monitored with the help of crop type mapping and evapotranspiration estimates from remote sensing. Another example will be provided from a northern irrigation district in Mexico, where remote sensing is used for detailed water accounting at the farm level. These locations exemplify the success stories in irrigation water management with the help of remote sensing with the hope that spatially disaggregated information on evapotranspiration can be used as inputs for various water management decisions as well as for better water allocation strategies in many other water scarce regions.

  18. Estimating evapotranspiration and groundwater flow from water-table fluctuations for a general wetland scenario

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Carlson Mazur, Martha L.; Michael J. Wiley,; Douglas A. Wilcox,

    2015-01-01

    The use of diurnal water-table fluctuation methods to calculate evapotranspiration (ET) and groundwater flow is of increasing interest in ecohydrological studies. Most studies of this type, however, have been located in riparian wetlands of semi-arid regions where groundwater levels are consistently below topographic surface elevations and precipitation events are infrequent. Current methodologies preclude application to a wider variety of wetland systems. In this study, we extended a method for estimating sub-daily ET and groundwater flow rates from water-level fluctuations to fit highly dynamic, non-riparian wetland scenarios. Modifications included (1) varying the specific yield to account for periodic flooded conditions and (2) relating empirically derived ET to estimated potential ET for days when precipitation events masked the diurnal signal. To demonstrate the utility of this method, we estimated ET and groundwater fluxes over two growing seasons (2006–2007) in 15 wetlands within a ridge-and-swale wetland complex of the Laurentian Great Lakes under flooded and non-flooded conditions. Mean daily ET rates for the sites ranged from 4.0 mm d−1 to 6.6 mm d−1. Shallow groundwater discharge rates resulting from evaporative demand ranged from 2.5 mm d−1 to 4.3 mm d−1. This study helps to expand our understanding of the evapotranspirative demand of plants under various hydrologic and climate conditions.

  19. Estimating evapotranspiration and drought stress with ground-based thermal remote sensing in agriculture: a review.

    PubMed

    Maes, W H; Steppe, K

    2012-08-01

    As evaporation of water is an energy-demanding process, increasing evapotranspiration rates decrease the surface temperature (Ts) of leaves and plants. Based on this principle, ground-based thermal remote sensing has become one of the most important methods for estimating evapotranspiration and drought stress and for irrigation. This paper reviews its application in agriculture. The review consists of four parts. First, the basics of thermal remote sensing are briefly reviewed. Second, the theoretical relation between Ts and the sensible and latent heat flux is elaborated. A modelling approach was used to evaluate the effect of weather conditions and leaf or vegetation properties on leaf and canopy temperature. Ts increases with increasing air temperature and incoming radiation and with decreasing wind speed and relative humidity. At the leaf level, the leaf angle and leaf dimension have a large influence on Ts; at the vegetation level, Ts is strongly impacted by the roughness length; hence, by canopy height and structure. In the third part, an overview of the different ground-based thermal remote sensing techniques and approaches used to estimate drought stress or evapotranspiration in agriculture is provided. Among other methods, stress time, stress degree day, crop water stress index (CWSI), and stomatal conductance index are discussed. The theoretical models are used to evaluate the performance and sensitivity of the most important methods, corroborating the literature data. In the fourth and final part, a critical view on the future and remaining challenges of ground-based thermal remote sensing is presented.

  20. Assessment of actual evapotranspiration over a semiarid heterogeneous land surface by means of coupled low-resolution remote sensing data with an energy balance model: comparison to extra-large aperture scintillometer measurements

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Saadi, Sameh; Boulet, Gilles; Bahir, Malik; Brut, Aurore; Delogu, Émilie; Fanise, Pascal; Mougenot, Bernard; Simonneaux, Vincent; Lili Chabaane, Zohra

    2018-04-01

    In semiarid areas, agricultural production is restricted by water availability; hence, efficient agricultural water management is a major issue. The design of tools providing regional estimates of evapotranspiration (ET), one of the most relevant water balance fluxes, may help the sustainable management of water resources. Remote sensing provides periodic data about actual vegetation temporal dynamics (through the normalized difference vegetation index, NDVI) and water availability under water stress (through the surface temperature Tsurf), which are crucial factors controlling ET. In this study, spatially distributed estimates of ET (or its energy equivalent, the latent heat flux LE) in the Kairouan plain (central Tunisia) were computed by applying the Soil Plant Atmosphere and Remote Sensing Evapotranspiration (SPARSE) model fed by low-resolution remote sensing data (Terra and Aqua MODIS). The work's goal was to assess the operational use of the SPARSE model and the accuracy of the modeled (i) sensible heat flux (H) and (ii) daily ET over a heterogeneous semiarid landscape with complex land cover (i.e., trees, winter cereals, summer vegetables). SPARSE was run to compute instantaneous estimates of H and LE fluxes at the satellite overpass times. The good correspondence (R2 = 0.60 and 0.63 and RMSE = 57.89 and 53.85 W m-2 for Terra and Aqua, respectively) between instantaneous H estimates and large aperture scintillometer (XLAS) H measurements along a path length of 4 km over the study area showed that the SPARSE model presents satisfactory accuracy. Results showed that, despite the fairly large scatter, the instantaneous LE can be suitably estimated at large scales (RMSE = 47.20 and 43.20 W m-2 for Terra and Aqua, respectively, and R2 = 0.55 for both satellites). Additionally, water stress was investigated by comparing modeled (SPARSE) and observed (XLAS) water stress values; we found that most points were located within a 0.2 confidence interval, thus the

  1. Application of artificial intelligence to estimate the reference evapotranspiration in sub-humid Doon valley

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nema, Manish K.; Khare, Deepak; Chandniha, Surendra K.

    2017-11-01

    Estimation of evapotranspiration (ET) is an essential component of the hydrologic cycle, which is also requisite for efficient irrigation water management planning and hydro-meteorological studies at both the basin and catchment scales. There are about twenty well-established methods available for ET estimation which depends upon various meteorological parameters and assumptions. Most of these methods are physically based and need a variety of input data. The FAO-56 Penman-Monteith method (PM) for estimating reference evapotranspiration (ET0) is recommend for irrigation scheduling worldwide, because PM generally yields the best results under various climatic conditions. This study investigates the abilities of artificial neural networks (ANN) to improve the accuracy of monthly evaporation estimation in sub-humid climatic region of Dehradun. In the first part of the study, different ANN models, comprising various combinations of training function and number of neutrons were developed to estimate the ET0 and it has been compared with the Penman-Monteith (PM) ET0 as the ideal (observed) ET0. Various statistical approaches were considered to estimate the model performance, i.e. Coefficient of Correlation ( r), Sum of Squared Errors, Root Mean Square Error, Nash-Sutcliffe Efficiency Index (NSE) and Mean Absolute Error. The ANN model with Levenberg-Marquardt training algorithm, single hidden layer and nine number of neutron schema was found the best predicting capabilities for the study station with Coefficient of Correlation ( r) and NSE value of 0.996 and 0.991 for calibration period and 0.990 and 0.980 for validation period, respectively. In the subsequent part of the study, the trend analysis of ET0 time series revealed a rising trend in the month of March, and a falling trend during June to November, except August, with more than 90% significance level and the annual declining rate was found to 1.49 mm per year.

  2. Comparing different methods for determining forest evapotranspiration and its components at multiple temporal scales.

    PubMed

    Tie, Qiang; Hu, Hongchang; Tian, Fuqiang; Holbrook, N Michele

    2018-08-15

    Accurately estimating forest evapotranspiration and its components is of great importance for hydrology, ecology, and meteorology. In this study, a comparison of methods for determining forest evapotranspiration and its components at annual, monthly, daily, and diurnal scales was conducted based on in situ measurements in the subhumid mountainous forest of North China. The goal of the study was to evaluate the accuracies and reliabilities of the different methods. The results indicate the following: (1) The sap flow upscaling procedure, taking into account diversities in forest types and tree species, produced component-based forest evapotranspiration estimate that agreed with eddy covariance-based estimate at the temporal scales of year, month, and day, while soil water budget-based forest evapotranspiration estimate was also qualitatively consistent with eddy covariance-based estimate at the daily scale; (2) At the annual scale, catchment water balance-based forest evapotranspiration estimate was significantly higher than eddy covariance-based estimate, which might probably result from non-negligible subsurface runoff caused by the widely distributed regolith and fractured bedrock under the ground; (3) At the sub-daily scale, the diurnal course of sap flow based-canopy transpiration estimate lagged significantly behind eddy covariance-based forest evapotranspiration estimate, which might physiologically be due to stem water storage and stem hydraulic conductivity. The results in this region may have much referential significance for forest evapotranspiration estimation and method evaluation in regions with similar environmental conditions. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  3. Thermal and visible remote sensing for estimation of evapotranspiration of rainfed agrosystems and its impact on groundwater in SE Australia

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Roohi, Rakhshan; Webb, John A.

    2016-05-01

    Rainfed agrosystems are important components of the world's food production system and account for 65-95% of total agriculture. In contrast to irrigated production systems, relatively little attention has been paid to understanding the hydrological interactions between the components of rainfed agrosystems and their impact on water resources, especially groundwater. A new model, the Surface Energy Balance Algorithm for Rainfed Agriculture (SEBARA), has been developed to estimate the spatial pattern of evapotranspiration in these agrosystems using satellite images (thermal, infrared and visible spectra). The model was calibrated for two competing land uses (Eucalyptus globules tree plantations and pastures) in adjacent catchments in western Victoria, southeastern Australia. Using measurements from a flux tower in the pasture catchment and adjusted sapflow measurements in the plantation catchment, an estimation accuracy of 95% was achieved. The tree plantations had higher available net radiation, lower soil heat flux and higher latent heat flux, resulting in 15-20% higher evapotranspirative demand than the pasture, depending upon the age and canopy of plantations. The evapotranspiration rate of plantations declines where groundwater depth is >12m or where shallow groundwater is saline. The shallow root system of the pasture means that it relies solely on soil moisture to meet its water requirements and thus has lower evapotranspiration, which varies according to the pasture species.

  4. Estimating evapotranspiration and groundwater flow from water-table fluctuations for a general wetland scenario

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Weber, Lisa C.; Wiley, Michael J.; Wilcox, Douglas A.

    2016-01-01

    The use of diurnal water-table fluctuation methods to calculate evapotranspiration (ET) and groundwater flow is of increasing interest in ecohydrological studies. Most studies of this type, however, have been located in riparian wetlands of semi-arid regions where groundwater levels are consistently below topographic surface elevations and precipitation events are infrequent. Current methodologies preclude application to a wider variety of wetland systems. In this study, we extended a method for estimating sub-daily ET and groundwater flow rates from water-level fluctuations to fit highly dynamic, non-riparian wetland scenarios. Modifications included (1) varying the specific yield to account for periodic flooded conditions and (2) relating empirically derived ET to estimated potential ET for days when precipitation events masked the diurnal signal. To demonstrate the utility of this method, we estimated ET and groundwater fluxes over two growing seasons (2006–2007) in 15 wetlands within a ridge-and-swale wetland complex of the Laurentian Great Lakes under flooded and non-flooded conditions. Mean daily ET rates for the sites ranged from 4.0 mm d−1 to 6.6 mm d−1. Shallow groundwater discharge rates resulting from evaporative demand ranged from 2.5 mm d−1 to 4.3 mm d−1. This study helps to expand our understanding of the evapotranspirative demand of plants under various hydrologic and climate conditions. Published 2013. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

  5. Estimating crop yields and crop evapotranspiration distributions from remote sensing and geospatial agricultural data

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Smith, T.; McLaughlin, D.

    2017-12-01

    Growing more crops to provide a secure food supply to an increasing global population will further stress land and water resources that have already been significantly altered by agriculture. The connection between production and resource use depends on crop yields and unit evapotranspiration (UET) rates that vary greatly, over both time and space. For regional and global analyses of food security it is appropriate to treat yield and UET as uncertain variables conditioned on climatic and soil properties. This study describes how probability distributions of these variables can be estimated by combining remotely sensed land use and evapotranspiration data with in situ agronomic and soils data, all available at different resolutions and coverages. The results reveal the influence of water and temperature stress on crop yield at large spatial scales. They also provide a basis for stochastic modeling and optimization procedures that explicitly account for uncertainty in the environmental factors that affect food production.

  6. Ecosystem evapotranspiration: Challenges in measurements, estimates, and modeling

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Evapotranspiration (ET) processes at the leaf-to-landscape scales in multiple land uses have important controls and feedbacks for the local, regional and global climate and water resource systems. Innovative methods, tools, and technologies for improved understanding and quantification of ET and cro...

  7. Estimating Agricultural Water Use using the Operational Simplified Surface Energy Balance Evapotranspiration Estimation Method

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Forbes, B. T.

    2015-12-01

    Due to the predominantly arid climate in Arizona, access to adequate water supply is vital to the economic development and livelihood of the State. Water supply has become increasingly important during periods of prolonged drought, which has strained reservoir water levels in the Desert Southwest over past years. Arizona's water use is dominated by agriculture, consuming about seventy-five percent of the total annual water demand. Tracking current agricultural water use is important for managers and policy makers so that current water demand can be assessed and current information can be used to forecast future demands. However, many croplands in Arizona are irrigated outside of areas where water use reporting is mandatory. To estimate irrigation withdrawals on these lands, we use a combination of field verification, evapotranspiration (ET) estimation, and irrigation system qualification. ET is typically estimated in Arizona using the Modified Blaney-Criddle method which uses meteorological data to estimate annual crop water requirements. The Modified Blaney-Criddle method assumes crops are irrigated to their full potential over the entire growing season, which may or may not be realistic. We now use the Operational Simplified Surface Energy Balance (SSEBop) ET data in a remote-sensing and energy-balance framework to estimate cropland ET. SSEBop data are of sufficient resolution (30m by 30m) for estimation of field-scale cropland water use. We evaluate our SSEBop-based estimates using ground-truth information and irrigation system qualification obtained in the field. Our approach gives the end user an estimate of crop consumptive use as well as inefficiencies in irrigation system performance—both of which are needed by water managers for tracking irrigated water use in Arizona.

  8. Realization of daily evapotranspiration in arid ecosystems based on remote sensing techniques

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Elhag, Mohamed; Bahrawi, Jarbou A.

    2017-03-01

    Daily evapotranspiration is a major component of water resources management plans. In arid ecosystems, the quest for an efficient water budget is always hard to achieve due to insufficient irrigational water and high evapotranspiration rates. Therefore, monitoring of daily evapotranspiration is a key practice for sustainable water resources management, especially in arid environments. Remote sensing techniques offered a great help to estimate the daily evapotranspiration on a regional scale. Existing open-source algorithms proved to estimate daily evapotranspiration comprehensively in arid environments. The only deficiency of these algorithms is the course scale of the used remote sensing data. Consequently, the adequate downscaling algorithm is a compulsory step to rationalize an effective water resources management plan. Daily evapotranspiration was estimated fairly well using an Advance Along-Track Scanner Radiometer (AATSR) in conjunction with (MEdium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer) MERIS data acquired in July 2013 with 1 km spatial resolution and 3 days of temporal resolution under a surface energy balance system (SEBS) model. Results were validated against reference evapotranspiration ground truth values using standardized Penman-Monteith method with R2 of 0.879. The findings of the current research successfully monitor turbulent heat fluxes values estimated from AATSR and MERIS data with a temporal resolution of 3 days only in conjunction with reliable meteorological data. Research verdicts are necessary inputs for a well-informed decision-making processes regarding sustainable water resource management.

  9. New alternatives for reference evapotranspiration estimation in West Africa using limited weather data and ancillary data supply strategies.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Landeras, Gorka; Bekoe, Emmanuel; Ampofo, Joseph; Logah, Frederick; Diop, Mbaye; Cisse, Madiama; Shiri, Jalal

    2018-05-01

    Accurate estimation of reference evapotranspiration ( ET 0 ) is essential for the computation of crop water requirements, irrigation scheduling, and water resources management. In this context, having a battery of alternative local calibrated ET 0 estimation methods is of great interest for any irrigation advisory service. The development of irrigation advisory services will be a major breakthrough for West African agriculture. In the case of many West African countries, the high number of meteorological inputs required by the Penman-Monteith equation has been indicated as constraining. The present paper investigates for the first time in Ghana, the estimation ability of artificial intelligence-based models (Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) and Gene Expression Programing (GEPs)), and ancillary/external approaches for modeling reference evapotranspiration ( ET 0 ) using limited weather data. According to the results of this study, GEPs have emerged as a very interesting alternative for ET 0 estimation at all the locations of Ghana which have been evaluated in this study under different scenarios of meteorological data availability. The adoption of ancillary/external approaches has been also successful, moreover in the southern locations. The interesting results obtained in this study using GEPs and some ancillary approaches could be a reference for future studies about ET 0 estimation in West Africa.

  10. Actual evapotranspiration (water use) assessment of the Colorado River Basin at the Landsat resolution using the operational simplified surface energy balance model

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Singh, Ramesh K.; Senay, Gabriel B.; Velpuri, Naga Manohar; Bohms, Stefanie; Russell L, Scott; Verdin, James P.

    2014-01-01

    Accurately estimating consumptive water use in the Colorado River Basin (CRB) is important for assessing and managing limited water resources in the basin. Increasing water demand from various sectors may threaten long-term sustainability of the water supply in the arid southwestern United States. We have developed a first-ever basin-wide actual evapotranspiration (ETa) map of the CRB at the Landsat scale for water use assessment at the field level. We used the operational Simplified Surface Energy Balance (SSEBop) model for estimating ETa using 328 cloud-free Landsat images acquired during 2010. Our results show that cropland had the highest ETa among all land cover classes except for water. Validation using eddy covariance measured ETa showed that the SSEBop model nicely captured the variability in annual ETa with an overall R2 of 0.78 and a mean bias error of about 10%. Comparison with water balance-based ETa showed good agreement (R2 = 0.85) at the sub-basin level. Though there was good correlation (R2 = 0.79) between Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)-based ETa (1 km spatial resolution) and Landsat-based ETa (30 m spatial resolution), the spatial distribution of MODIS-based ETa was not suitable for water use assessment at the field level. In contrast, Landsat-based ETa has good potential to be used at the field level for water management. With further validation using multiple years and sites, our methodology can be applied for regular production of ETa maps of larger areas such as the conterminous United States.

  11. Modeling landscape evapotranspiration by integrating land surface phenology and a water balance algorithm

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Senay, Gabriel B.

    2008-01-01

    The main objective of this study is to present an improved modeling technique called Vegetation ET (VegET) that integrates commonly used water balance algorithms with remotely sensed Land Surface Phenology (LSP) parameter to conduct operational vegetation water balance modeling of rainfed systems at the LSP’s spatial scale using readily available global data sets. Evaluation of the VegET model was conducted using Flux Tower data and two-year simulation for the conterminous US. The VegET model is capable of estimating actual evapotranspiration (ETa) of rainfed crops and other vegetation types at the spatial resolution of the LSP on a daily basis, replacing the need to estimate crop- and region-specific crop coefficients.

  12. Effect of the revisit interval on the accuracy of remote sensing-based estimates of evapotranspiration at field scales

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Accurate spatially distributed estimates of evapotranspiration (ET) derived from remotely sensed data are critical to a broad range of practical and operational applications. However, due to lengthy return intervals and cloud cover, data acquisition is not continuous over time. To fill the data gaps...

  13. Monitoring cropland evapotranspiration using MODIS products in Southern Brazil

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ruhoff, Anderson; Aparecida Moreira, Adriana; de Arruda Souza, Vanessa; Roberti, Debora Regina

    2017-04-01

    Evapotranspiration (ET), including water loss from plant transpiration and land evaporation, is of vital importance for understanding hydrological processes and climate dynamics. In this context, remote sensing is considered as the most important tool for estimate ET over large areas. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) offers an interesting opportunity to evaluate ET with spatial resolution of 1 km. The MODIS global evapotranspiration algorithm (MOD16) considers both surface energy fluxes and climatic constraints on ET (water or temperature stress) to estimate plant transpiration and soil evaporation based on Penman-Monteith equation. The algorithm is driven by remotely sensed and reanalysis meteorological data. In this study, MOD16 algorithm was applied to the State of Rio Grande do Sul (in Southern Brazil) to analyse cropland and natural vegetation evapotranspiration and its impacts during drought events. We validated MOD16 estimations using eddy correlation measurements and water balance closure at monthly and annual time scales. We used observed discharge data from three large rivers in Southern Brazil (Jacuí, Taquari and Ibicuí), precipitation data from TRMM Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (3B43 version 7) and terrestrial water storage estimations from the Gravity Recovery and climate Experiment (GRACE). MOD16 algorithm detected evapotranspiration in different land use and land cover conditions. In cropland areas, the average evapotranspiration was 705 mm/y, while in pasture/grassland was 750 mm/y and in forest areas was 1099 mm/y. Compared to the annual water balance, evapotranspiration was underestimated, with mean relative errors between 8 and 30% and coefficients of correlation between 0.42 to 0.53. The water storage change (dS/dt) computed from the water balance closure at monthly time scales showed a significant correlation with the terrestrial water storage obtained from GRACE data, with a coefficient of correlation of 0

  14. A comparison of methods of estimating potential evapotranspiration from climatological data in arid and subhumid environments

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Cruff, R.W.; Thompson, T.H.

    1967-01-01

    This study compared potential evapotranspiration, computed from climatological data by each of six empirical methods, with pan evaporation adjusted to equivalent lake evaporation by regional coefficients. The six methods tested were the Thornthwaite, U.S. Weather Bureau (a modification of the Permian method), Lowry-Johnson, Blaney-Criddle, Lane, and Hamon methods. The test was limited to 25 sites in the arid and subhumid parts of Arizona, California, and Nevada, where pan evaporation and concurrent climatological data were available. However, some of the sites lacked complete climatological data for the application of all six methods. Average values of adjusted pan evaporation and computed potential evapotransp4ration were compared for two periods---the calendar year and the 6-month period from May 1 through October 31. The 25 sites sampled a wide range of climatic conditions. Ten sites (group 1) were in a highly arid environment and four (group 2) were in an arid environment that was modified by extensive irrigation. The remaining 11 sites (group 3) were in a subhumid environment. Only the Weather Bureau method gave estimates of potential evapotranspiration that closely agreed with the adjusted pan evaporation at all sites where the method was used. However, lack of climatological data restricted the use of the Weather Bureau method to seven sites. Results obtained by use of the Thornthwaite, Lowry-Johnson, and Hamon methods were consistently low. Results obtained by use of the Lane method agreed with adjusted pan evaporation at the group 1 sites but were consistently high at the group 2 and 3 sites. During the analysis it became apparent that adjusted pan evaporation in an arid environment (group 1 sites) was a spurious standard for evaluating the reliability of .the methods that were tested. Group 1 data were accordingly not considered when making conclusions as ,to which of the six methods tested was best. The results of this study for group 2 and 3 data

  15. Challenges in Estimating Evapotranspiration of Young Sparse Stands in a Boreal Forest of Eastern-Canada

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hadiwijaya, B.; Nadeau, D.; Pépin, S.

    2017-12-01

    Forest evapotranspiration is the sum of transpiration, evaporation from intercepted rainfall by the canopy and soil evaporation, each component being governed by distinct time scales and mechanisms. Therefore, to develop a simple, yet realistic, model to estimate evapotranspiration over forested areas, field measurements must capture the full chronological sequence of events taking place following rainfall. This becomes a challenge in the case of young sparse forest stands due to large diversity in canopy covers and leaf area indices, which leads to strong spatial variation in intercepted rainfall by the canopy. Unfortunately, very few studies have focused on transition between the dry and wet canopy conditions. The objectives of this study are to investigate each element of rain interception and intercepted water loss, to characterize water loss partitioning processes based on precipitation rate, elapsed time and time-sequence events. To do this, we conducted a summer field campaign at Forêt Montmorency (47°N, 71°W), in southern Québec, Canada, started from early May until late October. The site is characterized by a humid continental climate, with a mean annual precipitation of 1500 mm. The site is located at the boreal forest region, in the balsam for-white birch ecosystem, whose growing season typically extends from May until October. Six measurement plots were established around two micrometeorological towers located in juvenile and sapling forest stands. Five sap flow probes to measure transpiration and a set of rainfall interception instruments (measuring throughfall, free throughfall and stemflow separately) have been deployed on each plot. Initial results presented will include the estimated evapotranspiration rate and soil evaporation measured using eddy covariance method, transpiration rate and high resolution analysis of rainfall interception.

  16. Three decades of reference evapotranspiration estimates for a tropical watershed in the eastern Amazon.

    PubMed

    Silva, Renato O DA; Souza, Everaldo B DE; Tavares, Alexandra L; Mota, José A; Ferreira, Douglas B S; Souza-Filho, Pedro W M; Rocha, Edson J P DA

    2017-01-01

    This study estimated the reference evapotranspiration rate (ETo) for the Itacaiúnas River Watershed (IRW), Eastern Amazonia, and measured the accuracy of eight empirical equations: Penman-Monteith (PM), Priestley-Taylor (PT), Hargreaves and Samani (HS), Camargo (CAM), Thornthwaite (TH), Hamon (HM), Kharrufa (KF) and Turc (TC) using monthly data from 1980 to 2013. In addition, it verifies the regional applicability to the IRW using a for the Marabá-PA station. The methods TC and PM (FAO56) presented the best results, which demonstrate that radiation and higher temperatures are the dominant drivers in the Evapotranspiration process, while relative humidity and wind speed have a much smaller impact. The temporal and spatial variability of ETo for IRW show has strong seasonality, increasing during the dry season and decreasing during the rainy season. The statistical analyses at 1% level of significance, indicates that there is no correlation of the residuals between the dry and rainy seasons, and test of the physical parameters such as mean temperature, solar radiation and relative air humidity explains the variations of ETo.

  17. Comparison of four different energy balance models for estimating evapotranspiration in the Midwestern United States

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Singh, Ramesh K.; Senay, Gabriel B.

    2016-01-01

    The development of different energy balance models has allowed users to choose a model based on its suitability in a region. We compared four commonly used models—Mapping EvapoTranspiration at high Resolution with Internalized Calibration (METRIC) model, Surface Energy Balance Algorithm for Land (SEBAL) model, Surface Energy Balance System (SEBS) model, and the Operational Simplified Surface Energy Balance (SSEBop) model—using Landsat images to estimate evapotranspiration (ET) in the Midwestern United States. Our models validation using three AmeriFlux cropland sites at Mead, Nebraska, showed that all four models captured the spatial and temporal variation of ET reasonably well with an R2 of more than 0.81. Both the METRIC and SSEBop models showed a low root mean square error (<0.93 mm·day−1) and a high Nash–Sutcliffe coefficient of efficiency (>0.80), whereas the SEBAL and SEBS models resulted in relatively higher bias for estimating daily ET. The empirical equation of daily average net radiation used in the SEBAL and SEBS models for upscaling instantaneous ET to daily ET resulted in underestimation of daily ET, particularly when the daily average net radiation was more than 100 W·m−2. Estimated daily ET for both cropland and grassland had some degree of linearity with METRIC, SEBAL, and SEBS, but linearity was stronger for evaporative fraction. Thus, these ET models have strengths and limitations for applications in water resource management.

  18. Estimates of ground-water discharge as determined from measurements of evapotranspiration, Ash Meadows area, Nye County, Nevada

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Laczniak, R.J.; DeMeo, G.A.; Reiner, S.R.; Smith, J. LaRue; Nylund, W.E.

    1999-01-01

    Ash Meadows is one of the major discharge areas within the regional Death Valley ground-water flow system of southern Nevada and adjacent California. Ground water discharging at Ash Meadows is replenished from inflow derived from an extensive recharge area that includes the eastern part of the Nevada Test Site (NTS). Currently, contaminants introduced into the subsurface by past nuclear testing at NTS are the subject of study by the U.S. Department of Energy's Environmental Restoration Program. The transport of any contaminant in contact with ground water is controlled in part by the rate and direction of ground-water flow, which itself depends on the location and quantity of ground water discharging from the flow system. To best evaluate any potential risk associated with these test-generated contaminants, studies were undertaken to accurately quantify discharge from areas downgradient from the NTS. This report presents results of a study to refine the estimate of ground-water discharge at Ash Meadows. The study estimates ground-water discharge from the Ash Meadows area through a rigorous quantification of evapotranspiration (ET). To accomplish this objective, the study identifies areas of ongoing ground-water ET, delineates unique areas of ET defined on the basis of similarities in vegetation and soil-moisture conditions, and computes ET rates for each of the delineated areas. A classification technique using spectral-reflectance characteristics determined from satellite images recorded in 1992 identified seven unique units representing areas of ground-water ET. The total area classified encompasses about 10,350 acres dominated primarily by lush desert vegetation. Each unique area, referred to as an ET unit, generally consists of one or more assemblages of local phreatophytes. The ET units identified range from sparse grasslands to open water. Annual ET rates are computed by energy-budget methods from micrometeorological measurements made at 10 sites within six

  19. Examining the sensitivity of modelled evapotranspiration to vegetation structural characteristics within boreal peatlands, riparian ecosystems and upland mixedwood forest

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Petrone, R. M.; Chasmer, L. E.; Brown, S. M.; Mendoza, C. A.; Diiwu, J.; Quinton, W. L.; Hopkinson, C.; Devito, K. J.

    2010-12-01

    The Western Boreal Plain (WBP) of northern Alberta is comprised of a complex mosaic of small ponds, riparian buffer zones, and upland aspen dominated mixedwood forests surrounded by low-lying peatlands. The hydrology of the WBP is strongly influenced by climatic drivers and geology, whereby water budgets are often controlled by vertical fluxes. During most years, potential evapotranspiration (PET) exceeds precipitation (P), and changes in P as a result of climatic change will likely alter actual evapotranspiration (AET) and regional water balances. In recent years, the WBP has also undergone intense anthropogenic disturbance via oil and gas exploration and extraction, and silvicultural and forest harvesting activities. The extent to which changes in land cover types/characteristics affect estimates of PET and AET is currently unknown. This study examines the sensitivity of PET using a simple estimate of equilibrium ET (Priestley-Taylor) and AET (Penman-Monteith variant) to variability in canopy structural and ground surface characteristics at 12 sites throughout the 2008 growing season (June, July, August). Energy balance meteorological stations are deployed within four peatland ecosystems, four riparian buffer zones, two regenerating upland mixedwood forests and two mature upland mixedwood forests. Airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) is used to derive metrics of canopy height, leaf area index (LAI), uplands and lowlands, elevation, zero plane displacement, roughness length governing momentum, roughness length governing heat and vapour, and understory vegetation characteristics. LiDAR land surface metrics and energy balance measurements are used to model evapotranspiration for classified land cover types throughout the larger basin. Sensitivity of potential and actual estimates to changes in land cover characteristics within each of the three land cover types (peatland, riparian and upland) is quantified.

  20. Ecosystem evapotranspiration: challenges in measurements, estimates, and modeling

    Treesearch

    Devendra Amatya; S. Irmak; P. Gowda; Ge Sun; J.E. Nettles; K.R. Douglas-Mankin

    2016-01-01

    Evapotranspiration (ET) processes at the leaf to landscape scales in multiple land uses have important controls and feedbacks for local, regional, and global climate and water resource systems. Innovative methods, tools, and technologies for improved understanding and quantification of ET and crop water use are critical for adapting more effective management strategies...

  1. Characteristics of precipitation recycling ratio with two evapotranspiration methods in Afro-Asian arid regions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Li, R.; Wang, C.

    2016-12-01

    The increasing precipitation in different arid regions has been observed in recent decades. While, the vapor sources, which can be classified into advective vapor and local vapor from evapotranspiration, are still uncertain in arid regions. To investigate the characteristics of local vapor in arid regions, precipitation recycling ratio (PRR) with two different evapotranspiration (ET) estimations, Penman-Monteith ET and a new approach which combined Penman-Monteith ET and surface soil moisture was calculated in arid regions of Afro-Asian continent, North Africa, West Asia and China-Mongolia, during 1980-2010. The results suggested that Penman-Monteith ET, which can be treated as regional potential ET, increased and showed an enhanced ET ability in arid regions. However, the ET calculated from the new approach, which can be treated as a reliable actual ET estimation, decreased, which means the local vapor has supplied less to total rainfall in target regions. Using the new approach ET data, PRR is calculated and analyzed. PRR in target regions ranges from 0.5% to 1.0%, which is less than the PRR calculated with Penman-Monteith ET, ranging from 3.7% to 5.6%. Meanwhile PRR decreased in China-Mongolia and North Africa while in West Asia increased in recent 30 years. Considering that a wetting trend existed in China-Mongolia and North Africa, and a drying trend occurred in West Asia, it can be concluded that PRR is a negative monitoring for Afro-Asian arid regions, where the decreasing PRR means that the more advective vapor enhanced the total precipitation, while the increasing PRR trend corresponds with less advective vapor and more local evapotranspiration contributes to increasing of total rainfall. Keywords: Afro-Asian Arid region, precipitation recycling, evapotranspiration, soil moisture.

  2. Intercomparison and Uncertainty Assessment of Nine Evapotranspiration Estimates Over South America

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sörensson, Anna A.; Ruscica, Romina C.

    2018-04-01

    This study examines the uncertainties and the representations of anomalies of a set of evapotranspiration products over climatologically distinct regions of South America. The products, coming from land surface models, reanalysis, and remote sensing, are chosen from sources that are readily available to the community of users. The results show that the spatial patterns of maximum uncertainty differ among metrics, with dry regions showing maximum relative uncertainties of annual mean evapotranspiration, while energy-limited regions present maximum uncertainties in the representation of the annual cycle and monsoon regions in the representation of anomalous conditions. Furthermore, it is found that land surface models driven by observed atmospheric fields detect meteorological and agricultural droughts in dry regions unequivocally. The remote sensing products employed do not distinguish all agricultural droughts and this could be attributed to the forcing net radiation. The study also highlights important characteristics of individual data sets and recommends users to include assessments of sensitivity to evapotranspiration data sets in their studies, depending on region and nature of study to be conducted.

  3. Comment on 'Shang S. 2012. Calculating actual crop evapotranspiration under soil water stress conditions with appropriate numerical methods and time step. Hydrological Processes 26: 3338-3343. DOI: 10.1002/hyp.8405'

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Yatheendradas, Soni; Narapusetty, Balachandrudu; Peters-Lidard, Christa; Funk, Christopher; Verdin, James

    2014-01-01

    A previous study analyzed errors in the numerical calculation of actual crop evapotranspiration (ET(sub a)) under soil water stress. Assuming no irrigation or precipitation, it constructed equations for ET(sub a) over limited soil-water ranges in a root zone drying out due to evapotranspiration. It then used a single crop-soil composite to provide recommendations about the appropriate usage of numerical methods under different values of the time step and the maximum crop evapotranspiration (ET(sub c)). This comment reformulates those ET(sub a) equations for applicability over the full range of soil water values, revealing a dependence of the relative error in numerical ET(sub a) on the initial soil water that was not seen in the previous study. It is shown that the recommendations based on a single crop-soil composite can be invalid for other crop-soil composites. Finally, a consideration of the numerical error in the time-cumulative value of ET(sub a) is discussed besides the existing consideration of that error over individual time steps as done in the previous study. This cumulative ET(sub a) is more relevant to the final crop yield.

  4. Estimation of Regional Evapotranspiration Using Remotely Sensed Land Surface Temperature. Part 1: Measurement of Evapotranspiration at the Environmental Research Center and Determination of Priestley-taylor Parameter

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Kotada, K.; Nakagawa, S.; Kai, K.; Yoshino, M. M.; Takeda, K.; Seki, K.

    1985-01-01

    In order to study the distribution of evapotranspiration in the humid region using remote sensing technology, the parameter (alpha) in the Priestley-Taylor model was determined. The daily means of the parameter alpha = 1.14 can be available from summer to autumn and alpha = to approximately 2.0 in winter. The results of the satellite and the airborne sensing done on 21st and 22nd January, 1983, are described. Using the vegetation distribution in the Tsukuba Academic New Town, as well as the radiation temperature obtained by remote sensing and the radiation data observed at the ground surface, the evapotranspiration was calculated for each vegetation type by the Priestley-Taylor method. The daily mean evapotranspiration on 22nd January, 1983, was approximately 0.4 mm/day. The differences in evapotranspiration between the vegetation types were not detectable, because the magnitude of evapotranspiration is very little in winter.

  5. Remote sensing of evapotranspiration using automated calibration: Development and testing in the state of Florida

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Evans, Aaron H.

    Thermal remote sensing is a powerful tool for measuring the spatial variability of evapotranspiration due to the cooling effect of vaporization. The residual method is a popular technique which calculates evapotranspiration by subtracting sensible heat from available energy. Estimating sensible heat requires aerodynamic surface temperature which is difficult to retrieve accurately. Methods such as SEBAL/METRIC correct for this problem by calibrating the relationship between sensible heat and retrieved surface temperature. Disadvantage of these calibrations are 1) user must manually identify extremely dry and wet pixels in image 2) each calibration is only applicable over limited spatial extent. Producing larger maps is operationally limited due to time required to manually calibrate multiple spatial extents over multiple days. This dissertation develops techniques which automatically detect dry and wet pixels. LANDSAT imagery is used because it resolves dry pixels. Calibrations using 1) only dry pixels and 2) including wet pixels are developed. Snapshots of retrieved evaporative fraction and actual evapotranspiration are compared to eddy covariance measurements for five study areas in Florida: 1) Big Cypress 2) Disney Wilderness 3) Everglades 4) near Gainesville, FL. 5) Kennedy Space Center. The sensitivity of evaporative fraction to temperature, available energy, roughness length and wind speed is tested. A technique for temporally interpolating evapotranspiration by fusing LANDSAT and MODIS is developed and tested. The automated algorithm is successful at detecting wet and dry pixels (if they exist). Including wet pixels in calibration and assuming constant atmospheric conductance significantly improved results for all but Big Cypress and Gainesville. Evaporative fraction is not very sensitive to instantaneous available energy but it is sensitive to temperature when wet pixels are included because temperature is required for estimating wet pixel

  6. Recharge estimation in semi-arid karst catchments: Central West Bank, Palestine

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jebreen, Hassan; Wohnlich, Stefan; Wisotzky, Frank; Banning, Andre; Niedermayr, Andrea; Ghanem, Marwan

    2018-03-01

    Knowledge of groundwater recharge constitutes a valuable tool for sustainable management in karst systems. In this respect, a quantitative evaluation of groundwater recharge can be considered a pre-requisite for the optimal operation of groundwater resources systems, particular for semi-arid areas. This paper demonstrates the processes affecting recharge in Palestine aquifers. The Central Western Catchment is one of the main water supply sources in the West Bank. Quantification of potential recharge rates are estimated using chloride mass balance (CMB) and empirical recharge equations over the catchment. The results showing the spatialized recharge rate, which ranges from 111-216 mm/year, representing 19-37% of the long-term mean annual rainfall. Using Water Balance models and climatological data (e. g. solar radiation, monthly temperature, average monthly relative humidity and precipitation), actual evapotranspiration (AET) is estimated. The mean annual actual evapotranspiration was about 66-70% of precipitation.

  7. A comparison of models for estimating potential evapotranspiration for Florida land cover types

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Douglas, E.M.; Jacobs, J.M.; Sumner, D.M.; Ray, R.L.

    2009-01-01

    We analyzed observed daily evapotranspiration (DET) at 18 sites having measured DET and ancillary climate data and then used these data to compare the performance of three common methods for estimating potential evapotranspiration (PET): the Turc method (Tc), the Priestley-Taylor method (PT) and the Penman-Monteith method (PM). The sites were distributed throughout the State of Florida and represent a variety of land cover types: open water (3), marshland (4), grassland/pasture (4), citrus (2) and forest (5). Not surprisingly, the highest DET values occurred at the open water sites, ranging from an average of 3.3 mm d-1 in the winter to 5.3 mm d-1 in the spring. DET at the marsh sites was also high, ranging from 2.7 mm d-1 in winter to 4.4 mm d-1 in summer. The lowest DET occurred in the winter and fall seasons at the grass sites (1.3 mm d-1 and 2.0 mm d-1, respectively) and at the forested sites (1.8 mm d-1 and 2.3 mm d-1, respectively). The performance of the three methods when applied to conditions close to PET (Bowen ratio ??? 1) was used to judge relative merit. Under such PET conditions, annually aggregated Tc and PT methods perform comparably and outperform the PM method, possibly due to the sensitivity of the PM method to the limited transferability of previously determined model parameters. At a daily scale, the PT performance appears to be superior to the other two methods for estimating PET for a variety of land covers in Florida. ?? 2009 Elsevier B.V.

  8. A comparison of models for estimating potential evapotranspiration for Florida land cover types

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Douglas, Ellen M.; Jacobs, Jennifer M.; Sumner, David M.; Ray, Ram L.

    2013-01-01

    We analyzed observed daily evapotranspiration (DET) at 18 sites having measured DET and ancillary climate data and then used these data to compare the performance of three common methods for estimating potential evapotranspiration (PET): the Turc method (Tc), the Priestley-Taylor method (PT) and the Penman-Monteith method (PM). The sites were distributed throughout the State of Florida and represent a variety of land cover types: open water (3), marshland (4), grassland/pasture (4), citrus (2) and forest (5). Not surprisingly, the highest DET values occurred at the open water sites, ranging from an average of 3.3 mm d-1 in the winter to 5.3 mm d-1 in the spring. DET at the marsh sites was also high, ranging from 2.7 mm d-1 in winter to 4.4 mm d-1 in summer. The lowest DET occurred in the winter and fall seasons at the grass sites (1.3 mm d-1 and 2.0 mm d-1, respectively) and at the forested sites (1.8 mm d-1 and 2.3 mm d-1, respectively). The performance of the three methods when applied to conditions close to PET (Bowen ratio ≤ 1) was used to judge relative merit. Under such PET conditions, annually aggregated Tc and PT methods perform comparably and outperform the PM method, possibly due to the sensitivity of the PM method to the limited transferability of previously determined model parameters. At a daily scale, the PT performance appears to be superior to the other two methods for estimating PET for a variety of land covers in Florida.

  9. Actual evapotranspiration and deficit: Biologically meaningful correlates of vegetation distribution across spatial scales

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Stephenson, N.L.

    1998-01-01

    Correlative approaches to understanding the climatic controls of vegetation distribution have exhibited at least two important weaknesses: they have been conceptually divorced across spatial scales, and their climatic parameters have not necessarily represented aspects of climate of broad physiological importance to plants. Using examples from the literature and from the Sierra Nevada of California, I argue that two water balance parameters-actual evapotranspiration (AET) and deficit (D)-are biologically meaningful, are well correlated with the distribution of vegetation types, and exhibit these qualities over several orders of magnitude of spatial scale (continental to local). I reach four additional conclusions. (1) Some pairs of climatic parameters presently in use are functionally similar to AET and D; however, AET and D may be easier to interpret biologically. (2) Several well-known climatic parameters are biologically less meaningful or less important than AET and D, and consequently are poorer correlates of the distribution of vegetation types. Of particular interest, AET is a much better correlate of the distributions of coniferous and deciduous forests than minimum temperature. (3) The effects of evaporative demand and water availability on a site's water balance are intrinsically different. For example, the 'dry' experienced by plants on sunward slopes (high evaporative demand) is not comparable to the 'dry' experienced by plants on soils with low water-holding capacities (low water availability), and these differences are reflected in vegetation patterns. (4) Many traditional topographic moisture scalars-those that additively combine measures related to evaporative demand and water availability are not necessarily meaningful for describing site conditions as sensed by plants; the same holds for measured soil moisture. However, using AET and D in place of moisture scalars and measured soil moisture can solve these problems.

  10. [Quantitative estimation of evapotranspiration from Tahe forest ecosystem, Northeast China].

    PubMed

    Qu, Di; Fan, Wen-Yi; Yang, Jin-Ming; Wang, Xu-Peng

    2014-06-01

    Evapotranspiration (ET) is an important parameter of agriculture, meteorology and hydrology research, and also an important part of the global hydrological cycle. This paper applied the improved DHSVM distributed hydrological model to estimate daily ET of Tahe area in 2007 using leaf area index and other surface data extracted TM remote sensing data, and slope, aspect and other topographic indices obtained by using the digital elevation model. The relationship between daily ET and daily watershed outlet flow was built by the BP neural network, and a water balance equation was established for the studied watershed, together to test the accuracy of the estimation. The results showed that the model could be applied in the study area. The annual total ET of Tahe watershed was 234.01 mm. ET had a significant seasonal variation. The ET had the highest value in summer and the average daily ET value was 1.56 mm. The average daily ET in autumn and spring were 0.30, 0.29 mm, respectively, and winter had the lowest ET value. Land cover type had a great effect on ET value, and the broadleaf forest had a higher ET ability than the mixed forest, followed by the needle leaf forest.

  11. Parameterizing ecosystem light use efficiency and water use efficiency to estimate maize gross primary production and evapotranspiration using MODIS EVI

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Quantifying global carbon and water balances requires accurate estimation of gross primary production (GPP) and evapotranspiration (ET), respectively, across space and time. Models that are based on the theory of light use efficiency (LUE) and water use efficiency (WUE) have emerged as efficient met...

  12. METRIC model for the estimation and mapping of evapotranspiration in a super intensive olive orchard in Southern Portugal

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pôças, Isabel; Nogueira, António; Paço, Teresa A.; Sousa, Adélia; Valente, Fernanda; Silvestre, José; Andrade, José A.; Santos, Francisco L.; Pereira, Luís S.; Allen, Richard G.

    2013-04-01

    Satellite-based surface energy balance models have been successfully applied to estimate and map evapotranspiration (ET). The METRICtm model, Mapping EvapoTranspiration at high Resolution using Internalized Calibration, is one of such models. METRIC has been widely used over an extensive range of vegetation types and applications, mostly focusing annual crops. In the current study, the single-layer-blended METRIC model was applied to Landsat5 TM and Landsat7 ETM+ images to produce estimates of evapotranspiration (ET) in a super intensive olive orchard in Southern Portugal. In sparse woody canopies as in olive orchards, some adjustments in METRIC application related to the estimation of vegetation temperature and of momentum roughness length and sensible heat flux (H) for tall vegetation must be considered. To minimize biases in H estimates due to uncertainties in the definition of momentum roughness length, the Perrier function based on leaf area index and tree canopy architecture, associated with an adjusted estimation of crop height, was used to obtain momentum roughness length estimates. Additionally, to minimize the biases in surface temperature simulations, due to soil and shadow effects, the computation of radiometric temperature considered a three-source condition, where Ts=fcTc+fshadowTshadow+fsunlitTsunlit. As such, the surface temperature (Ts), derived from the thermal band of the Landsat images, integrates the temperature of the canopy (Tc), the temperature of the shaded ground surface (Tshadow), and the temperature of the sunlit ground surface (Tsunlit), according to the relative fraction of vegetation (fc), shadow (fshadow) and sunlit (fsunlit) ground surface, respectively. As the sunlit canopies are the primary source of energy exchange, the effective temperature for the canopy was estimated by solving the three-source condition equation for Tc. To evaluate METRIC performance to estimate ET over the olive grove, several parameters derived from the

  13. Replacing climatological potential evapotranspiration estimates with dynamic satellite-based observations in operational hydrologic prediction models

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Franz, K. J.; Bowman, A. L.; Hogue, T. S.; Kim, J.; Spies, R.

    2011-12-01

    In the face of a changing climate, growing populations, and increased human habitation in hydrologically risky locations, both short- and long-range planners increasingly require robust and reliable streamflow forecast information. Current operational forecasting utilizes watershed-scale, conceptual models driven by ground-based (commonly point-scale) observations of precipitation and temperature and climatological potential evapotranspiration (PET) estimates. The PET values are derived from historic pan evaporation observations and remain static from year-to-year. The need for regional dynamic PET values is vital for improved operational forecasting. With the advent of satellite remote sensing and the adoption of a more flexible operational forecast system by the National Weather Service, incorporation of advanced data products is now more feasible than in years past. In this study, we will test a previously developed satellite-derived PET product (UCLA MODIS-PET) in the National Weather Service forecast models and compare the model results to current methods. The UCLA MODIS-PET method is based on the Priestley-Taylor formulation, is driven with MODIS satellite products, and produces a daily, 250m PET estimate. The focus area is eight headwater basins in the upper Midwest U.S. There is a need to develop improved forecasting methods for this region that are able to account for climatic and landscape changes more readily and effectively than current methods. This region is highly flood prone yet sensitive to prolonged dry periods in late summer and early fall, and is characterized by a highly managed landscape, which has drastically altered the natural hydrologic cycle. Our goal is to improve model simulations, and thereby, the initial conditions prior to the start of a forecast through the use of PET values that better reflect actual watershed conditions. The forecast models are being tested in both distributed and lumped mode.

  14. Spatial modelling of evapotranspiration in the Luquillo experimental forest of Puerto Rico using remotely-sensed data.

    Treesearch

    Wei Wu; Charles A.S. Hall; Frederick N. Scatena; Lindi J. Quackenbush

    2006-01-01

    Summary Actual evapotranspiration (aET) and related processes in tropical forests can explain 70% of the lateral global energy transport through latent heat, and therefore are very important in the redistribution of water on the Earth’s surface [Mauser, M., Scha¨dlich, S., 1998. Modelling the spatial distribution of evapotranspiration on different scales using remote...

  15. Parameter sensitivity analysis and optimization for a satellite-based evapotranspiration model across multiple sites using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer and flux data

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhang, Kun; Ma, Jinzhu; Zhu, Gaofeng; Ma, Ting; Han, Tuo; Feng, Li Li

    2017-01-01

    Global and regional estimates of daily evapotranspiration are essential to our understanding of the hydrologic cycle and climate change. In this study, we selected the radiation-based Priestly-Taylor Jet Propulsion Laboratory (PT-JPL) model and assessed it at a daily time scale by using 44 flux towers. These towers distributed in a wide range of ecological systems: croplands, deciduous broadleaf forest, evergreen broadleaf forest, evergreen needleleaf forest, grasslands, mixed forests, savannas, and shrublands. A regional land surface evapotranspiration model with a relatively simple structure, the PT-JPL model largely uses ecophysiologically-based formulation and parameters to relate potential evapotranspiration to actual evapotranspiration. The results using the original model indicate that the model always overestimates evapotranspiration in arid regions. This likely results from the misrepresentation of water limitation and energy partition in the model. By analyzing physiological processes and determining the sensitive parameters, we identified a series of parameter sets that can increase model performance. The model with optimized parameters showed better performance (R2 = 0.2-0.87; Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE) = 0.1-0.87) at each site than the original model (R2 = 0.19-0.87; NSE = -12.14-0.85). The results of the optimization indicated that the parameter β (water control of soil evaporation) was much lower in arid regions than in relatively humid regions. Furthermore, the optimized value of parameter m1 (plant control of canopy transpiration) was mostly between 1 to 1.3, slightly lower than the original value. Also, the optimized parameter Topt correlated well to the actual environmental temperature at each site. We suggest that using optimized parameters with the PT-JPL model could provide an efficient way to improve the model performance.

  16. Evapotranspiration from a cypress and pine forest subjected to natural fires, Volusia County, Florida, 1998-99

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Sumner, D.M.

    2001-01-01

    Daily values of evapotranspiration from a watershed in Volusia County, Florida, were estimated for a 2-year period (January 1998 through December 1999) by using an energy-budget variant of the eddy correlation method and a Priestley-Taylor model. The watershed consisted primarily of pine flatwood uplands interspersed within cypress wetlands. A drought-induced fire in spring 1998 burned about 40 percent of the watershed, most of which was subsequently logged. The model reproduced the 449 measured values of evapotranspiration reasonably well (r2=0.90) over a wide range of seasonal and surface-cover conditions. Annual evapotranspiration from the watershed was estimated to be 916 millimeters (36 inches) for 1998 and 1,070 millimeters (42 inches) for 1999. Evapotranspiration declined from near potential rates in the wet conditions of January 1998 to less than 50 percent of potential evapotranspiration after the fire and at the peak of the drought in June 1998. After the drought ended in early July 1998 and water levels returned to near land-surface, evapotranspiration increased sharply; however, the evapotranspiration rate was only about 60 percent of the potential rate in the burned areas, compared to about 90 percent of the potential rate in the unburned areas. This discrepancy can be explained as a result of fire damage to vegetation. Beginning in spring 1999, evapotranspiration from burned areas increased sharply relative to unburned areas, sometimes exceeding unburned evapotranspiration by almost 100 percent. Possible explanations for the dramatic increase in evapotranspiration from burned areas could include phenological changes associated with maturation or seasonality of plants that emerged after the fire or successional changes in composition of plant community within burned areas. Variations in daily evapotranspiration are primarily the result of variations in surface cover, net radiation, photosynthetically active radiation, air temperature, and water

  17. Scaling up stomatal conductance from leaf to canopy using a dual-leaf model for estimating crop evapotranspiration.

    PubMed

    Ding, Risheng; Kang, Shaozhong; Du, Taisheng; Hao, Xinmei; Zhang, Yanqun

    2014-01-01

    The dual-source Shuttleworth-Wallace model has been widely used to estimate and partition crop evapotranspiration (λET). Canopy stomatal conductance (Gsc), an essential parameter of the model, is often calculated by scaling up leaf stomatal conductance, considering the canopy as one single leaf in a so-called "big-leaf" model. However, Gsc can be overestimated or underestimated depending on leaf area index level in the big-leaf model, due to a non-linear stomatal response to light. A dual-leaf model, scaling up Gsc from leaf to canopy, was developed in this study. The non-linear stomata-light relationship was incorporated by dividing the canopy into sunlit and shaded fractions and calculating each fraction separately according to absorbed irradiances. The model includes: (1) the absorbed irradiance, determined by separately integrating the sunlit and shaded leaves with consideration of both beam and diffuse radiation; (2) leaf area for the sunlit and shaded fractions; and (3) a leaf conductance model that accounts for the response of stomata to PAR, vapor pressure deficit and available soil water. In contrast to the significant errors of Gsc in the big-leaf model, the predicted Gsc using the dual-leaf model had a high degree of data-model agreement; the slope of the linear regression between daytime predictions and measurements was 1.01 (R2 = 0.98), with RMSE of 0.6120 mm s-1 for four clear-sky days in different growth stages. The estimates of half-hourly λET using the dual-source dual-leaf model (DSDL) agreed well with measurements and the error was within 5% during two growing seasons of maize with differing hydrometeorological and management strategies. Moreover, the estimates of soil evaporation using the DSDL model closely matched actual measurements. Our results indicate that the DSDL model can produce more accurate estimation of Gsc and λET, compared to the big-leaf model, and thus is an effective alternative approach for estimating and partitioning λET.

  18. Scaling Up Stomatal Conductance from Leaf to Canopy Using a Dual-Leaf Model for Estimating Crop Evapotranspiration

    PubMed Central

    Ding, Risheng; Kang, Shaozhong; Du, Taisheng; Hao, Xinmei; Zhang, Yanqun

    2014-01-01

    The dual-source Shuttleworth-Wallace model has been widely used to estimate and partition crop evapotranspiration (λET). Canopy stomatal conductance (Gsc), an essential parameter of the model, is often calculated by scaling up leaf stomatal conductance, considering the canopy as one single leaf in a so-called “big-leaf” model. However, Gsc can be overestimated or underestimated depending on leaf area index level in the big-leaf model, due to a non-linear stomatal response to light. A dual-leaf model, scaling up Gsc from leaf to canopy, was developed in this study. The non-linear stomata-light relationship was incorporated by dividing the canopy into sunlit and shaded fractions and calculating each fraction separately according to absorbed irradiances. The model includes: (1) the absorbed irradiance, determined by separately integrating the sunlit and shaded leaves with consideration of both beam and diffuse radiation; (2) leaf area for the sunlit and shaded fractions; and (3) a leaf conductance model that accounts for the response of stomata to PAR, vapor pressure deficit and available soil water. In contrast to the significant errors of Gsc in the big-leaf model, the predicted Gsc using the dual-leaf model had a high degree of data-model agreement; the slope of the linear regression between daytime predictions and measurements was 1.01 (R2 = 0.98), with RMSE of 0.6120 mm s−1 for four clear-sky days in different growth stages. The estimates of half-hourly λET using the dual-source dual-leaf model (DSDL) agreed well with measurements and the error was within 5% during two growing seasons of maize with differing hydrometeorological and management strategies. Moreover, the estimates of soil evaporation using the DSDL model closely matched actual measurements. Our results indicate that the DSDL model can produce more accurate estimation of Gsc and λET, compared to the big-leaf model, and thus is an effective alternative approach for estimating and

  19. Estimating Evapotranspiration Using an Observation Based Terrestrial Water Budget

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Rodell, Matthew; McWilliams, Eric B.; Famiglietti, James S.; Beaudoing, Hiroko K.; Nigro, Joseph

    2011-01-01

    Evapotranspiration (ET) is difficult to measure at the scales of climate models and climate variability. While satellite retrieval algorithms do exist, their accuracy is limited by the sparseness of in situ observations available for calibration and validation, which themselves may be unrepresentative of 500m and larger scale satellite footprints and grid pixels. Here, we use a combination of satellite and ground-based observations to close the water budgets of seven continental scale river basins (Mackenzie, Fraser, Nelson, Mississippi, Tocantins, Danube, and Ubangi), estimating mean ET as a residual. For any river basin, ET must equal total precipitation minus net runoff minus the change in total terrestrial water storage (TWS), in order for mass to be conserved. We make use of precipitation from two global observation-based products, archived runoff data, and TWS changes from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment satellite mission. We demonstrate that while uncertainty in the water budget-based estimates of monthly ET is often too large for those estimates to be useful, the uncertainty in the mean annual cycle is small enough that it is practical for evaluating other ET products. Here, we evaluate five land surface model simulations, two operational atmospheric analyses, and a recent global reanalysis product based on our results. An important outcome is that the water budget-based ET time series in two tropical river basins, one in Brazil and the other in central Africa, exhibit a weak annual cycle, which may help to resolve debate about the strength of the annual cycle of ET in such regions and how ET is constrained throughout the year. The methods described will be useful for water and energy budget studies, weather and climate model assessments, and satellite-based ET retrieval optimization.

  20. Simple agrometeorological models for estimating Guineagrass yield in Southeast Brazil.

    PubMed

    Pezzopane, José Ricardo Macedo; da Cruz, Pedro Gomes; Santos, Patricia Menezes; Bosi, Cristiam; de Araujo, Leandro Coelho

    2014-09-01

    The objective of this work was to develop and evaluate agrometeorological models to simulate the production of Guineagrass. For this purpose, we used forage yield from 54 growing periods between December 2004-January 2007 and April 2010-March 2012 in irrigated and non-irrigated pastures in São Carlos, São Paulo state, Brazil (latitude 21°57'42″ S, longitude 47°50'28″ W and altitude 860 m). Initially we performed linear regressions between the agrometeorological variables and the average dry matter accumulation rate for irrigated conditions. Then we determined the effect of soil water availability on the relative forage yield considering irrigated and non-irrigated pastures, by means of segmented linear regression among water balance and relative production variables (dry matter accumulation rates with and without irrigation). The models generated were evaluated with independent data related to 21 growing periods without irrigation in the same location, from eight growing periods in 2000 and 13 growing periods between December 2004-January 2007 and April 2010-March 2012. The results obtained show the satisfactory predictive capacity of the agrometeorological models under irrigated conditions based on univariate regression (mean temperature, minimum temperature and potential evapotranspiration or degreedays) or multivariate regression. The response of irrigation on production was well correlated with the climatological water balance variables (ratio between actual and potential evapotranspiration or between actual and maximum soil water storage). The models that performed best for estimating Guineagrass yield without irrigation were based on minimum temperature corrected by relative soil water storage, determined by the ratio between the actual soil water storage and the soil water holding capacity.irrigation in the same location, in 2000, 2010 and 2011. The results obtained show the satisfactory predictive capacity of the agrometeorological models under

  1. [Measurement and estimation of grassland evapotranspiration in a mountainous region at the upper reach of Heihe River basin, China].

    PubMed

    Yang, Yong; Chen, Ren-sheng; Song, Yao-xuan; Liu, Jun-feng; Han, Chun-tan; Liu, Zhang-wen

    2013-04-01

    Evapotranspiration (ET) is an important component of water cycle, but its measurement in high altitude mountainous region is quite difficult, inducing the insufficient understanding on the actual ET in high altitude mountainous region and the effects of ET on this region' s water cycle. In this paper, two small type weighing mini-lysimeters were applied to measure the daily ET in a piece of grassland in a high altitude mountainous region of the Heihe River basin from July 1st, 2009 to June 30th, 2010. Based on the measured data, the methods of FAO-56 Penman-Monteith (F-P-M), Priestley-Taylor (P-T), and Hargreaves-Samani (H-S) were employed to estimate the ET to analyze the applicability of the three methods for the mountainous region, and the pan coefficient at the measurement spots was discussed. During the measurement period, the total annual ET at the measurement spots was 439.9 mm, accounting for 96.5% of the precipitation in the same period, and the ET showed an obvious seasonal distribution, being 389. 3 mm in May-October, accounting for 88. 5% of the annual value. All the three methods could be well applied to estimate the summer ET but not the winter ET, and their applicability followed the sequence of P-T > F-P-M > H-S. At the measurement spots, the daily pan coefficient in summer was 0.7-0. 8, while that in winter was quite variable.

  2. Derived Optimal Linear Combination Evapotranspiration (DOLCE): a global gridded synthesis ET estimate

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hobeichi, Sanaa; Abramowitz, Gab; Evans, Jason; Ukkola, Anna

    2018-02-01

    Accurate global gridded estimates of evapotranspiration (ET) are key to understanding water and energy budgets, in addition to being required for model evaluation. Several gridded ET products have already been developed which differ in their data requirements, the approaches used to derive them and their estimates, yet it is not clear which provides the most reliable estimates. This paper presents a new global ET dataset and associated uncertainty with monthly temporal resolution for 2000-2009. Six existing gridded ET products are combined using a weighting approach trained by observational datasets from 159 FLUXNET sites. The weighting method is based on a technique that provides an analytically optimal linear combination of ET products compared to site data and accounts for both the performance differences and error covariance between the participating ET products. We examine the performance of the weighting approach in several in-sample and out-of-sample tests that confirm that point-based estimates of flux towers provide information on the grid scale of these products. We also provide evidence that the weighted product performs better than its six constituent ET product members in four common metrics. Uncertainty in the ET estimate is derived by rescaling the spread of participating ET products so that their spread reflects the ability of the weighted mean estimate to match flux tower data. While issues in observational data and any common biases in participating ET datasets are limitations to the success of this approach, future datasets can easily be incorporated and enhance the derived product.

  3. Assessment of Evapotranspiration and Soil Moisture Content Across Different Scales of Observation

    PubMed Central

    Verstraeten, Willem W.; Veroustraete, Frank; Feyen, Jan

    2008-01-01

    The proper assessment of evapotranspiration and soil moisture content are fundamental in food security research, land management, pollution detection, nutrient flows, (wild-) fire detection, (desert) locust, carbon balance as well as hydrological modelling; etc. This paper takes an extensive, though not exhaustive sample of international scientific literature to discuss different approaches to estimate land surface and ecosystem related evapotranspiration and soil moisture content. This review presents: (i)a summary of the generally accepted cohesion theory of plant water uptake and transport including a shortlist of meteorological and plant factors influencing plant transpiration;(ii)a summary on evapotranspiration assessment at different scales of observation (sap-flow, porometer, lysimeter, field and catchment water balance, Bowen ratio, scintillometer, eddy correlation, Penman-Monteith and related approaches);(iii)a summary on data assimilation schemes conceived to estimate evapotranspiration using optical and thermal remote sensing; and(iv)for soil moisture content, a summary on soil moisture retrieval techniques at different spatial and temporal scales is presented. Concluding remarks on the best available approaches to assess evapotranspiration and soil moisture content with and emphasis on remote sensing data assimilation, are provided. PMID:27879697

  4. Estimating Watershed-Averaged Precipitation and Evapotranspiration Fluxes using Streamflow Measurements in a Semi-Arid, High Altitude Montane Catchment

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Herrington, C.; Gonzalez-Pinzon, R.

    2014-12-01

    Streamflow through the Middle Rio Grande Valley is largely driven by snowmelt pulses and monsoonal precipitation events originating in the mountain highlands of New Mexico (NM) and Colorado. Water managers rely on results from storage/runoff models to distribute this resource statewide and to allocate compact deliveries to Texas under the Rio Grande Compact agreement. Prevalent drought conditions and the added uncertainty of climate change effects in the American southwest have led to a greater call for accuracy in storage model parameter inputs. While precipitation and evapotranspiration measurements are subject to scaling and representativeness errors, streamflow readings remain relatively dependable and allow watershed-average water budget estimates. Our study seeks to show that by "Doing Hydrology Backwards" we can effectively estimate watershed-average precipitation and evapotranspiration fluxes in semi-arid landscapes of NM using fluctuations in streamflow data alone. We tested this method in the Valles Caldera National Preserve (VCNP) in the Jemez Mountains of central NM. This method will be further verified by using existing weather stations and eddy-covariance towers within the VCNP to obtain measured values to compare against our model results. This study contributes to further validate this technique as being successful in humid and semi-arid catchments as the method has already been verified as effective in the former setting.

  5. Soil moisture and evapotranspiration predictions using Skylab data

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Myers, V. I. (Principal Investigator); Moore, D. G.; Horton, M. L.; Russell, M. J.

    1975-01-01

    The author has identified the following significant results. Multispectral reflectance and emittance data from the Skylab workshop were evaluated for prediction of evapotranspiration and soil moisture for an irrigated region of southern Texas. Wavelengths greater than 2.1 microns were required to spectrally distinguish between wet and dry fallow surfaces. Thermal data provided a better estimate of soil moisture than did data from the reflective bands. Thermal data were dependent on soil moisture but not on the type of agricultural land use. The emittance map, when used in conjunction with existing models, did provide an estimate of evapotranspiration rates. Surveys of areas of high soil moisture can be accomplished with space altitude thermal data. Thermal data will provide a reliable input into irrigation scheduling.

  6. Vegetation index-based crop coefficients to estimate evapotranspiration by remote sensing in agricultural and natural ecosystems

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Glenn, E.P.; Neale, C. M. U.; Hunsaker, D.J.; Nagler, P.L.

    2011-01-01

    Crop coefficients were developed to determine crop water needs based on the evapotranspiration (ET) of a reference crop under a given set of meteorological conditions. Starting in the 1980s, crop coefficients developed through lysimeter studies or set by expert opinion began to be supplemented by remotely sensed vegetation indices (VI) that measured the actual status of the crop on a field-by-field basis. VIs measure the density of green foliage based on the reflectance of visible and near infrared (NIR) light from the canopy, and are highly correlated with plant physiological processes that depend on light absorption by a canopy such as ET and photosynthesis. Reflectance-based crop coefficients have now been developed for numerous individual crops, including corn, wheat, alfalfa, cotton, potato, sugar beet, vegetables, grapes and orchard crops. Other research has shown that VIs can be used to predict ET over fields of mixed crops, allowing them to be used to monitor ET over entire irrigation districts. VI-based crop coefficients can help reduce agricultural water use by matching irrigation rates to the actual water needs of a crop as it grows instead of to a modeled crop growing under optimal conditions. Recently, the concept has been applied to natural ecosystems at the local, regional and continental scales of measurement, using time-series satellite data from the MODIS sensors on the Terra satellite. VIs or other visible-NIR band algorithms are combined with meteorological data to predict ET in numerous biome types, from deserts, to arctic tundra, to tropical rainforests. These methods often closely match ET measured on the ground at the global FluxNet array of eddy covariance moisture and carbon flux towers. The primary advantage of VI methods for estimating ET is that transpiration is closely related to radiation absorbed by the plant canopy, which is closely related to VIs. The primary disadvantage is that they cannot capture stress effects or soil

  7. Actual daily evapotranspiration estimated from MERIS and AATSR data over the Chinese Loess Plateau

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liu, R.; Wen, J.; Wang, X.; Wang, L.; Tian, H.; Zhang, T. T.; Shi, X. K.; Zhang, J. H.; Lu, Sh. N.

    2009-02-01

    The Loess Plateau is located in north of China and has a significant impact on the climate and ecosystem evolvement over the East Asian continent. Based on the land surface energy balance theory, the potential of using Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (onboard sensor of the Environmental Satellite) remote sensing data on 7, 11 and 27 June 2005 is explored. The "split-window" algorithm is used to retrieve surface temperature from the Advanced the Along-Track Scanning Radiometer, another onboard senor of the Environmental Satellite. Then the near surface net radiation, sensible heat flux and soil heat flux are estimated by using the developed algorithm. We introduce a simple algorithm to predict the heat flux partitioning between the soil and vegetation. Combining the sunshine hours, air temperature, sunshine duration and wind speed measured by weather stations, a model for estimating daily ET is proposed. The instantaneous ET is also converted to daily value. Comparison of latent heats flux retrieved by remote sensing data with ground observation from eddy covariance flux system during Loess Plateau land surface process field Experiment, the maximum and minimum error of this approach are 10.96% and 4.80% respectively, the cause of the bias is also explored and discussed.

  8. Should Bouchet's hypothesis be taken into account in rainfall-runoff modelling? An assessment over 308 catchments

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Oudin, Ludovic; Michel, Claude; Andréassian, Vazken; Anctil, François; Loumagne, Cécile

    2005-12-01

    An implementation of the complementary relationship hypothesis (Bouchet's hypothesis) for estimating regional evapotranspiration within two rainfall-runoff models is proposed and evaluated in terms of streamflow simulation efficiency over a large sample of 308 catchments located in Australia, France and the USA. Complementary relationship models are attractive approaches to estimating actual evapotranspiration because they rely solely on climatic variables. They are even more interesting since they are supported by a conceptual description underlying the interactions between the evapotranspirating surface and the atmospheric boundary layer, which was highlighted by Bouchet (1963). However, these approaches appear to be in contradiction with the methods prevailing in rainfall-runoff models, which compute actual evapotranspiration using soil moisture accounting procedures. The approach adopted in this article is to introduce the estimation of actual evapotranspiration provided by complementary relationship models (complementary relationship for areal evapotranspiration and advection aridity) into two rainfall-runoff models. Results show that directly using the complementary relationship approach to estimate actual evapotranspiration does not give better results than the soil moisture accounting procedures. Finally, we discuss feedback mechanisms between potential evapotranspiration and soil water availability, and their possible impact on rainfall-runoff modelling. Copyright

  9. Evaluating the role of evapotranspiration remote sensing data in improving hydrological modeling predictability

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Herman, Matthew R.; Nejadhashemi, A. Pouyan; Abouali, Mohammad; Hernandez-Suarez, Juan Sebastian; Daneshvar, Fariborz; Zhang, Zhen; Anderson, Martha C.; Sadeghi, Ali M.; Hain, Christopher R.; Sharifi, Amirreza

    2018-01-01

    As the global demands for the use of freshwater resources continues to rise, it has become increasingly important to insure the sustainability of this resources. This is accomplished through the use of management strategies that often utilize monitoring and the use of hydrological models. However, monitoring at large scales is not feasible and therefore model applications are becoming challenging, especially when spatially distributed datasets, such as evapotranspiration, are needed to understand the model performances. Due to these limitations, most of the hydrological models are only calibrated for data obtained from site/point observations, such as streamflow. Therefore, the main focus of this paper is to examine whether the incorporation of remotely sensed and spatially distributed datasets can improve the overall performance of the model. In this study, actual evapotranspiration (ETa) data was obtained from the two different sets of satellite based remote sensing data. One dataset estimates ETa based on the Simplified Surface Energy Balance (SSEBop) model while the other one estimates ETa based on the Atmosphere-Land Exchange Inverse (ALEXI) model. The hydrological model used in this study is the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), which was calibrated against spatially distributed ETa and single point streamflow records for the Honeyoey Creek-Pine Creek Watershed, located in Michigan, USA. Two different techniques, multi-variable and genetic algorithm, were used to calibrate the SWAT model. Using the aforementioned datasets, the performance of the hydrological model in estimating ETa was improved using both calibration techniques by achieving Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE) values >0.5 (0.73-0.85), percent bias (PBIAS) values within ±25% (±21.73%), and root mean squared error - observations standard deviation ratio (RSR) values <0.7 (0.39-0.52). However, the genetic algorithm technique was more effective with the ETa calibration while significantly

  10. The Role of Evapotranspiration on Soil Moisture Depletion in a Small Alaskan Subarctic Farm

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ruairuen, W.; Fochesatto, G. J.; Sparrow, E. B.; Schnabel, W.; Zhang, M.

    2013-12-01

    At high latitudes the period for agriculture production is very short (110 frost-free days) and strongly depends on the availability of soil water content for vegetables to grow. In this context the evapotranspiration (ET) cycle is key variable underpinning mass and energy balance modulating therefore moisture gradients and soil dryness. Evapotranspiration (ET) from field-grown crops water stress is virtually unknown in the subarctic region. Understanding ET cycles in high latitude agricultural ecosystem is essential in terms of water management and sustainability and projection of agricultural activity. To investigate the ET cycle in farming soils a field experiment was conducted in the summer of 2012 and 2013 at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station combining micrometeorological and hydrological measurements. In this case experimental plots of lettuce (Lactuca sativa) plants were grown. The experiment evaluated several components of the ET cycle such as actual evapotranspiration, reference evaporation, pan evaporation as well as soil water content and temperature profiles to link them to the vegetable growing functions. We investigated the relationship of soil moisture content and crop water use across the growing season as a function of the ET cycle. Soil water depletion was compared to daily estimates of water loss by ET during dry and wet periods. We also investigated the dependence of ET on the atmospheric boundary layer flow patterns set by the synoptic large scale weather patterns.

  11. Combining remote sensing and water-balance evapotranspiration estimates for the conterminous United States

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Reitz, Meredith; Senay, Gabriel; Sanford, Ward E.

    2017-01-01

    Evapotranspiration (ET) is a key component of the hydrologic cycle, accounting for ~70% of precipitation in the conterminous U.S. (CONUS), but it has been a challenge to predict accurately across different spatio-temporal scales. The increasing availability of remotely sensed data has led to significant advances in the frequency and spatial resolution of ET estimates, derived from energy balance principles with variables such as temperature used to estimate surface latent heat flux. Although remote sensing methods excel at depicting spatial and temporal variability, estimation of ET independently of other water budget components can lead to inconsistency with other budget terms. Methods that rely on ground-based data better constrain long-term ET, but are unable to provide the same temporal resolution. Here we combine long-term ET estimates from a water-balance approach with the SSEBop (operational Simplified Surface Energy Balance) remote sensing-based ET product for 2000–2015. We test the new combined method, the original SSEBop product, and another remote sensing ET product (MOD16) against monthly measurements from 119 flux towers. The new product showed advantages especially in non-irrigated areas where the new method showed a coefficient of determination R2 of 0.44, compared to 0.41 for SSEBop or 0.35 for MOD16. The resulting monthly data set will be a useful, unique contribution to ET estimation, due to its combination of remote sensing-based variability and ground-based long-term water balance constraints.

  12. Comparison of specific-yield estimates for calculating evapotranspiration from diurnal groundwater-level fluctuations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gribovszki, Zoltán

    2018-05-01

    Methods that use diurnal groundwater-level fluctuations are commonly used for shallow water-table environments to estimate evapotranspiration (ET) and recharge. The key element needed to obtain reliable estimates is the specific yield (Sy), a soil-water storage parameter that depends on unsaturated soil-moisture and water-table fluxes, among others. Soil-moisture profile measurement down to the water table, along with water-table-depth measurements, can provide a good opportunity to calculate Sy values even on a sub-daily scale. These values were compared with Sy estimates derived by traditional techniques, and it was found that slug-test-based Sy values gave the most similar results in a sandy soil environment. Therefore, slug-test methods, which are relatively cheap and require little time, were most suited to estimate Sy using diurnal fluctuations. The reason for this is that the timeframe of the slug-test measurement is very similar to the dynamic of the diurnal signal. The dynamic characteristic of Sy was also analyzed on a sub-daily scale (depending mostly on the speed of drainage from the soil profile) and a remarkable difference was found in Sy with respect to the rate of change of the water table. When comparing constant and sub-daily (dynamic) Sy values for ET estimation, the sub-daily Sy application yielded higher correlation, but only a slightly smaller deviation from the control ET method, compared with the usage of constant Sy.

  13. Integrating Eddy Covariance, Penman-Monteith and METRIC based Evapotranspiration estimates to generate high resolution space-time ET over the Brazos River Basin

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mbabazi, D.; Mohanty, B.; Gaur, N.

    2017-12-01

    Evapotranspiration (ET) is an important component of the water and energy balance and accounts for 60 -70% of precipitation losses. However, accurate estimates of ET are difficult to quantify at varying spatial and temporal scales. Eddy covariance methods estimate ET at high temporal resolutions but without capturing the spatial variation in ET within its footprint. On the other hand, remote sensing methods using Landsat imagery provide ET with high spatial resolution but low temporal resolution (16 days). In this study, we used both eddy covariance and remote sensing methods to generate high space-time resolution ET. Daily, monthly and seasonal ET estimates were obtained using the eddy covariance (EC) method, Penman-Monteith (PM) and Mapping Evapotranspiration with Internalized Calibration (METRIC) models to determine cotton and native prairie ET dynamics in the Brazos river basin characterized by varying hydro-climatic and geological gradients. Daily estimates of spatially distributed ET (30 m resolution) were generated using spatial autocorrelation and temporal interpolations between the EC flux variable footprints and METRIC ET for the 2016 and 2017 growing seasons. A comparison of the 2016 and 2017 preliminary daily ET estimates showed similar ET dynamics/trends among the EC, PM and METRIC methods, and 5-20% differences in seasonal ET estimates. This study will improve the spatial estimates of EC ET and temporal resolution of satellite derived ET thus providing better ET data for water use management.

  14. Impact of Atmospheric Albedo on Amazon Evapotranspiration

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lopes, A. V.; Thompson, S. E.; Dracup, J. A.

    2013-12-01

    The vulnerability of the Amazon region to climate and anthropogenic driven disturbances has been the subject of extensive research efforts, given its importance in the global and regional climate and ecologic systems. The evaluation of such vulnerabilities requires the proper understanding of physical mechanisms controlling water and energy balances and how the disturbances change them. Among those mechanisms, the effects of atmospheric albedo on evapotranspiration have not been fully explored yet and are explored in this study. Evapotranspiration in the Amazon is sustained at high levels across all seasons and represents a large fraction of water and energy surface budgets. In this study, statistical analysis of data from four flux towers installed at Amazon primary forest sites was employed to quantify the impact of atmospheric albedo, mostly resulted from cloudiness, on evapotranspiration and to compare it to the effect of water limitation. Firstly, the difference in eddy-flux derived evapotranspiration at the flux towers under rainy and non-rainy antecedent conditions was tested for significance. Secondly, the same statistical comparison was performed under cloudy and clear sky conditions at hourly and daily time scales, using the reduction in incoming solar radiation as an indicator of cloudiness. Finally, the sensitivity of seasonal evapotranspiration totals to atmospheric albedo resulted from rainfall patterns is evaluated. That was done by sampling daily evapotranspiration estimates from empirical probability distribution functions conditioned to rainfall occurrence and then varying the number of dry days in each season. It was found that light limitation is much more important than water limitation in the Amazon, resulting in up to 43% reduction in daily evapotranspiration. Also, this effect varies by location and by season, the largest impact being in wet season, from December do January. Moreover, seasonal evapotranspiration totals were found to be

  15. Feasibility analysis of using inverse modeling for estimating field-scale evapotranspiration in maize and soybean fields from soil water content monitoring networks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Foolad, Foad; Franz, Trenton E.; Wang, Tiejun; Gibson, Justin; Kilic, Ayse; Allen, Richard G.; Suyker, Andrew

    2017-03-01

    In this study, the feasibility of using inverse vadose zone modeling for estimating field-scale actual evapotranspiration (ETa) was explored at a long-term agricultural monitoring site in eastern Nebraska. Data from both point-scale soil water content (SWC) sensors and the area-average technique of cosmic-ray neutron probes were evaluated against independent ETa estimates from a co-located eddy covariance tower. While this methodology has been successfully used for estimates of groundwater recharge, it was essential to assess the performance of other components of the water balance such as ETa. In light of recent evaluations of land surface models (LSMs), independent estimates of hydrologic state variables and fluxes are critically needed benchmarks. The results here indicate reasonable estimates of daily and annual ETa from the point sensors, but with highly varied soil hydraulic function parameterizations due to local soil texture variability. The results of multiple soil hydraulic parameterizations leading to equally good ETa estimates is consistent with the hydrological principle of equifinality. While this study focused on one particular site, the framework can be easily applied to other SWC monitoring networks across the globe. The value-added products of groundwater recharge and ETa flux from the SWC monitoring networks will provide additional and more robust benchmarks for the validation of LSM that continues to improve their forecast skill. In addition, the value-added products of groundwater recharge and ETa often have more direct impacts on societal decision-making than SWC alone. Water flux impacts human decision-making from policies on the long-term management of groundwater resources (recharge), to yield forecasts (ETa), and to optimal irrigation scheduling (ETa). Illustrating the societal benefits of SWC monitoring is critical to insure the continued operation and expansion of these public datasets.

  16. Comparing Landsat-7 ETM+ and ASTER Imageries to Estimate Daily Evapotranspiration Within a Mediterranean Vineyard Watershed

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Montes, Carlo; Jacob, Frederic

    2017-01-01

    We compared the capabilities of Landsat-7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) and Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) imageries for mapping daily evapotranspiration (ET) within a Mediterranean vineyard watershed. We used Landsat and ASTER data simultaneously collected on four dates in 2007 and 2008, along with the simplified surface energy balance index (S-SEBI) model. We used previously ground-validated good quality ASTER estimates as reference, and we analyzed the differences with Landsat retrievals in light of the instrumental factors and methodology. Although Landsat and ASTER retrievals of S-SEBI inputs were different, estimates of daily ET from the two imageries were similar. This is ascribed to the S-SEBI spatial differencing in temperature, and opens the path for using historical Landsat time series over vineyards.

  17. Developing of method for primary frequency control droop and deadband actual values estimation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nikiforov, A. A.; Chaplin, A. G.

    2017-11-01

    Operation of thermal power plant generation equipment, which participates in standardized primary frequency control (SPFC), must meet specific requirements. These requirements are formalized as nine algorithmic criteria, which are used for automatic monitoring of power plant participation in SPFC. One of these criteria - primary frequency control droop and deadband actual values estimation is considered in detail in this report. Experience shows that existing estimation method sometimes doesn’t work properly. Author offers alternative method, which allows estimating droop and deadband actual values more accurately. This method was implemented as a software application.

  18. Comparison of Sap Flow- and White's Equation-Based Estimates of Groundwater Evapotranspiration

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Widdowson, M.; Harding, B.

    2017-12-01

    Estimates of evapotranspiration (ET) of groundwater are useful at sites where phytoremediation is a component of the remedial strategy and the management of contaminant plumes. Methods to quantify direct ET of groundwater rely on multiple lines of evidence but are often limited to the measurement of water table levels and analysis of diurnal trends (e.g., White's Equation and related derivative methods). In this study, sap flow was collected and combined with monitoring of groundwater levels during the entire growing season at a site located in the Atlantic Coastal Plain (Georgia, USA). Our objective was to quantify temporal variations in estimates of groundwater ET in a phytoremediation test plot consisting of approximately 370 trees at a creosote-contaminated source zone. Trees ranging from 8-cm to 9-cm in diameter were instrumented with thermal dissipation sap velocity probes connected to a recording data logger. Wells and piezometers screened across the water table located within and around the periphery of the stand of trees were instrumented with recording pressure transducers. Sap flow estimates using the Granier method varied from 1 to 3 L/d per tree in dry months to 1 to 15 L/d per tree during periods of frequent precipitation and high ET potential. Results show no clear or consistent relationship between estimates of groundwater ET derived from water table fluctuations and sap flow results during the entire period of performance. However, this approach provides an upper and lower bound of groundwater consumption and concomitant plant uptake of light-weight polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

  19. Penman-Monteith approaches for estimating crop evapotranspiration in screenhouses--a case study with table-grape.

    PubMed

    Pirkner, Moran; Dicken, Uri; Tanny, Josef

    2014-07-01

    In arid and semi-arid regions many crops are grown under screens or in screenhouses to protect them from excessive radiation, strong winds, hailstorms and insects, and to reduce crop water requirements. Screens modify the crop microclimate, which means that it is necessary to accurately estimate crop water use under screens in order to improve the irrigation management and thereby increase water-use efficiency. The goal of the present study was to develop a set of calibrated relationships between inside and outside climatic variables, which would enable growers to predict crop water use under screens, based on standard external meteorological measurements and evapotranspiration (ET) models. Experiments were carried out in the Jordan Valley region of eastern Israel in a table-grape vineyard that was covered with a transparent screen providing 10% shading. An eddy covariance system was deployed in the middle of the vineyard and meteorological variables were measured inside and outside the screenhouse. Two ET models were evaluated: a classical Penman-Monteith model (PM) and a Penman-Monteith model modified for screenhouse conditions by the inclusion of an additional boundary-layer resistance (PMsc). Energy-balance closure analysis, presented as a linear relation between half-hourly values of available and consumed energy (1,344 data points), yielded the regression Y=1.05X-9.93 (W m(-2)), in which Y=sum of latent and sensible heat fluxes, and X=net radiation minus soil heat flux, with R2=0.81. To compensate for overestimation of the eddy fluxes, ET was corrected by forcing the energy balance closure. Average daily ET under the screen was 5.4±0.54 mm day(-1), in general agreement with the model estimates and the applied irrigation. The results showed that measured ET under the screen was, on average, 34% lower than that estimated outside, indicating significant potential water saving through screening irrigated vineyards. The PM model was somewhat more accurate than

  20. Potential evapotranspiration and continental drying

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Milly, Paul C.D.; Dunne, Krista A.

    2016-01-01

    By various measures (drought area and intensity, climatic aridity index, and climatic water deficits), some observational analyses have suggested that much of the Earth’s land has been drying during recent decades, but such drying seems inconsistent with observations of dryland greening and decreasing pan evaporation. ‘Offline’ analyses of climate-model outputs from anthropogenic climate change (ACC) experiments portend continuation of putative drying through the twenty-first century, despite an expected increase in global land precipitation. A ubiquitous increase in estimates of potential evapotranspiration (PET), driven by atmospheric warming, underlies the drying trends, but may be a methodological artefact. Here we show that the PET estimator commonly used (the Penman–Monteith PET for either an open-water surface or a reference crop) severely overpredicts the changes in non-water-stressed evapotranspiration computed in the climate models themselves in ACC experiments. This overprediction is partially due to neglect of stomatal conductance reductions commonly induced by increasing atmospheric CO2 concentrations in climate models. Our findings imply that historical and future tendencies towards continental drying, as characterized by offline-computed runoff, as well as other PET-dependent metrics, may be considerably weaker and less extensive than previously thought.

  1. Improving satellite-based post-fire evapotranspiration estimates in semi-arid regions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Poon, P.; Kinoshita, A. M.

    2017-12-01

    Climate change and anthropogenic factors contribute to the increased frequency, duration, and size of wildfires, which can alter ecosystem and hydrological processes. The loss of vegetation canopy and ground cover reduces interception and alters evapotranspiration (ET) dynamics in riparian areas, which can impact rainfall-runoff partitioning. Previous research evaluated the spatial and temporal trends of ET based on burn severity and observed an annual decrease of 120 mm on average for three years after fire. Building upon these results, this research focuses on the Coyote Fire in San Diego, California (USA), which burned a total of 76 km2 in 2003 to calibrate and improve satellite-based ET estimates in semi-arid regions affected by wildfire. The current work utilizes satellite-based products and techniques such as the Google Earth Engine Application programming interface (API). Various ET models (ie. Operational Simplified Surface Energy Balance Model (SSEBop)) are compared to the latent heat flux from two AmeriFlux eddy covariance towers, Sky Oaks Young (US-SO3), and Old Stand (US-SO2), from 2000 - 2015. The Old Stand tower has a low burn severity and the Young Stand tower has a moderate to high burn severity. Both towers are used to validate spatial ET estimates. Furthermore, variables and indices, such as Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Normalized Difference Moisture Index (NDMI), and the Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR) are utilized to evaluate satellite-based ET through a multivariate statistical analysis at both sites. This point-scale study will able to improve ET estimates in spatially diverse regions. Results from this research will contribute to the development of a post-wildfire ET model for semi-arid regions. Accurate estimates of post-fire ET will provide a better representation of vegetation and hydrologic recovery, which can be used to improve hydrologic models and predictions.

  2. Estimating Field Scale Crop Evapotranspiration using Landsat and MODIS Satellite Observations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wong, A.; Jin, Y.; Snyder, R. L.; Daniele, Z.; Gao, F.

    2016-12-01

    Irrigation accounts for 80% of human freshwater consumption, and most of it return to the atmosphere through Evapotranspiration (ET). Given the challenges of already-stressed water resources and ground water regulation in California, a cost-effective, timely, and consistent spatial estimate of crop ET, from the farm to watershed level, is becoming increasingly important. The Priestley-Taylor (PT) approach, calibrated with field data and driven by satellite observations, shows great promise for accurate ET estimates across diverse ecosystems. We here aim to improve the robustness of the PT approach in agricultural lands, to enable growers and farm managers to tailor irrigation management based on in-field spatial variability and in-season variation. We optimized the PT coefficients for each crop type with available ET measurements from eddy covariance towers and/or surface renewal stations at six crop fields (Alfalfa, Almond, Citrus, Corn, Pistachio and Rice) in California. Good agreement was found between satellite-based estimates and field measurements of net radiation, with a RMSE of less than 36 W m-2. The crop type specific optimization performed well, with a RMSE of 30 W m-2 and a correlation of 0.81 for predicted daily latent heat flux. The calibrated algorithm was used to estimate ET at 30 m resolution over the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta region for 2015 water year. It captures well the seasonal dynamics and spatial distribution of ET in Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. A continuous monitoring of the dynamics and spatial heterogeneity of canopy and consumptive water use at a field scale, will help the growers to be well prepared and informed to adaptively manage water, canopy, and grove density to maximize the yield with the least amount of water.

  3. Evapotranspiration-based irrigation scheduling of lettuce and broccoli

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Estimation of crop evapotranspiration supports efficient irrigation water management, which in turn supports water conservation, mitigation of groundwater depletion/degradation, energy savings, and crop quality maintenance. Past research in California has revealed strong relationships between fract...

  4. Estimating groundwater evapotranspiration by a subtropical pine plantation using diurnal water table fluctuations: Implications from night-time water use

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fan, Junliang; Ostergaard, Kasper T.; Guyot, Adrien; Fujiwara, Stephen; Lockington, David A.

    2016-11-01

    Exotic pine plantations have replaced large areas of the native forests for timber production in the subtropical coastal Australia. To evaluate potential impacts of changes in vegetation on local groundwater discharge, we estimated groundwater evapotranspiration (ETg) by the pine plantation using diurnal water table fluctuations for the dry season of 2012 from August 1st to December 31st. The modified White method was used to estimate the ETg, considering the night-time water use by pine trees (Tn). Depth-dependent specific yields were also determined both experimentally and numerically for estimation of ETg. Night-time water use by pine trees was comprehensively investigated using a combination of groundwater level, sap flow, tree growth, specific yield, soil matric potential and climatic variables measurements. Results reveal a constant average transpiration flux of 0.02 mm h-1 at the plot scale from 23:00 to 05:00 during the study period, which verified the presence of night-time water use. The total ETg for the period investigated was 259.0 mm with an accumulated Tn of 64.5 mm, resulting in an error of 25% on accumulated evapotranspiration from the groundwater if night-time water use was neglected. The results indicate that the development of commercial pine plantations may result in groundwater losses in these areas. It is also recommended that any future application of diurnal water table fluctuation based methods investigate the validity of the zero night-time water use assumption prior to use.

  5. Influence of potential evapotranspiration on the water balance of sugarcane fields in Maui, Hawaii

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    The year-long warm temperatures and other climatic characteristics of the Pacific Ocean Islands have made Hawaii an optimum place for growing sugarcane; however, irrigation is essential to satisfy the large water demand of sugarcane. Under the Hawaiian tropical weather, actual evapotranspiration (A...

  6. Assessment of aquifer properties, evapotranspiration, and the effects of ditching in the Stoney Brook watershed, Fond du Lac Reservation, Minnesota, 2006-9

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Jones, Perry M.; Tomasek, Abigail A.

    2015-01-01

    Daily fluctuations in water levels in two wells indicated that the evapotranspiration extinction depth in the Stoney Brook watershed is approximately 4.6 to 6 feet below the land surface. A polynomial regression fit of the daily evapotranspiration rates during 2006–9 for well 1 produced a total evapotranspiration estimate of 16.1 inches from June 26 to October 6 for every year. Evapotranspiration estimated from daily water-level fluctuations in wells near ditches is relatively high. The ditch-water surface allowed for relatively high evaporation compared to the land surface, which, with a good hydraulic connection to surrounding groundwater, resulted in relatively high fluctuations in daily groundwater levels near ditches, resulting in high evapotranspiration estimates.

  7. Harmonizing multiple methods for reconstructing historical potential and reference evapotranspiration

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Belaineh, Getachew; Sumner, David; Carter, Edward; Clapp, David

    2013-01-01

    Potential evapotranspiration (PET) and reference evapotranspiration (RET) data are usually critical components of hydrologic analysis. Many different equations are available to estimate PET and RET. Most of these equations, such as the Priestley-Taylor and Penman- Monteith methods, rely on detailed meteorological data collected at ground-based weather stations. Few weather stations collect enough data to estimate PET or RET using one of the more complex evapotranspiration equations. Currently, satellite data integrated with ground meteorological data are used with one of these evapotranspiration equations to accurately estimate PET and RET. However, earlier than the last few decades, historical reconstructions of PET and RET needed for many hydrologic analyses are limited by the paucity of satellite data and of some types of ground data. Air temperature stands out as the most generally available meteorological ground data type over the last century. Temperature-based approaches used with readily available historical temperature data offer the potential for long period-of-record PET and RET historical reconstructions. A challenge is the inconsistency between the more accurate, but more data intensive, methods appropriate for more recent periods and the less accurate, but less data intensive, methods appropriate to the more distant past. In this study, multiple methods are harmonized in a seamless reconstruction of historical PET and RET by quantifying and eliminating the biases of the simple Hargreaves-Samani method relative to the more complex and accurate Priestley-Taylor and Penman-Monteith methods. This harmonization process is used to generate long-term, internally consistent, spatiotemporal databases of PET and RET.

  8. Seasonal estimates of riparian evapotranspiration using remote and in situ measurements

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Goodrich, D.C.; Scott, R.; Qi, J.; Goff, B.; Unkrich, C.L.; Moran, M.S.; Williams, D.; Schaeffer, S.; Snyder, K.; MacNish, R.; Maddock, T.; Pool, D.; Chehbouni, A.; Cooper, D.I.; Eichinger, W.E.; Shuttleworth, W.J.; Kerr, Y.; Marsett, R.; Ni, W.

    2000-01-01

    In many semi-arid basins during extended periods when surface snowmelt or storm runoff is absent, groundwater constitutes the primary water source for human habitation, agriculture and riparian ecosystems. Utilizing regional groundwater models in the management of these water resources requires accurate estimates of basin boundary conditions. A critical groundwater boundary condition that is closely coupled to atmospheric processes and is typically known with little certainty is seasonal riparian evapotranspiration ET). This quantity can often be a significant factor in the basin water balance in semi-arid regions yet is very difficult to estimate over a large area. Better understanding and quantification of seasonal, large-area riparian ET is a primary objective of the Semi-Arid Land-Surface-Atmosphere (SALSA) Program. To address this objective, a series of interdisciplinary experimental Campaigns were conducted in 1997 in the San Pedro Basin in southeastern Arizona. The riparian system in this basin is primarily made up of three vegetation communities: mesquite (Prosopis velutina), sacaton grasses (Sporobolus wrightii), and a cottonwood (Populus fremontii)/willow (Salix goodingii) forest gallery. Micrometeorological measurement techniques were used to estimate ET from the mesquite and grasses. These techniques could not be utilized to estimate fluxes from the cottonwood/willow (C/W) forest gallery due to the height (20-30 m) and non-uniform linear nature of the forest gallery. Short-term (2-4 days) sap flux measurements were made to estimate canopy transpiration over several periods of the riparian growing season. Simultaneous remote sensing measurements were used to spatially extrapolate tree and stand measurements. Scaled C/W stand level sap flux estimates were utilized to calibrate a Penman-Monteith model to enable temporal extrapolation between Synoptic measurement periods. With this model and set of measurements, seasonal riparian vegetation water use

  9. Estimation of evapotranspiration in the Rainbow Springs and Silver Springs basins in North-Central Florida

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Knowles, Leel

    1996-01-01

    Estimates of evapotranspiration (ET) for the Rainbow and Silver Springs ground-water basins in north-central Florida were determined using a regional water-~budget approach and compared to estimates computed using a modified Priestley-Taylor (PT) model calibrated with eddy-correlation data. Eddy-correlation measurements of latent 0~E) and sensible (H) heat flux were made monthly for a few days at a time, and the PT model was used to estimate 3,E between times of measurement during the 1994 water year. A water-budget analysis for the two-basin area indicated that over a 30-year period (196594) annual rainfall was 51.7 inches. Of the annual rainfall, ET accounted for about 37.9 inches; springflow accounted for 13.1 inches; and the remaining 0.7 inch was accounted for by stream-flow, by ground-water withdrawals from the Floridan aquifer system, and by net change in storage. For the same 30-year period, the annual estimate of ET for the Silver Springs basin was 37.6 inches and was 38.5 inches for the Rainbow Springs basin. Wet- and dry-season estimates of ET for each basin averaged between nearly 19 inches and 20 inches, indicating that like rainfall, ET rates during the 4-month wet season were about twice the ET rates during the 8-month dry season. Wet-season estimates of ET for the Rainbow Springs and Silver Springs basins decreased 2.7 inches, and 3.4 inches, respectively, over the 30-year period; whereas, dry-season estimates for the basins decreased about 0.4 inch and1.0 inch, respectively, over the 30-year period. This decrease probably is related to the general decrease in annual rainfall and reduction in net radiation over the basins during the 30-year period. ET rates computed using the modified PT model were compared to rates computed from the water budget for the 1994 water year. Annual ET, computed using the PT model, was 32.0 inches, nearly equal to the ET water-budget estimate of 31.7 inches computed for the Rainbow Springs and Silver Springs basins

  10. Blaney-Morin-Nigeria evapotranspiration model

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Duru, J. Obiukwu

    1984-02-01

    An evapotranspiration model which parallels that proposed earlier by Blaney and Morin has been developed for application in Nigeria. The model, designated as the Blaney-Morin-Nigeria evapotranspiration model, predicts potential evapotranspiration with accuracy and consistency that are better than the Penman model, under Nigerian conditions. It is suggested that the Blaney-Morin evapotranspiration concept may have similar potential elsewhere when given specific form with appropriate constants derived to reflect climatic peculiarities.

  11. Evapotranspiration estimates from eddy covariance towers and hydrologic modeling in managed forests in Northern Wisconsin, USA

    Treesearch

    Ge Sun; A. Noormets; J. Chen; S.G. McNulty

    2008-01-01

    Direct measurement of ecosystem evapotranspiration by the eddy covariance method and simulation modeling were employed to quantify the growing season (May–October) evapotranspiration (ET) of eight forest ecosystems representing a management gradient in dominant forest types and age classes in the Upper Great Lakes Region from 2002 to 2003. We measured net exchange of...

  12. Processes driving nocturnal transpiration and implications for estimating land evapotranspiration

    PubMed Central

    de Dios, Víctor Resco; Roy, Jacques; Ferrio, Juan Pedro; Alday, Josu G.; Landais, Damien; Milcu, Alexandru; Gessler, Arthur

    2015-01-01

    Evapotranspiration is a major component of the water cycle, yet only daytime transpiration is currently considered in Earth system and agricultural sciences. This contrasts with physiological studies where 25% or more of water losses have been reported to occur occurring overnight at leaf and plant scales. This gap probably arose from limitations in techniques to measure nocturnal water fluxes at ecosystem scales, a gap we bridge here by using lysimeters under controlled environmental conditions. The magnitude of the nocturnal water losses (12–23% of daytime water losses) in row-crop monocultures of bean (annual herb) and cotton (woody shrub) would be globally an order of magnitude higher than documented responses of global evapotranspiration to climate change (51–98 vs. 7–8 mm yr−1). Contrary to daytime responses and to conventional wisdom, nocturnal transpiration was not affected by previous radiation loads or carbon uptake, and showed a temporal pattern independent of vapour pressure deficit or temperature, because of endogenous controls on stomatal conductance via circadian regulation. Our results have important implications from large-scale ecosystem modelling to crop production: homeostatic water losses justify simple empirical predictive functions, and circadian controls show a fine-tune control that minimizes water loss while potentially increasing posterior carbon uptake. PMID:26074373

  13. Processes driving nocturnal transpiration and implications for estimating land evapotranspiration.

    PubMed

    de Dios, Víctor Resco; Roy, Jacques; Ferrio, Juan Pedro; Alday, Josu G; Landais, Damien; Milcu, Alexandru; Gessler, Arthur

    2015-06-15

    Evapotranspiration is a major component of the water cycle, yet only daytime transpiration is currently considered in Earth system and agricultural sciences. This contrasts with physiological studies where 25% or more of water losses have been reported to occur occurring overnight at leaf and plant scales. This gap probably arose from limitations in techniques to measure nocturnal water fluxes at ecosystem scales, a gap we bridge here by using lysimeters under controlled environmental conditions. The magnitude of the nocturnal water losses (12-23% of daytime water losses) in row-crop monocultures of bean (annual herb) and cotton (woody shrub) would be globally an order of magnitude higher than documented responses of global evapotranspiration to climate change (51-98 vs. 7-8 mm yr(-1)). Contrary to daytime responses and to conventional wisdom, nocturnal transpiration was not affected by previous radiation loads or carbon uptake, and showed a temporal pattern independent of vapour pressure deficit or temperature, because of endogenous controls on stomatal conductance via circadian regulation. Our results have important implications from large-scale ecosystem modelling to crop production: homeostatic water losses justify simple empirical predictive functions, and circadian controls show a fine-tune control that minimizes water loss while potentially increasing posterior carbon uptake.

  14. Unmanned airborne thermal and mutilspectral imagery for estimating evapotranspiration in irrigated vineyards

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Thermal-infrared remote sensing of land surface temperature (LST) provides valuable information for quantifying rootzone water availability, evapotranspiration (ET) and crop condition. This paper describes the most recent modifications applied to the robust but relatively simple LST-based energy bal...

  15. Method for automatic determination of soybean actual evapotranspiration under open top chambers (OTC) subjected to effects of water stress and air ozone concentration.

    PubMed

    Rana, Gianfranco; Katerji, Nader; Mastrorilli, Marcello

    2012-10-01

    The present study describes an operational method, based on the Katerji et al. (Eur J Agron 33:218-230, 2010) model, for determining the daily evapotranspiration (ET) for soybean inside open top chambers (OTCs). It includes two functions, calculated day par day, making it possible to separately take into account the effects of concentrations of air ozone and plant water stress. This last function was calibrated in function of the daily values of actual water reserve in the soil. The input variables of the method are (a) the diurnal values of global radiation and temperature, usually measured routinely in a standard weather station; (b) the daily values of the AOT40 index accumulated (accumulated ozone over a threshold of 40 ppb during daylight hours, when global radiation exceeds 50 Wm(-2)) determined inside the OTC; and (c) the actual water reserve in the soil, at the beginning of the trial. The ensemble of these input variables can be automatable; thus, the proposed method could be applied in routine. The ability of the method to take into account contrasting conditions of ozone air concentration and water stress was evaluated over three successive years, for 513 days, in ten crop growth cycles, excluding the days employed to calibrate the method. Tests were carried out in several chambers for each year and take into account the intra- and inter-year variability of ET measured inside the OTCs. On the daily scale, the slope of the linear regression between the ET measured by the soil water balance and that calculated by the proposed method, under different water conditions, are 0.98 and 1.05 for the filtered and unfiltered (or enriched) OTCs with root mean square error (RMSE) equal to 0.77 and 1.07 mm, respectively. On the seasonal scale, the mean difference between measured and calculated ET is equal to +5% and +11% for the filtered and unfiltered OTCs, respectively. The ability of the proposed method to estimate the daily and seasonal ET inside the OTCs is

  16. Evaluation of Sensible Heat Flux and Evapotranspiration Estimates Using a Surface Layer Scintillometer and a Large Weighing Lysimeter

    PubMed Central

    Moorhead, Jerry E.; Marek, Gary W.; Colaizzi, Paul D.; Gowda, Prasanna H.; Evett, Steven R.; Brauer, David K.; Marek, Thomas H.; Porter, Dana O.

    2017-01-01

    Accurate estimates of actual crop evapotranspiration (ET) are important for optimal irrigation water management, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. Common ET sensing methods include Bowen Ratio, Eddy Covariance (EC), and scintillometers. Large weighing lysimeters are considered the ultimate standard for measurement of ET, however, they are expensive to install and maintain. Although EC and scintillometers are less costly and relatively portable, EC has known energy balance closure discrepancies. Previous scintillometer studies used EC for ground-truthing, but no studies considered weighing lysimeters. In this study, a Surface Layer Scintillometer (SLS) was evaluated for accuracy in determining ET as well as sensible and latent heat fluxes, as compared to a large weighing lysimeter in Bushland, TX. The SLS was installed over irrigated grain sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) for the period 29 July–17 August 2015 and over grain corn (Zea mays L.) for the period 23 June–2 October 2016. Results showed poor correlation for sensible heat flux, but much better correlation with ET, with r2 values of 0.83 and 0.87 for hourly and daily ET, respectively. The accuracy of the SLS was comparable to other ET sensing instruments with an RMSE of 0.13 mm·h−1 (31%) for hourly ET; however, summing hourly values to a daily time step reduced the ET error to 14% (0.75 mm·d−1). This level of accuracy indicates that potential exists for the SLS to be used in some water management applications. As few studies have been conducted to evaluate the SLS for ET estimation, or in combination with lysimetric data, further evaluations would be beneficial to investigate the applicability of the SLS in water resources management. PMID:29036926

  17. Evaluation of Sensible Heat Flux and Evapotranspiration Estimates Using a Surface Layer Scintillometer and a Large Weighing Lysimeter.

    PubMed

    Moorhead, Jerry E; Marek, Gary W; Colaizzi, Paul D; Gowda, Prasanna H; Evett, Steven R; Brauer, David K; Marek, Thomas H; Porter, Dana O

    2017-10-14

    Accurate estimates of actual crop evapotranspiration (ET) are important for optimal irrigation water management, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. Common ET sensing methods include Bowen Ratio, Eddy Covariance (EC), and scintillometers. Large weighing lysimeters are considered the ultimate standard for measurement of ET, however, they are expensive to install and maintain. Although EC and scintillometers are less costly and relatively portable, EC has known energy balance closure discrepancies. Previous scintillometer studies used EC for ground-truthing, but no studies considered weighing lysimeters. In this study, a Surface Layer Scintillometer (SLS) was evaluated for accuracy in determining ET as well as sensible and latent heat fluxes, as compared to a large weighing lysimeter in Bushland, TX. The SLS was installed over irrigated grain sorghum ( Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) for the period 29 July-17 August 2015 and over grain corn ( Zea mays L.) for the period 23 June-2 October 2016. Results showed poor correlation for sensible heat flux, but much better correlation with ET, with r² values of 0.83 and 0.87 for hourly and daily ET, respectively. The accuracy of the SLS was comparable to other ET sensing instruments with an RMSE of 0.13 mm·h -1 (31%) for hourly ET; however, summing hourly values to a daily time step reduced the ET error to 14% (0.75 mm·d -1 ). This level of accuracy indicates that potential exists for the SLS to be used in some water management applications. As few studies have been conducted to evaluate the SLS for ET estimation, or in combination with lysimetric data, further evaluations would be beneficial to investigate the applicability of the SLS in water resources management.

  18. Satellite retrieval of actual evapotranspiration in the Tibetan Plateau: Components partitioning, multidecadal trends and dominated factors identifying

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Weiguang; Li, Jinxing; Yu, Zhongbo; Ding, Yimin; Xing, Wanqiu; Lu, Wenjun

    2018-04-01

    As the only connecting term between water balance and energy budget in the earth-atmospheric system, evapotranspiration (ET) is considered the most excellent indicator for the activity for the water and energy cycle. Under the background of global change, regional ET estimates, components partitioning as well as their spatial and temporal patterns recognition are of great importance in understanding the hydrological processes and improving water management practices. This is particularly true for the Tibetan Plateau (TP), one of most sensitive and vulnerable region in response to the environment change in the earth. In this study, with flux site observation data and monthly ET data from the monthly water balance method incorporating the terrestrial water storage changes from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment satellite (GRACE) production as the multiple validations, the long-term daily ET in the TP was retrieved by a modified Penman-Monteith-Leuning (PML) model with considering evapotranspiration over snow covered area during 1982-2012. The spatial and temporal changes of partitioned three components of ET, i.e., soil evaporation (Es), transpiration through the stomata of plant (Ec) and canopy interception (Ei), were investigated in the TP. Meanwhile, how the ET components contribute to ET changes and respond to the change in environmental factors in the TP was revealed and discussed. The results indicate that Es dominates ET in most areas of the TP with the mean annual ratio of 65.7%, except southeastern regions where the vegetation coverage is high. Although regional average ET and three main components all present obvious increase trends during the past decades, high spatial heterogeneity for their trends are identified in the TP. Moreover, a mixed changing pattern can be apparently found for Es in southeastern area, Ec and Ei in northwestern and southeastern area. Spatially, the ET variation are mainly attributed to change in Es, followed by Ec and Ei

  19. Application of an energy balance method for estimating evapotranspiration in cropping systems

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Accurate quantification of evapotranspiration (ET, consumptive water use) from planting through harvest is critical for managing the limited water resources for crop irrigation. Our objective was to develop and apply an improved land-crop surface residual energy balance (EB) method for quantifying E...

  20. Evaluating the generalizability of GEP models for estimating reference evapotranspiration in distant humid and arid locations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kiafar, Hamed; Babazadeh, Hosssien; Marti, Pau; Kisi, Ozgur; Landeras, Gorka; Karimi, Sepideh; Shiri, Jalal

    2017-10-01

    Evapotranspiration estimation is of crucial importance in arid and hyper-arid regions, which suffer from water shortage, increasing dryness and heat. A modeling study is reported here to cross-station assessment between hyper-arid and humid conditions. The derived equations estimate ET0 values based on temperature-, radiation-, and mass transfer-based configurations. Using data from two meteorological stations in a hyper-arid region of Iran and two meteorological stations in a humid region of Spain, different local and cross-station approaches are applied for developing and validating the derived equations. The comparison of the gene expression programming (GEP)-based-derived equations with corresponding empirical-semi empirical ET0 estimation equations reveals the superiority of new formulas in comparison with the corresponding empirical equations. Therefore, the derived models can be successfully applied in these hyper-arid and humid regions as well as similar climatic contexts especially in data-lack situations. The results also show that when relying on proper input configurations, cross-station might be a promising alternative for locally trained models for the stations with data scarcity.

  1. Evapotranspiration estimates derived using multi-platform remote sensing in a semiarid region

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Evapotranspiration (ET) is a key component of the water balance, especially in arid and semiarid regions. The current study takes advantage of spatially-distributed, near real-time information provided by satellite remote sensing to develop a regional scale ET product derived from remotely-sensed ob...

  2. Satellite-based monitoring of cotton evapotranspiration

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dalezios, Nicolas; Dercas, Nicholas; Tarquis, Ana Maria

    2016-04-01

    Water for agricultural use represents the largest share among all water uses. Vulnerability in agriculture is influenced, among others, by extended periods of water shortage in regions exposed to droughts. Advanced technological approaches and methodologies, including remote sensing, are increasingly incorporated for the assessment of irrigation water requirements. In this paper, remote sensing techniques are integrated for the estimation and monitoring of crop evapotranspiration ETc. The study area is Thessaly central Greece, which is a drought-prone agricultural region. Cotton fields in a small agricultural sub-catchment in Thessaly are used as an experimental site. Daily meteorological data and weekly field data are recorded throughout seven (2004-2010) growing seasons for the computation of reference evapotranspiration ETo, crop coefficient Kc and cotton crop ETc based on conventional data. Satellite data (Landsat TM) for the corresponding period are processed to estimate cotton crop coefficient Kc and cotton crop ETc and delineate its spatiotemporal variability. The methodology is applied for monitoring Kc and ETc during the growing season in the selected sub-catchment. Several error statistics are used showing very good agreement with ground-truth observations.

  3. Exploring the use of multi-sensor data fusion for daily evapotranspiration mapping at field scale

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Modern practices of water management in agriculture can significantly benefit from accurate mapping of crop water consumption at field scale. Assuming that actual evapotranspiration (ET) is the main water loss in land hydrological balance, remote sensing data represent an invaluable tool for water u...

  4. Intercomparison of Evapotranspiration Over the Savannah Volta Basin in West Africa Using Remote Sensing Data

    PubMed Central

    Opoku-Duah, S.; Donoghue, D.N.M.; Burt, T. P.

    2008-01-01

    This paper compares evapotranspiration estimates from two complementary satellite sensors – NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and ESA's ENVISAT Advanced Along-Track Scanning Radiometer (AATSR) over the savannah area of the Volta basin in West Africa. This was achieved through solving for evapotranspiration on the basis of the regional energy balance equation, which was computationally-driven by the Surface Energy Balance Algorithm for Land algorithm (SEBAL). The results showed that both sensors are potentially good sources of evapotranspiration estimates over large heterogeneous landscapes. The MODIS sensor measured daily evapotranspiration reasonably well with a strong spatial correlation (R2=0.71) with Landsat ETM+ but underperformed with deviations up to ∼2.0 mm day-1, when compared with local eddy correlation observations and the Penman-Monteith method mainly because of scale mismatch. The AATSR sensor produced much poorer correlations (R2=0.13) with Landsat ETM+ and conventional ET methods also because of differences in atmospheric correction and sensor calibration over land. PMID:27879847

  5. Evapotranspiration estimation using a parameter-parsimonious energy partition model over Amazon basin

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Xu, D.; Agee, E.; Wang, J.; Ivanov, V. Y.

    2017-12-01

    The increased frequency and severity of droughts in the Amazon region have emphasized the potential vulnerability of the rainforests to heat and drought-induced stresses, highlighting the need to reduce the uncertainty in estimates of regional evapotranspiration (ET) and quantify resilience of the forest. Ground-based observations for estimating ET are resource intensive, making methods based on remotely sensed observations an attractive alternative. Several methodologies have been developed to estimate ET from satellite data, but challenges remained in model parameterization and satellite limited coverage reducing their utility for monitoring biodiverse regions. In this work, we apply a novel surface energy partition method (Maximum Entropy Production; MEP) based on Bayesian probability theory and nonequilibrium thermodynamics to derive ET time series using satellite data for Amazon basin. For a large, sparsely monitored region such as the Amazon, this approach has the advantage methods of only using single level measurements of net radiation, temperature, and specific humidity data. Furthermore, it is not sensitive to the uncertainty of the input data and model parameters. In this first application of MEP theory for a tropical forest biome, we assess its performance at various spatiotemporal scales against a diverse field data sets. Specifically, the objective of this work is to test this method using eddy flux data for several locations across the Amazonia at sub-daily, monthly, and annual scales and compare the new estimates with those using traditional methods. Analyses of the derived ET time series will contribute to reducing the current knowledge gap surrounding the much debated response of the Amazon Basin region to droughts and offer a template for monitoring the long-term changes in global hydrologic cycle due to anthropogenic and natural causes.

  6. Validating Remotely Sensed Land Surface Evapotranspiration Based on Multi-scale Field Measurements

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jia, Z.; Liu, S.; Ziwei, X.; Liang, S.

    2012-12-01

    The land surface evapotranspiration plays an important role in the surface energy balance and the water cycle. There have been significant technical and theoretical advances in our knowledge of evapotranspiration over the past two decades. Acquisition of the temporally and spatially continuous distribution of evapotranspiration using remote sensing technology has attracted the widespread attention of researchers and managers. However, remote sensing technology still has many uncertainties coming from model mechanism, model inputs, parameterization schemes, and scaling issue in the regional estimation. Achieving remotely sensed evapotranspiration (RS_ET) with confident certainty is required but difficult. As a result, it is indispensable to develop the validation methods to quantitatively assess the accuracy and error sources of the regional RS_ET estimations. This study proposes an innovative validation method based on multi-scale evapotranspiration acquired from field measurements, with the validation results including the accuracy assessment, error source analysis, and uncertainty analysis of the validation process. It is a potentially useful approach to evaluate the accuracy and analyze the spatio-temporal properties of RS_ET at both the basin and local scales, and is appropriate to validate RS_ET in diverse resolutions at different time-scales. An independent RS_ET validation using this method was presented over the Hai River Basin, China in 2002-2009 as a case study. Validation at the basin scale showed good agreements between the 1 km annual RS_ET and the validation data such as the water balanced evapotranspiration, MODIS evapotranspiration products, precipitation, and landuse types. Validation at the local scale also had good results for monthly, daily RS_ET at 30 m and 1 km resolutions, comparing to the multi-scale evapotranspiration measurements from the EC and LAS, respectively, with the footprint model over three typical landscapes. Although some

  7. Actual and estimated costs of disposable materials used during surgical procedures.

    PubMed

    Toyabe, Shin-Ichi; Cao, Pengyu; Kurashima, Sachiko; Nakayama, Yukiko; Ishii, Yuko; Hosoyama, Noriko; Akazawa, Kouhei

    2005-07-01

    It is difficult to estimate precisely the costs of disposable materials used during surgical operations. To evaluate the actual costs of disposable materials, we calculated the actual costs of disposable materials used in 59 operations by taking account of costs of all disposable materials used for each operation. The costs of the disposable materials varied significantly from operation to operation (US$ 38-4230 per operation), and the median [25-percentile and 75-percentile] of the sum total of disposable material costs of a single operation was found to be US$ 686 [205 and 993]. Multiple regression analysis with a stepwise regression method showed that costs of disposable materials significantly correlated only with operation time (p<0.001). Based on the results, we propose a simple method for estimating costs of disposable materials by measuring operation time, and we found that the method gives reliable results. Since costs of disposable materials used during surgical operations are considerable, precise estimation of the costs is essential for hospital cost accounting. Our method should be useful for planning hospital administration strategies.

  8. Instrumentation, methods, and preliminary evaluation of evapotranspiration for a grassland in the Arid Lands Ecology Reserve, Benton County, Washington, May-October 1990

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Tomlinson, S.A.

    1994-01-01

    The report describes instrumentation, methods, and preliminary results for a study on evapo- transpiration at a grassland in Snively Basin of the Arid Lands Ecology Reserve. Instrumentation was used to collect data from May 30 to October 15, 1990. A combination of the Bowen-ratio and Penman-Monteith methods was used to calculate estimates of evapotranspiration. The Bowen-ratio method could be used to calculate estimates of latent-heat flux and evapotranspiration during only parts of the study period. Latent-heat flux values obtained during these periods were used in the Penman-Monteith method to estimate the canopy resistance. These canopy resistances were averaged for each day and the average values were used to recalculate the laten-heat flux for all periods using the Penman-Monteith method. The canopy resistance ranged from near zero during periods of rainfall to more than 40,000 seconds per meter during periods of extreme dryness. Evapotranspiration estimates varied during the study period. Daily evapotranspiration ranged from less than 0.1 millimeter on some days in August, September, and October to about 2 milli- meters on June 3 and August 22. Monthly totals of evapotranspiration were as follows: June, 28.2 millimeters; July, 10.5 millimeters; August, 15.0 millimeters; September, 5.3 millimeters; and October 1-15, 1.8 millimeters. Evapotranspiration values given in the report are estimates. Some error, perhaps as low as 25 percent on a daily basis and 4 percent on a monthly total basis, is probably introduced into these estimates through complexities of data collection, data analysis, and canopy-resistance estimation, particularly when evapotranspiration was near zero.

  9. Wide-area estimates of evapotranspiration by red gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis) and associated vegetation in the Murray-Darling River Basin, Australia

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Nagler, Pamela L.; Doody, Tanya M.; Glenn, Edward P.; Jarchow, Christopher J.; Barreto-Munoz, Armando; Didan, Kamel

    2016-01-01

    Floodplain red gum forests (Eucalyptus camaldulensis plus associated grasses, reeds and sedges) are sites of high biodiversity in otherwise arid regions of southeastern Australia. They depend on periodic floods from rivers, but dams and diversions have reduced flood frequencies and volumes, leading to deterioration of trees and associated biota. There is a need to determine their water requirements so environmental flows can be administered to maintain or restore the forests. Their water requirements include the frequency and extent of overbank flooding, which recharges the floodplain soils with water, as well as the actual amount of water consumed in evapotranspiration (ET). We estimated the flooding requirements and ET for a 38 134 ha area of red gum forest fed by the Murrumbidgee River in Yanga National Park, New South Wales. ET was estimated by three methods: sap flux sensors placed in individual trees; a remote sensing method based on the Enhanced Vegetation Index from MODIS satellite imagery and a water balance method based on differences between river flows into and out of the forest. The methods gave comparable estimates yet covered different spatial and temporal scales. We estimated flood frequency and volume requirements by comparing Normalized Difference Vegetation Index values from Landsat images with flood history from 1995 to 2014, which included both wet periods and dry periods. ET during wet years is about 50% of potential ET but is much less in dry years because of the trees' ability to control stomatal conductance. Based on our analyses plus other studies, red gum trees at this location require environmental flows of 2000 GL yr−1 every other year, with peak flows of 20 000 ML d−1, to produce flooding sufficient to keep them in good condition. However, only about 120–200 GL yr−1 of river water is consumed in ET, with the remainder flowing out of the forest where it enters the Murray River system.

  10. Simple process-led algorithms for simulating habitats (SPLASH v.1.0): robust indices of radiation, evapotranspiration and plant-available moisture

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Davis, Tyler W.; Prentice, I. Colin; Stocker, Benjamin D.; Thomas, Rebecca T.; Whitley, Rhys J.; Wang, Han; Evans, Bradley J.; Gallego-Sala, Angela V.; Sykes, Martin T.; Cramer, Wolfgang

    2017-02-01

    Bioclimatic indices for use in studies of ecosystem function, species distribution, and vegetation dynamics under changing climate scenarios depend on estimates of surface fluxes and other quantities, such as radiation, evapotranspiration and soil moisture, for which direct observations are sparse. These quantities can be derived indirectly from meteorological variables, such as near-surface air temperature, precipitation and cloudiness. Here we present a consolidated set of simple process-led algorithms for simulating habitats (SPLASH) allowing robust approximations of key quantities at ecologically relevant timescales. We specify equations, derivations, simplifications, and assumptions for the estimation of daily and monthly quantities of top-of-the-atmosphere solar radiation, net surface radiation, photosynthetic photon flux density, evapotranspiration (potential, equilibrium, and actual), condensation, soil moisture, and runoff, based on analysis of their relationship to fundamental climatic drivers. The climatic drivers include a minimum of three meteorological inputs: precipitation, air temperature, and fraction of bright sunshine hours. Indices, such as the moisture index, the climatic water deficit, and the Priestley-Taylor coefficient, are also defined. The SPLASH code is transcribed in C++, FORTRAN, Python, and R. A total of 1 year of results are presented at the local and global scales to exemplify the spatiotemporal patterns of daily and monthly model outputs along with comparisons to other model results.

  11. Energy Balance and Evapotranspiration in a High Mountain Area during Summer.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Konzelmann, T.; Calanca, P.; Müller, G.; Menzel, L.; Lang, H.

    1997-07-01

    A meteorological experiment was carried out in summer 1995 at two representative sites above and below the timberline in the Dischma Valley, near Davos, Switzerland. The study aimed at investigating the characteristics of the surface energy balance and of the evapotranspiration in a high alpine environment during the vegetation period. At both sites, net radiation is the only energy source. It amounts to about 80 W m2 at the lower and 100 W m2 at the upper sites, respectively. Since the albedo and the longwave radiation budget do not differ significantly, net radiation was found to be linearly dependent on global radiation. The latent heat flux associated with evapotranspiration represents the most important energy sink, averaging to 70 W m2 at the lower and 63 W m2 at the upper locations. It is therefore of comparable magnitude, despite a larger energy availability at the upper site. This is due to a significantly larger Bowen ratio at this upper location. On the other hand, the diurnal course of the Bowen ratio is at both sites such that the latent heat flux can be expressed as a linear function of net or global radiation. For a better characterization, the actual evapotranspiration was compared to Penman's parameterization, which represents the potential limit for saturated surface conditions. The comparison shows that, even during wet periods, evapotranspiration is regulated by the moisture conditions in the soil and the physiological behavior of vegetation.

  12. Combining Remote Sensing imagery of both fine and coarse spatial resolution to Estimate Crop Evapotranspiration and quantifying its Influence on Crop Growth Monitoring.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sepulcre-Cantó, Guadalupe; Gellens-Meulenberghs, Françoise; Arboleda, Alirio; Duveiller, Gregory; Piccard, Isabelle; de Wit, Allard; Tychon, Bernard; Bakary, Djaby; Defourny, Pierre

    2010-05-01

    This study has been carried out in the framework of the GLOBAM -Global Agricultural Monitoring system by integration of earth observation and modeling techniques- project whose objective is to fill the methodological gap between the state of the art of local crop monitoring and the operational requirements of the global monitoring system programs. To achieve this goal, the research aims to develop an integrated approach using remote sensing and crop growth modeling. Evapotranspiration (ET) is a valuable parameter in the crop monitoring context since it provides information on the plant water stress status, which strongly influences crop development and, by extension, crop yield. To assess crop evapotranspiration over the GLOBAM study areas (300x300 km sites in Northern Europe and Central Ethiopia), a Soil-Vegetation-Atmosphere Transfer (SVAT) model forced with remote sensing and numerical weather prediction data has been used. This model runs at pre-operational level in the framework of the EUMETSAT LSA-SAF (Land Surface Analysis Satellite Application Facility) using SEVIRI and ECMWF data, as well as the ECOCLIMAP database to characterize the vegetation. The model generates ET images at the Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) spatial resolution (3 km at subsatellite point),with a temporal resolution of 30 min and monitors the entire MSG disk which covers Europe, Africa and part of Sud America . The SVAT model was run for 2007 using two approaches. The first approach is at the standard pre-operational mode. The second incorporates remote sensing information at various spatial resolutions going from LANDSAT (30m) to SEVIRI (3-5 km) passing by AWIFS (56m) and MODIS (250m). Fine spatial resolution data consists of crop type classification which enable to identify areas where pure crop specific MODIS time series can be compiled and used to derive Leaf Area Index estimations for the most important crops (wheat and maize). The use of this information allowed to characterize

  13. Remote Sensing of Evapotranspiration and Carbon Uptake at Harvard Forest

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Min, Qilong; Lin, Bing

    2005-01-01

    A land surface vegetation index, defined as the difference of microwave land surface emissivity at 19 and 37 GHz, was calculated for a heavily forested area in north central Massachusetts. The microwave emissivity difference vegetation index (EDVI) was estimated from satellite SSM/I measurements at the defined wavelengths and used to estimate land surface turbulent fluxes. Narrowband visible and infrared measurements and broadband solar radiation observations were used in the EDVI retrievals and turbulent flux estimations. The EDVI values represent physical properties of crown vegetation such as vegetation water content of crown canopies. The collocated land surface turbulent and radiative fluxes were empirically linked together by the EDVI values. The EDVI values are statistically sensitive to evapotranspiration fractions (EF) with a correlation coefficient (R) greater than 0.79 under all-sky conditions. For clear skies, EDVI estimates exhibit a stronger relationship with EF than normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). Furthermore, the products of EDVI and input energy (solar and photosynthetically-active radiation) are statistically significantly correlated to evapotranspiration (R=0.95) and CO2 uptake flux (R=0.74), respectively.

  14. Estimation of wetland evapotranspiration in northern New York using infrared thermometry

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hwang, K.; Chandler, D. G.

    2016-12-01

    Evapotranspiration (ET) is an important component of the water budget and often regarded as a major water loss. In freshwater wetlands, cumulative annual ET can equal precipitation under well-watered conditions. Wetland ET is therefore an important control on contaminant and nutrient transport. Yet, quantification of wetland ET is challenged by complex surface characteristics, diverse plant species and density, and variations in wetland shape and size. As handheld infrared (IR) cameras have become available, studies exploiting the new technology have increased, especially in agriculture and hydrology. The benefits of IR cameras include (1) high spatial resolution, (2) high sample rates, (3) real-time imaging, (4) a constant viewing geometry, and (5) no need for atmosphere and cloud corrections. Compared with traditional methods, infrared thermometer is capable of monitoring at the scale of a small pond or localized plant community. This enables finer scale survey of heterogeneous land surfaces rather than strict dependence on atmospheric variables. Despite this potential, there has been a limited number of studies of ET and drought stress with IR cameras. In this study, the infrared thermometry-based method was applied to estimate ET over wetland plant species in St. Lawrence River Valley, NY. The results are evaluated with traditional methods to test applicability over multiple vegetation species in a same area.

  15. Comparison of Bowen-ratio, eddy-correlation, and weighing-lysimeter evapotranspiration for two sparse-canopy sites in eastern Washington

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Tomlinson, S.A.

    1996-01-01

    This report compares evapotranspiration estimated with the Bowen-ratio and eddy-correlation methods with evapotranspiration measured by weighing lysimeters for two sparse-canopy sites in eastern Washington. The sites are located in a grassland area (grass lysimeter site) and a sagbrush- covered area (sage lysimeter site) on the Arid Lands Ecology Reserve in Benton County, Washington. Lysimeter data were collected at the sites from August 1990 to November 1994. Bowen-ratio data were collected for varying periods from May 1993 to November 1994. Additional Bowen-ratio data without interchanging air- temperature and vapor-pressure sensors to remove sensor bias (fixed-sensor system) were collected from October 1993 to June 1994. Eddy-correlation data were collected at the grass lysimeter site from March to April 1994, and at the sage lysimeter site from April to May 1994. The comparisons of evapotranspiration determined by the various methods differed considerably, depending on the periods of record being compared and the sites being analyzed. The year 1993 was very wet, with about 50 percent more precipitation than average; 1994 was a very dry year, with only about half the average precipitation. The study showed that on an annual basis, at least in 1994, Bowen-ratio evapotranspiration closely matched lysimeter evapotranspiration. In 1993, Bowen-ratio and lysimeter evapotranspiration comparisons were variable. Evapotranspiration estimated with the Bowen-ratio method averaged 5 percent more than evapotranspiration measured by lysimeters at the grass lysimeter site from October 1993 to November 1994, and 3 percent less than lysimeters at the sage lysimeter site from November 1993 to October 1994. From March 24 to April 5, 1994, at the grass lysimeter site, the Bowen-ratio method estimated 11 percent less, the Bowen-ratio method utilizing the fixed sensor system about 7 percent more, and the eddy-correlation method about 28 percent less evapotranspiration than the

  16. Soil water content effects on net ecosystem CO2 exchange and actual evapotranspiration in a Mediterranean semiarid savanna of Central Chile.

    PubMed

    Meza, Francisco J; Montes, Carlo; Bravo-Martínez, Felipe; Serrano-Ortiz, Penélope; Kowalski, Andrew S

    2018-06-05

    Biosphere-atmosphere water and carbon fluxes depend on ecosystem structure, and their magnitudes and seasonal behavior are driven by environmental and biological factors. We studied the seasonal behavior of net ecosystem CO 2 exchange (NEE), Gross Primary Productivity (GPP), Ecosystem Respiration (RE), and actual evapotranspiration (ETa) obtained by eddy covariance measurements during two years in a Mediterranean Acacia savanna ecosystem (Acacia caven) in Central Chile. The annual carbon balance was -53 g C m -2 in 2011 and -111 g C m -2 in 2012, showing that the ecosystem acts as a net sink of CO 2 , notwithstanding water limitations on photosynthesis observed in this particularly dry period. Total annual ETa was of 128 mm in 2011 and 139 mm in 2012. Both NEE and ETa exhibited strong seasonality with peak values recorded in the winter season (July to September), as a result of ecosystem phenology, soil water content and rainfall occurrence. Consequently, the maximum carbon assimilation rate occurred in wintertime. Results show that soil water content is a major driver of GPP and RE, defining their seasonal patterns and the annual carbon assimilation capacity of the ecosystem, and also modulating the effect that solar radiation and air temperature have on NEE components at shorter time scales.

  17. Evapotranspiration Cycles in a High Latitude Agroecosystem: Potential Warming Role.

    PubMed

    Ruairuen, Watcharee; Fochesatto, Gilberto J; Sparrow, Elena B; Schnabel, William; Zhang, Mingchu; Kim, Yongwon

    2015-01-01

    As the acreages of agricultural lands increase, changes in surface energetics and evapotranspiration (ET) rates may arise consequently affecting regional climate regimes. The objective of this study was to evaluate summertime ET dynamics and surface energy processes in a subarctic agricultural farm in Interior Alaska. The study includes micrometeorological and hydrological data. Results covering the period from June to September 2012 and 2013 indicated consistent energy fractions: LE/Rnet (67%), G/Rnet (6%), H/Rnet (27%) where LE is latent heat flux, Rnet is the surface net radiation, G is ground heat flux and H is the sensible heat flux. Additionally actual surface evapotranspiration from potential evaporation was found to be in the range of 59 to 66%. After comparing these rates with those of most prominent high latitude ecosystems it is argued here that if agroecosystem in high latitudes become an emerging feature in the land-use, the regional surface energy balance will significantly shift in comparison to existing Arctic natural ecosystems.

  18. Moving Sound Source Localization Based on Sequential Subspace Estimation in Actual Room Environments

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tsuji, Daisuke; Suyama, Kenji

    This paper presents a novel method for moving sound source localization and its performance evaluation in actual room environments. The method is based on the MUSIC (MUltiple SIgnal Classification) which is one of the most high resolution localization methods. When using the MUSIC, a computation of eigenvectors of correlation matrix is required for the estimation. It needs often a high computational costs. Especially, in the situation of moving source, it becomes a crucial drawback because the estimation must be conducted at every the observation time. Moreover, since the correlation matrix varies its characteristics due to the spatial-temporal non-stationarity, the matrix have to be estimated using only a few observed samples. It makes the estimation accuracy degraded. In this paper, the PAST (Projection Approximation Subspace Tracking) is applied for sequentially estimating the eigenvectors spanning the subspace. In the PAST, the eigen-decomposition is not required, and therefore it is possible to reduce the computational costs. Several experimental results in the actual room environments are shown to present the superior performance of the proposed method.

  19. Recent decline in the global land evapotranspiration trend due to limited moisture supply.

    PubMed

    Jung, Martin; Reichstein, Markus; Ciais, Philippe; Seneviratne, Sonia I; Sheffield, Justin; Goulden, Michael L; Bonan, Gordon; Cescatti, Alessandro; Chen, Jiquan; de Jeu, Richard; Dolman, A Johannes; Eugster, Werner; Gerten, Dieter; Gianelle, Damiano; Gobron, Nadine; Heinke, Jens; Kimball, John; Law, Beverly E; Montagnani, Leonardo; Mu, Qiaozhen; Mueller, Brigitte; Oleson, Keith; Papale, Dario; Richardson, Andrew D; Roupsard, Olivier; Running, Steve; Tomelleri, Enrico; Viovy, Nicolas; Weber, Ulrich; Williams, Christopher; Wood, Eric; Zaehle, Sönke; Zhang, Ke

    2010-10-21

    More than half of the solar energy absorbed by land surfaces is currently used to evaporate water. Climate change is expected to intensify the hydrological cycle and to alter evapotranspiration, with implications for ecosystem services and feedback to regional and global climate. Evapotranspiration changes may already be under way, but direct observational constraints are lacking at the global scale. Until such evidence is available, changes in the water cycle on land−a key diagnostic criterion of the effects of climate change and variability−remain uncertain. Here we provide a data-driven estimate of global land evapotranspiration from 1982 to 2008, compiled using a global monitoring network, meteorological and remote-sensing observations, and a machine-learning algorithm. In addition, we have assessed evapotranspiration variations over the same time period using an ensemble of process-based land-surface models. Our results suggest that global annual evapotranspiration increased on average by 7.1 ± 1.0 millimetres per year per decade from 1982 to 1997. After that, coincident with the last major El Niño event in 1998, the global evapotranspiration increase seems to have ceased until 2008. This change was driven primarily by moisture limitation in the Southern Hemisphere, particularly Africa and Australia. In these regions, microwave satellite observations indicate that soil moisture decreased from 1998 to 2008. Hence, increasing soil-moisture limitations on evapotranspiration largely explain the recent decline of the global land-evapotranspiration trend. Whether the changing behaviour of evapotranspiration is representative of natural climate variability or reflects a more permanent reorganization of the land water cycle is a key question for earth system science.

  20. Assessment of Evapotranspiration and Soil Moisture Content Across Different Scales of Observation.

    PubMed

    Verstraeten, Willem W; Veroustraete, Frank; Feyen, Jan

    2008-01-09

    The proper assessment of evapotranspiration and soil moisture content arefundamental in food security research, land management, pollution detection, nutrient flows,(wild-) fire detection, (desert) locust, carbon balance as well as hydrological modelling; etc.This paper takes an extensive, though not exhaustive sample of international scientificliterature to discuss different approaches to estimate land surface and ecosystem relatedevapotranspiration and soil moisture content. This review presents:(i) a summary of the generally accepted cohesion theory of plant water uptake andtransport including a shortlist of meteorological and plant factors influencing planttranspiration;(ii) a summary on evapotranspiration assessment at different scales of observation (sapflow,porometer, lysimeter, field and catchment water balance, Bowen ratio,scintillometer, eddy correlation, Penman-Monteith and related approaches);(iii) a summary on data assimilation schemes conceived to estimate evapotranspirationusing optical and thermal remote sensing; and(iv) for soil moisture content, a summary on soil moisture retrieval techniques atdifferent spatial and temporal scales is presented.Concluding remarks on the best available approaches to assess evapotranspiration and soilmoisture content with and emphasis on remote sensing data assimilation, are provided.

  1. Potential biases in evapotranspiration estimates from Earth system models due to spatial heterogeneity and lateral moisture redistribution

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rouholahnejad, E.; Kirchner, J. W.

    2016-12-01

    Evapotranspiration (ET) is a key process in land-climate interactions and affects the dynamics of the atmosphere at local and regional scales. In estimating ET, most earth system models average over considerable sub-grid heterogeneity in land surface properties, precipitation (P), and potential evapotranspiration (PET). This spatial averaging could potentially bias ET estimates, due to the nonlinearities in the underlying relationships. In addition, most earth system models ignore lateral redistribution of water within and between grid cells, which could potentially alter both local and regional ET. Here we present a first attempt to quantify the effects of spatial heterogeneity and lateral redistribution on grid-cell-averaged ET as seen from the atmosphere over heterogeneous landscapes. Using a Budyko framework to express ET as a function of P and PET, we quantify how sub-grid heterogeneity affects average ET at the scale of typical earth system model grid cells. We show that averaging over sub-grid heterogeneity in P and PET, as typical earth system models do, leads to overestimates of average ET. We use a similar approach to quantify how lateral redistribution of water could affect average ET, as seen from the atmosphere. We show that where the aridity index P/PET increases with altitude, gravitationally driven lateral redistribution will increase average ET, implying that models that neglect lateral moisture redistribution will underestimate average ET. In contrast, where the aridity index P/PET decreases with altitude, gravitationally driven lateral redistribution will decrease average ET. This approach yields a simple conceptual framework and mathematical expressions for determining whether, and how much, spatial heterogeneity and lateral redistribution can affect regional ET fluxes as seen from the atmosphere. This analysis provides the basis for quantifying heterogeneity and redistribution effects on ET at regional and continental scales, which will be the

  2. Seasonal energy and evapotranspiration partitioning in a desert vineyard

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    The challenge of partitioning energy and evapotranspiration (ET) components was addressed over a season (bud break till harvest) in a wine grape vineyard located in an extreme arid region. A below canopy energy balance approach was applied to continuously estimate evaporation from the soil (E) while...

  3. Evapotranspiration from selected fallowed agricultural fields on the Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge, California, during May to October 2000

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Bidlake, W.R.

    2002-01-01

    An investigation of evapotranspiration, vegetation quantity and composition, and depth to the water table below the land surface was made at three sites in two fallowed agricultural lots on the 15,800-hectare Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge in northern California during the 2000 growing season. All three sites had been farmed during 1999, but were not irrigated since the 1999 growing season. Vegetation at the lot C1B and lot 6 stubble sites included weedy species and small grain plants. The lot 6 cover crop site supported a crop of cereal rye that had been planted during the previous winter. Percentage of coverage by live vegetation ranged from 0 to 43.2 percent at the lot C1B site, from approximately 0 to 63.2 percent at the lot 6 stubble site, and it was estimated to range from 0 to greater than 90 percent at the lot 6 cover crop site. Evapotranspiration was measured using the Bowen ratio energy balance technique and it was estimated using a model that was based on the Priestley-Taylor equation and a model that was based on reference evapotranspiration with grass as the reference crop. Total evapotranspiration during May to October varied little among the three evapotranspiration measurement sites, although the timing of evapotranspiration losses did vary among the sites. Total evapotranspiration from the lot C1B site was 426 millimeters, total evapotranspiration from the lot 6 stubble site was 444 millimeters, and total evapotranspiration from the lot 6 cover crop site was 435 millimeters. The months of May to July accounted for approximately 78 percent of the total evapotranspiration from the lot C1B site, approximately 63 percent of the evapotranspiration from the lot 6 stubble site, and approximately 86 percent of the total evapotranspiration from the lot 6 cover crop site. Estimated growing season precipitation accounted for 16 percent of the growing-season evapotranspiration at the lot C1B site and for 17 percent of the growing-season evapotranspiration

  4. Evapotranspiration using a satellite-based surface energy balance with standardized ground control

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Trezza, Ricardo

    This study evaluated the potential of using the S&barbelow;urface E&barbelow;nergy Ḇalance A&barbelow;lgorithm for Ḻand (SEBAL) as a means for estimating evapotranspiration (ET) for local and regional scales in Southern Idaho. The original SEBAL model was refined during this study to provide better estimation of ET in agricultural areas and to make more reliable estimates of ET from other surfaces as well, including mountainous terrain. The modified version of SEBAL used in this study, termed as SEBALID (ID stands for Idaho) includes standardization of the two SEBAL "anchor" pixels, the use of a water balance model to track top soil moisture, adaptation of components of SEBAL for better prediction of the surface energy balance in mountains and sloping terrain, and use of the ratio between actual ET and alfalfa reference evapotranspiration (ET r) as a means for obtaining the temporal integration of instantaneous ET to daily and seasonal values. Validation of the SEBALID model at a local scale was performed by comparing lysimeter ET measurements from the USDA-ARS facility at Kimberly, Idaho, with ET predictions by SEBAL using Landsat 5 TM imagery. Comparison of measured and predicted ET values was challenging due to the resolution of the Landsat thermal band (120m x 120m) and the relatively small size of the lysimeter fields. In the cases where thermal information was adequate, SEBALID predictions were close to the measured values of ET in the lysimeters. Application of SEBALID at a regional scale was performed using Landsat 7 ETM+ and Landsat 5 TM imagery for the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer (ESPA) region in Idaho during 2000. The results indicated that SEBALID performed well for predicting daily and seasonal ET for agricultural areas. Some unreasonable results were obtained for desert and basalt areas, due to uncertainties of the prediction of surface parameters. In mountains, even though validation of results was not possible, the values of ET obtained

  5. Estimating the actual ET from a pecan farm using the OPEC energy-balance and Penman- Monteith methods

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Debele, B.; Bawazir, S. A.

    2006-12-01

    Accurate estimation of ET from field crops/orchards is the basis for better irrigation water management. In areas like Mesilla Valley, NM, where water is scarce, it is even more important to precisely determine the crop ET. An OPEC energy balance system was run for 117 days (June 22 October 14, 2001) in a matured pecan farm at Mesilla Valley, NM. The actual evapotranspiration (ET) from pecan orchards was determined from the surface energy balance as a residual, having measured the net radiation, soil heat flux, and sensible heat components using the OPEC method. Since pecans are large trees, we have also examined the effect of including thermal energies stored in the air (Ga) and plant canopy (Gc), on top of the commonly used thermal energy stored in the soil (Gs), on surface energy balance, and hence ET. The results indicate that incorporating thermal energies stored in the air and canopy has a significant effect on total energy storage for shorter temporal resolutions, such as 30-minutes and an hour. Conversely, for longer temporal resolutions (e.g., diurnal and monthly averages), the effect of including thermal energies stored in the air and vegetation on total thermal energy storage is negligible. Our results also showed that the bulk of the total thermal energy storage (G = Gs + Ga + Gc) in the surface energy balance was stored in the soil (Gs). In addition, we have also determined the crop coefficient (Kc) of pecan by combining the actual ET obtained from the OPEC method and potential ET (ET0) calculated using weather data in the surrounding area. Our average pecan Kc values were comparable with the ones reported by other researchers using different methods. We conclude that the OPEC energy balance method can be used to calculate Kc values for pecan whereby farmers and extension agents use the calculated Kc values in combination with ET0 to determine the consumptive use of pecan trees.

  6. Non-discharging evapotranspiration bed system for wastewater disposal at Lincoln.

    PubMed

    Balley, P; Dakers, A J

    1996-10-01

    A non-discharging evapotranspiration bed system installed on a dairy farm at Lincoln University was studied to evaluate actual evapotranspiration rate, ET a , to develop and validate a water balance model for the system, and to assess the feasible application of the vaporative concept for wastewater disposal in the immediate geographic area. Observations, measurements, and calculations indicate that ET a was slightly higher than the meteorologically estimated Penman potential ET (ET p ) for the study period, and a ratio λ=ET a /ET p =1.21 was obtained. A water-balance equation of the system which can be used in different climatic conditions was obtained and can be written as ΔW=Q+PPTN-Et a ; where ΔW is the variation of storage water in the bed (in mm), Q is the effluent wastewater (in mm), and PPTN is the total precipitation. It was also observed that a truly non-discharging ET bed system's feasible application in the study location may be highly questionable. This is due to the fact that the precipitation rate for the location generally exceeds the ET p during critical Winter months. However, two possibilities of improving the performance of the system were found and suggested for further studies. The suggestions were (1) to design the system with its surface adequately crowned to shed large amounts of rain water falling on it, and (2) to design a winter-sheltered-non-discharging ET bed which would consist of an ET bed with a removable transparent plastic roof to shed the total amount of rain water and act as a 'green house'

  7. Estimation of tropical forest canopy temperatures, thermal response numbers, and evapotranspiration using an aircraft-based thermal sensor

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Luvall, Jeffrey C.; Lieberman, Diana; Lieberman, Milton; Hartshorn, Gary S.; Peralta, Rodolfo

    1990-01-01

    Thermal infrared Multispectral Scanner (TIMS) data were collected at a resolution of 5 to 10 m from a tropical rain forest over an elevation gradient from 35 to 2700 m in the Braulio Carrillo National Park in Costa Rica. Flight lines were repeated with a 15 to 30 minute time difference for measurement of forest canopy thermal response over time. Concurrent radiosonde measurements of atmospheric profiles of air temperature and moisture provided inputs to LOWTRAN6 for atmospheric radiance corrections of the TIMS data. Techniques for using calibrated aircraft-based thermal scanner data to examine tropical forest canopy thermal properties are described. Forest canopy temperature changes over time assessed between repeated, duplicated flight lines were combined with estimates of surface radiative energy measurements from towers above the forest canopy to determine temperature spatial variability, calculate Thermal Response Numbers (TRN), and estimate evapotranspiration along the elevation gradient from selected one hectare forest inventory plots.

  8. [An operational remote sensing algorithm of land surface evapotranspiration based on NOAA PAL dataset].

    PubMed

    Hou, Ying-Yu; He, Yan-Bo; Wang, Jian-Lin; Tian, Guo-Liang

    2009-10-01

    Based on the time series 10-day composite NOAA Pathfinder AVHRR Land (PAL) dataset (8 km x 8 km), and by using land surface energy balance equation and "VI-Ts" (vegetation index-land surface temperature) method, a new algorithm of land surface evapotranspiration (ET) was constructed. This new algorithm did not need the support from meteorological observation data, and all of its parameters and variables were directly inversed or derived from remote sensing data. A widely accepted ET model of remote sensing, i. e., SEBS model, was chosen to validate the new algorithm. The validation test showed that both the ET and its seasonal variation trend estimated by SEBS model and our new algorithm accorded well, suggesting that the ET estimated from the new algorithm was reliable, being able to reflect the actual land surface ET. The new ET algorithm of remote sensing was practical and operational, which offered a new approach to study the spatiotemporal variation of ET in continental scale and global scale based on the long-term time series satellite remote sensing images.

  9. Estimations of evapotranspiration and water balance with uncertainty over the Yukon River Basin

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Yuan, Wenping; Liu, Shuguang; Liang, Shunlin; Tan, Zhengxi; Liu, Heping; Young, Claudia

    2012-01-01

    In this study, the revised Remote Sensing-Penman Monteith model (RS-PM) was used to scale up evapotranspiration (ET) over the entire Yukon River Basin (YRB) from three eddy covariance (EC) towers covering major vegetation types. We determined model parameters and uncertainty using a Bayesian-based method in the three EC sites. The 95 % confidence interval for the aggregate ecosystem ET ranged from 233 to 396 mm yr−1 with an average of 319 mm yr−1. The mean difference between precipitation and evapotranspiration (W) was 171 mm yr−1 with a 95 % confidence interval of 94–257 mm yr−1. The YRB region showed a slight increasing trend in annual precipitation for the 1982–2009 time period, while ET showed a significant increasing trend of 6.6 mm decade−1. As a whole, annual W showed a drying trend over YRB region.

  10. Evaporation from irrigated crops: Its measurement, modeling and estimation from remotely sensed data

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Garatuza-Payan, Jaime

    The research described in this dissertation is predicated on the hypothesis that remotely sensed information from climatological satellites can be used to estimate the actual evapotranspiration from agricultural crops to improve irrigation scheduling and water use efficiency. The goal of the enabling research program described here was to facilitate and demonstrate the potential use of satellite data for the rapid and routine estimation of water use by irrigated crops in the Yaqui Valley irrigation scheme, an extensive irrigated area in Sonora, Mexico. The approach taken was first, to measure and model the evapotranspiration and crop factors for wheat and cotton, the most common irrigated crops in the Yaqui Valley scheme. Second, to develop and test a high-resolution (4 km x 4 km) method for determining cloud cover and solar radiation from GOES satellite data. Then third, to demonstrate the application of satellite data to calculate the actual evaporation for sample crops in the Yaqui Valley scheme by combining estimates of potential rate with relevant crop factors and information on crop management. Results show that it is feasible to provide routine estimates of evaporation for the most common crops in the Yaqui Valley irrigation scheme from satellite data. Accordingly, a system to provide such estimates has been established and the Water Users Association, the entity responsible for water distribution in Yaqui Valley, can now use them to decide whether specific fields need irrigation. A Web site (teka-pucem.itson.mx) is also being created which will allow individual farmers to have direct access to the evaporation estimates via the Internet.

  11. Annual evapotranspiration of a forested wetland watershed, SC

    Treesearch

    Devendra M. Amatya; Carl Trettin

    2007-01-01

    In this study, hydro-meteorological data collected from 1 964 to 1 9 76 on an approximately 5, 000 ha predominantly forested coastal watershed (Turkey Creek) at the Francis Marion National Forest near Charleston, SC were analyzed to estimate annual evapotranspiration (E T) using four different empirical methods. The first one, reported by Zhang et a/. (2001), that...

  12. Forest evapotranspiration: measurements and modeling at multiple scales

    Treesearch

    Ge Sun; J-C. Domec; Devendra Amatya

    2016-01-01

    Compared with traditional engineering hydrology, forest hydrology has a relatively long history of studying the effects of vegetation in regulating streamflow through evapotranspiration (Hewlett, 1982; Swank and Crossley, 1988; Andreassian, 2004; Brown et al., 2005; Amatya et al., 2011, 2015, 2016; Sun et al., 2011b; Vose et al., 2011). It is estimated that more than...

  13. A comparison of methods for determining field evapotranspiration: photosynthesis system, sap flow, and eddy covariance

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhang, Z.; Tian, F.; Hu, H.; Yang, P.

    2014-03-01

    A multi-scale, multi-technique study was conducted to measure evapotranspiration and its components in a cotton field under mulched drip irrigation conditions in northwestern China. Three measurement techniques at different scales were used: a photosynthesis system (leaf scale), sap flow (plant scale), and eddy covariance (field scale). The experiment was conducted from July to September 2012. To upscale the evapotranspiration from the leaf to plant scale, an approach that incorporated the canopy structure and the relationships between sunlit and shaded leaves was proposed. To upscale the evapotranspiration from the plant to field scale, an approach based on the transpiration per unit leaf area was adopted and modified to incorporate the temporal variability in the relationship between leaf areas and stem diameter. At the plant scale, the estimate of the transpiration based on the photosynthesis system with upscaling was slightly higher (18%) than that obtained by sap flow. At the field scale, the estimates of transpiration derived from sap flow with upscaling and eddy covariance showed reasonable consistency during the cotton's open-boll growth stage, during which soil evaporation can be neglected. The results indicate that the proposed upscaling approaches are reasonable and valid. Based on the measurements and upscaling approaches, evapotranspiration components were analyzed for a cotton field under mulched drip irrigation. During the two analyzed sub-periods in July and August, evapotranspiration rates were 3.94 and 4.53 m day-1, respectively. The fraction of transpiration to evapotranspiration reached 87.1% before drip irrigation and 82.3% after irrigation. The high fraction of transpiration over evapotranspiration was principally due to the mulched film above the drip pipe, low soil water content in the inter-film zone, well-closed canopy, and high water requirement of the crop.

  14. A comparison of methods for determining field evapotranspiration: photosynthesis system, sap flow, and eddy covariance

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhang, Z.; Tian, F.; Hu, H. C.; Hu, H. P.

    2013-11-01

    A multi-scale, multi-technique study was conducted to measure evapotranspiration and its components in a cotton field under mulched drip irrigation conditions in northwestern China. Three measurement techniques at different scales were used: photosynthesis system (leaf scale), sap flow (plant scale), and eddy covariance (field scale). The experiment was conducted from July to September 2012. To upscale the evapotranspiration from the leaf to the plant scale, an approach that incorporated the canopy structure and the relationships between sunlit and shaded leaves was proposed. To upscale the evapotranspiration from the plant to the field scale, an approach based on the transpiration per unit leaf area was adopted and modified to incorporate the temporal variability in the relationships between leaf area and stem diameter. At the plant scale, the estimate of the transpiration based on the photosynthesis system with upscaling was slightly higher (18%) than that obtained by sap flow. At the field scale, the estimates of transpiration derived from sap flow with upscaling and eddy covariance shown reasonable consistency during the cotton open boll growth stage when soil evaporation can be neglected. The results indicate that the upscaling approaches are reasonable and valid. Based on the measurements and upscaling approaches, evapotranspiration components were analyzed under mulched drip irrigation. During the two analysis sub-periods in July and August, evapotranspiration rates were 3.94 and 4.53 mm day-1, respectively. The fraction of transpiration to evapotranspiration reached 87.1% before drip irrigation and 82.3% after irrigation. The high fraction of transpiration over evapotranspiration was principally due to the mulched film above drip pipe, low soil water content in the inter-film zone, well-closed canopy, and high water requirement of the crop.

  15. Quantifying evapotranspiration from urban green roofs: a comparison of chamber measurements with commonly used predictive methods.

    PubMed

    Marasco, Daniel E; Hunter, Betsy N; Culligan, Patricia J; Gaffin, Stuart R; McGillis, Wade R

    2014-09-02

    Quantifying green roof evapotranspiration (ET) in urban climates is important for assessing environmental benefits, including stormwater runoff attenuation and urban heat island mitigation. In this study, a dynamic chamber method was developed to quantify ET on two extensive green roofs located in New York City, NY. Hourly chamber measurements taken from July 2009 to December 2009 and April 2012 to October 2013 illustrate both diurnal and seasonal variations in ET. Observed monthly total ET depth ranged from 0.22 cm in winter to 15.36 cm in summer. Chamber results were compared to two predictive methods for estimating ET; namely the Penman-based ASCE Standardized Reference Evapotranspiration (ASCE RET) equation, and an energy balance model, both parametrized using on-site environmental conditions. Dynamic chamber ET results were similar to ASCE RET estimates; however, the ASCE RET equation overestimated bottommost ET values during the winter months, and underestimated peak ET values during the summer months. The energy balance method was shown to underestimate ET compared the ASCE RET equation. The work highlights the utility of the chamber method for quantifying green roof evapotranspiration and indicates green roof ET might be better estimated by Penman-based evapotranspiration equations than energy balance methods.

  16. Satellite-based estimation of evapotranspiration in typical forests of China

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Y.; Li, R.

    2017-12-01

    Evapotranspiration (ET) is the key process affecting the interaction between land surface and atmosphere. Satellite remote sensing is the only feasible technique to monitor the terrestrial ET on large scale. Microwave Emissivity Difference Vegetation Index (EDVI) indicates vegetation water content and can be retrieved under both clear and cloudy sky. Based on EDVI, a quantitative algorithm for ET estimation in China was developed. In this study, we improved the EDVI-based ET algorithm by using the datasets from multiple platforms, including Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), Clouds and Earth's Radiation energy system (CERES) and European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). As primary inputs of the algorithm, they are all independent from ground-based measurements. The improved algorithm was tested in three ChinaFlux forest sites, Dinghushan(DHS) subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest site, Qianyanzhou(QYZ) subtropical man-planted forest site and Changbaishan(CBS) temperate deciduous broad-leaved coniferous mixed forest site. Validations against the in-situ measured ETobs from 2003 to 2005 showed that the EDVI-based algorithm has the capability to simulate midday ET within reasonable accuracies. In terms of the magnitude and seasonal cycle, the estimated ETcal are in very good agreement with the ETobs. The correlation coefficients(R) between ETcal and ETobs during midday vary from 0.51 to 0.80 over the study years, with the annual mean bias (relative bias) ranging from -53.02 Wm-2 (-26.46%) to 34.02 Wm-2 (+23.69%). At monthly scale, the R of monthly mean ETcal and ETobs can reach to 0.83, 0.93 and 0.82 at DHS, QYZ and CBS, with bias of +3.0%, -22.3% and -9.7%, respectively. Contamination from precipitation can partly affect the performances of this algorithm. Validation results generally become better after removing those samples in rainy days. The results indicate that this EDVI-based algorithm, driven completely by using

  17. Effective crop evapotranspiration measurement using time-domain reflectometry technique in a sub-humid region

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Srivastava, R. K.; Panda, R. K.; Halder, Debjani

    2017-08-01

    The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of the time-domain reflectometry (TDR) technique for daily evapotranspiration estimation of peanut and maize crop in a sub-humid region. Four independent methods were used to estimate crop evapotranspiration (ETc), namely, soil water balance budgeting approach, energy balance approach—(Bowen ratio), empirical methods approach, and Pan evaporation method. The soil water balance budgeting approach utilized the soil moisture measurement by gravimetric and TDR method. The empirical evapotranspiration methods such as combination approach (FAO-56 Penman-Monteith and Penman), temperature-based approach (Hargreaves-Samani), and radiation-based approach (Priestley-Taylor, Turc, Abetw) were used to estimate the reference evapotranspiration (ET0). The daily ETc determined by the FAO-56 Penman-Monteith, Priestley-Taylor, Turc, Pan evaporation, and Bowen ratio were found to be at par with the ET values derived from the soil water balance budget; while the methods Abetw, Penman, and Hargreaves-Samani were not found to be ideal for the determination of ETc. The study illustrates the in situ applicability of the TDR method in order to make it possible for a user to choose the best way for the optimum water consumption for a given crop in a sub-humid region. The study suggests that the FAO-56 Penman-Monteith, Turc, and Priestley-Taylor can be used for the determination of crop ETc using TDR in comparison to soil water balance budget.

  18. Evapotranspiration from forage grass replacing native vegetation in the Gila River valley of Arizona

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Leppanen, O.E.

    1981-01-01

    Estimates of evapotranspiration from an area of forage grass, which had been planted to replace native vegetation of little economic value, were made daily for a 363-day period in 1969 and 1970. The measurement site was located in the Gila River valley in east-central Arizona. The forage, panigrass (Panicum antidotale Retz.), grew from seed during the early summer of 1969 and after winterkill, regrew in 1970. Daily evapotranspiration estimates, which were based on energy budget measurements, ranged from a maximum of 9.2 millimeters to small amounts of condensation. Two daily values of substantial condensation (0.9 and 0.4 millimeter) were of dubious quality, but were retained in the record. The annual evapotranspiration was 989 millimeters, of which about 332 millimeters came from precipitation at the site. The water table fluctuated between 210 and 280 centimeters below land surface. However, the measurement site was near a wash, so that undocumented, shallower subterranean flows may have occurred. (USGS)

  19. Land surface evapotranspiration modelling at the regional scale

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Raffelli, Giulia; Ferraris, Stefano; Canone, Davide; Previati, Maurizio; Gisolo, Davide; Provenzale, Antonello

    2017-04-01

    Climate change has relevant implications for the environment, water resources and human life in general. The observed increment of mean air temperature, in addition to a more frequent occurrence of extreme events such as droughts, may have a severe effect on the hydrological cycle. Besides climate change, land use changes are assumed to be another relevant component of global change in terms of impacts on terrestrial ecosystems: socio-economic changes have led to conversions between meadows and pastures and in most cases to a complete abandonment of grasslands. Water is subject to different physical processes among which evapotranspiration (ET) is one of the most significant. In fact, ET plays a key role in estimating crop growth, water demand and irrigation water management, so estimating values of ET can be crucial for water resource planning, irrigation requirement and agricultural production. Potential evapotranspiration (PET) is the amount of evaporation that occurs when a sufficient water source is available. It can be estimated just knowing temperatures (mean, maximum and minimum) and solar radiation. Actual evapotranspiration (AET) is instead the real quantity of water which is consumed by soil and vegetation; it is obtained as a fraction of PET. The aim of this work was to apply a simplified hydrological model to calculate AET for the province of Turin (Italy) in order to assess the water content and estimate the groundwater recharge at a regional scale. The soil is seen as a bucket (FAO56 model, Allen et al., 1998) made of different layers, which interact with water and vegetation. The water balance is given by precipitations (both rain and snow) and dew as positive inputs, while AET, runoff and drainage represent the rate of water escaping from soil. The difference between inputs and outputs is the water stock. Model data inputs are: soil characteristics (percentage of clay, silt, sand, rocks and organic matter); soil depth; the wilting point (i.e. the

  20. Modeling potential evapotranspiration of two forested watersheds in the southern Appalachians

    Treesearch

    L.Y. Rao; G. Sun; C.R. Ford; J.M. Vose

    2011-01-01

    Global climate change has direct impacts on watershed hydrology through altering evapotranspiration (ET) processes at multiple scales. There are many methods to estimate forest ET with models, but the most practical and the most popular one is the potential ET (PET) based method. However, the choice of PET methods for AET estimation remains challenging. This study...

  1. Dominant effect of increasing forest biomass on evapotranspiration: interpretations of movement in Budyko space

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jaramillo, Fernando; Cory, Neil; Arheimer, Berit; Laudon, Hjalmar; van der Velde, Ype; Hasper, Thomas B.; Teutschbein, Claudia; Uddling, Johan

    2018-01-01

    During the last 6 decades, forest biomass has increased in Sweden mainly due to forest management, with a possible increasing effect on evapotranspiration. However, increasing global CO2 concentrations may also trigger physiological water-saving responses in broadleaf tree species, and to a lesser degree in some needleleaf conifer species, inducing an opposite effect. Additionally, changes in other forest attributes may also affect evapotranspiration. In this study, we aimed to detect the dominating effect(s) of forest change on evapotranspiration by studying changes in the ratio of actual evapotranspiration to precipitation, known as the evaporative ratio, during the period 1961-2012. We first used the Budyko framework of water and energy availability at the basin scale to study the hydroclimatic movements in Budyko space of 65 temperate and boreal basins during this period. We found that movements in Budyko space could not be explained by climatic changes in precipitation and potential evapotranspiration in 60 % of these basins, suggesting the existence of other dominant drivers of hydroclimatic change. In both the temperate and boreal basin groups studied, a negative climatic effect on the evaporative ratio was counteracted by a positive residual effect. The positive residual effect occurred along with increasing standing forest biomass in the temperate and boreal basin groups, increasing forest cover in the temperate basin group and no apparent changes in forest species composition in any group. From the three forest attributes, standing forest biomass was the one that could explain most of the variance of the residual effect in both basin groups. These results further suggest that the water-saving response to increasing CO2 in these forests is either negligible or overridden by the opposite effect of the increasing forest biomass. Thus, we conclude that increasing standing forest biomass is the dominant driver of long-term and large-scale evapotranspiration

  2. Evaluation of Modeling Schemes to Estimate Evapotranspiration and Root Zone Soil Water Content over Vineyard using a Scintillometer and Remotely Sensed Surface Energy Balance

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Geli, H. M. E.; Gonzalez-Piqueras, J.; Isidro, C., Sr.

    2016-12-01

    Actual crop evapotranspiration (ETa) and root zone soil water content (SMC) are key operational variable to monitor water consumption and water stress condition for improve vineyard grapes productivity and quality. This analysis, evaluates the estimation of ETa and SMC based on two modeling approaches. The first approach is a hybrid model that couples a thermal-based two source energy balance (TSEB) model (Norman et al. 1995) and water balance model to estimate the two variable (Geli 2012). The second approach is based on Large Aperture Scintillometer (LAS)-based estimates of sensible heat flux. The LAS-based estimates of sensible heat fluxes were used to calculate latent heat flux as the residual of surface energy balance equation on hourly basis which was converted to daily ETa. The calculated ETa from the scintillometer was then couple with the water balance approach to provide updated ETa_LAS and SMC_LAS. Both estimates of ETa and SMC based on LAS (i.e. ETa_LAS and SMC_LAS) and TSEB (ETa_TSEB and SMC_TSEB) were compared with ground-based observation from eddy covariance and soil water content measurements at multiple depths. The study site is an irrigated vineyard located in Central Spain Primary with heterogeneous surface conditions in term of irrigation practices and the ground based observation over the vineyard were collected during the summer of 2007. Preliminary results of the inter-comparison of the two approaches suggests relatively good between both modeling approaches and ground-based observations with RMSE lower than 1.2 mm/day for ETa and lower than 20% for SMC. References Norman, J. M., Kustas, W. P., & Humes, K. S. (1995). A two-source approach for estimating soil and vegetation energy fluxes in observations of directional radiometric surface temperature. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 77, 263293. Geli, Hatim M. E. (2012). Modeling spatial surface energy fluxes of agricultural and riparian vegetation using remote sensing, Ph. D. dissertation

  3. A Thermal-based Two-Source Energy Balance Model for Estimating Evapotranspiration over Complex Canopies

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Land surface temperature (LST) provides valuable information for quantifying root-zone water availability, evapotranspiration (ET) and crop condition as well as providing useful information for constraining prognostic land surface models. This presentation describes a robust but relatively simple LS...

  4. Concerning the relationship between evapotranspiration and soil moisture

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Wetzel, Peter J.; Chang, Jy-Tai

    1987-01-01

    The relationship between the evapotranspiration and soil moisture during the drying, supply-limited phase is studied. A second scaling parameter, based on the evapotranspirational supply and demand concept of Federer (1982), is defined; the parameter, referred to as the threshold evapotranspiration, occurs in vegetation-covered surfaces just before leaf stomata close and when surface tension restricts moisture release from bare soil pores. A simple model for evapotranspiration is proposed. The effects of natural soil heterogeneities on evapotranspiration computed from the model are investigated. It is observed that the natural variability in soil moisture, caused by the heterogeneities, alters the relationship between regional evapotranspiration and the area average soil moisture.

  5. Decreasing reference evapotranspiration in a warming climate - A case of Changjiang (Yangtze) River catchment during 1970-2000

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Xu, C. Y.; Gong, L. B.; Tong, J.; Chen, D. L.

    2006-07-01

    This study deals with temporal trends in the Penman-Monteith reference evapotranspiration estimated from standard meteorological observations, observed pan evaporation, and four related meteorological variables during 1970-2000 in the Yangtze River catchment. Relative contributions of the four meteorological variables to changes in the reference evapotranspiration are quantified. The results show that both the reference evapotranspiration and the pan evaporation have significant. decreasing trends in the upper, the middle as well as in the whole Changjiang (Yangtze) River catchment at the 5% significance level, while the air temperature shows a significant increasing trend. The decreasing trend detected in the reference evapotranspiration can be attributed to the significant decreasing trends in the net radiation and the wind speed.

  6. An automated multi-model based evapotranspiration estimation framework for understanding crop-climate interactions in India

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bhattarai, N.; Jain, M.; Mallick, K.

    2017-12-01

    A remote sensing based multi-model evapotranspiration (ET) estimation framework is developed using MODIS and NASA Merra-2 reanalysis data for data poor regions, and we apply this framework to the Indian subcontinent. The framework eliminates the need for in-situ calibration data and hence estimates ET completely from space and is replicable across all regions in the world. Currently, six surface energy balance models ranging from widely-used SEBAL, METRIC, and SEBS to moderately-used S-SEBI, SSEBop, and a relatively new model, STIC1.2 are being integrated and validated. Preliminary analysis suggests good predictability of the models for estimating near- real time ET under clear sky conditions from various crop types in India with coefficient of determination 0.32-0.55 and percent bias -15%-28%, when compared against Bowen Ratio based ET estimates. The results are particularly encouraging given that no direct ground input data were used in the analysis. The framework is currently being extended to estimate seasonal ET across the Indian subcontinent using a model-ensemble approach that uses all available MODIS 8-day datasets since 2000. These ET products are being used to monitor inter-seasonal and inter-annual dynamics of ET and crop water use across different crop and irrigation practices in India. Particularly, the potential impacts of changes in precipitation patterns and extreme heat (e.g., extreme degree days) on seasonal crop water consumption is being studied. Our ET products are able to locate the water stress hotspots that need to be targeted with water saving interventions to maintain agricultural production in the face of climate variability and change.

  7. Estimating forest ecosystem evapotranspiration at multiple temporal scales with a dimension analysis approach

    Treesearch

    Guoyi Zhou; Ge Sun; Xu Wang; Chuanyan Zhou; Steven G. McNulty; James M. Vose; Devendra M. Amatya

    2008-01-01

    It is critical that evapotranspiration (ET) be quantified accurately so that scientists can evaluate the effects of land management and global change on water availability, streamflow, nutrient and sediment loading, and ecosystem productivity in watersheds. The objective of this study was to derive a new semi-empirical ET modeled using a dimension analysis method that...

  8. Estimation of daily reference evapotranspiration (ETo) using artificial intelligence methods: Offering a new approach for lagged ETo data-based modeling

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mehdizadeh, Saeid

    2018-04-01

    Evapotranspiration (ET) is considered as a key factor in hydrological and climatological studies, agricultural water management, irrigation scheduling, etc. It can be directly measured using lysimeters. Moreover, other methods such as empirical equations and artificial intelligence methods can be used to model ET. In the recent years, artificial intelligence methods have been widely utilized to estimate reference evapotranspiration (ETo). In the present study, local and external performances of multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS) and gene expression programming (GEP) were assessed for estimating daily ETo. For this aim, daily weather data of six stations with different climates in Iran, namely Urmia and Tabriz (semi-arid), Isfahan and Shiraz (arid), Yazd and Zahedan (hyper-arid) were employed during 2000-2014. Two types of input patterns consisting of weather data-based and lagged ETo data-based scenarios were considered to develop the models. Four statistical indicators including root mean square error (RMSE), mean absolute error (MAE), coefficient of determination (R2), and mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) were used to check the accuracy of models. The local performance of models revealed that the MARS and GEP approaches have the capability to estimate daily ETo using the meteorological parameters and the lagged ETo data as inputs. Nevertheless, the MARS had the best performance in the weather data-based scenarios. On the other hand, considerable differences were not observed in the models' accuracy for the lagged ETo data-based scenarios. In the innovation of this study, novel hybrid models were proposed in the lagged ETo data-based scenarios through combination of MARS and GEP models with autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity (ARCH) time series model. It was concluded that the proposed novel models named MARS-ARCH and GEP-ARCH improved the performance of ETo modeling compared to the single MARS and GEP. In addition, the external

  9. Evapotranspiration Cycles in a High Latitude Agroecosystem: Potential Warming Role

    PubMed Central

    Ruairuen, Watcharee

    2015-01-01

    As the acreages of agricultural lands increase, changes in surface energetics and evapotranspiration (ET) rates may arise consequently affecting regional climate regimes. The objective of this study was to evaluate summertime ET dynamics and surface energy processes in a subarctic agricultural farm in Interior Alaska. The study includes micrometeorological and hydrological data. Results covering the period from June to September 2012 and 2013 indicated consistent energy fractions: LE/R net (67%), G/R net (6%), H/R net (27%) where LE is latent heat flux, R net is the surface net radiation, G is ground heat flux and H is the sensible heat flux. Additionally actual surface evapotranspiration from potential evaporation was found to be in the range of 59 to 66%. After comparing these rates with those of most prominent high latitude ecosystems it is argued here that if agroecosystem in high latitudes become an emerging feature in the land-use, the regional surface energy balance will significantly shift in comparison to existing Arctic natural ecosystems. PMID:26368123

  10. Use of geostationary satellite imagery in optical and thermal bands for the estimation of soil moisture status and land evapotranspiration

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ghilain, N.; Arboleda, A.; Gellens-Meulenberghs, F.

    2009-04-01

    For water and agricultural management, there is an increasing demand to monitor the soil water status and the land evapotranspiration. In the framework of the LSA-SAF project (http://landsaf.meteo.pt), we are developing an energy balance model forced by remote sensing products, i.e. radiation components and vegetation parameters, to monitor in quasi real-time the evapotranspiration rate over land (Gellens-Meulenberghs et al, 2007; Ghilain et al, 2008). The model is applied over the full MSG disk, i.e. including Europe and Africa. Meteorological forcing, as well as the soil moisture status, is provided by the forecasts of the ECMWF model. Since soil moisture is computed by a forecast model not dedicated to the monitoring of the soil water status, inadequate soil moisture input can occur, and can cause large effects on evapotranspiration rates, especially over semi-arid or arid regions. In these regions, a remotely sensed-based method for the soil moisture retrieval can therefore be preferable, to avoid too strong dependency in ECMWF model estimates. Among different strategies, remote sensing offers the advantage of monitoring large areas. Empirical methods of soil moisture assessment exist using remotely sensed derived variables either from the microwave bands or from the thermal bands. Mainly polar orbiters are used for this purpose, and little attention has been paid to the new possibilities offered by geosynchronous satellites. In this contribution, images of the SEVIRI instrument on board of MSG geosynchronous satellites are used. Dedicated operational algorithms were developed for the LSA-SAF project and now deliver images of land surface temperature (LST) every 15-minutes (Trigo et al, 2008) and vegetations indices (leaf area index, LAI; fraction of vegetation cover, FVC; fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation, FAPAR) every day (Garcia-Haro et al, 2005) over Africa and Europe. One advantage of using products derived from geostationary

  11. Scale effects on the evapotranspiration estimation over a water-controlled Mediterranean ecosystem and its influence on hydrological modelling

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Carpintero, Elisabet; González-Dugo, María P.; José Polo, María; Hain, Christopher; Nieto, Héctor; Gao, Feng; Andreu, Ana; Kustas, William; Anderson, Martha

    2017-04-01

    The integration of currently available satellite data into surface energy balance models can provide estimates of evapotranspiration (ET) with spatial and temporal resolutions determined by sensor characteristics. The use of data fusion techniques may increase the temporal resolution of these estimates using multiple satellites, providing a more frequent ET monitoring for hydrological purposes. The objective of this work is to analyze the effects of pixel resolution on the estimation of evapotranspiration using different remote sensing platforms, and to provide continuous monitoring of ET over a water-controlled ecosystem, the Holm oak savanna woodland known as dehesa. It is an agroforestry system with a complex canopy structure characterized by widely-spaced oak trees combined with crops, pasture and shrubs. The study was carried out during two years, 2013 and 2014, combining ET estimates at different spatial and temporal resolutions and applying data fusion techniques for a frequent monitoring of water use at fine spatial resolution. A global and daily ET product at 5 km resolution, developed with the ALEXI model using MODIS day-night temperature difference (Anderson et al., 2015a) was used as a starting point. The associated flux disaggregation scheme, DisALEXI (Norman et al., 2003), was later applied to constrain higher resolution ET from both MODIS and Landsat 7/8 images. The Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR) provided the meteorological data. Finally, a data fusion technique, the STARFM model (Gao et al., 2006), was applied to fuse MODIS and Landsat ET maps in order to obtain daily ET at 30 m resolution. These estimates were validated and analyzed at two different scales: at local scale over a dehesa experimental site and at watershed scale with a predominant Mediterranean oak savanna landscape, both located in Southern Spain. Local ET estimates from the modeling system were validated with measurements provided by an eddy covariance tower installed in

  12. Surface Energy Balance System for Estimating Daily Evapotranspiration Rates in the Texas High Plains

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Numerous energy balance (EB) algorithms have been developed to use remote sensing data for mapping evapotranspiration (ET) on a regional basis. Adopting any single or a combination of these models for an operational ET remote sensing program requires thorough evaluation. The Surface Energy Balance S...

  13. The Pattern Across the Continental United States of Evapotranspiration Variability Associated with Water Availability

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Koster, Randal D.; Salvucci, Guido D.; Rigden, Angela J.; Jung, Martin; Collatz, G. James; Schubert, Siegfried D.

    2015-01-01

    The spatial pattern across the continental United States of the interannual variance of warm season water-dependent evapotranspiration, a pattern of relevance to land-atmosphere feedback, cannot be measured directly. Alternative and indirect approaches to estimating the pattern, however, do exist, and given the uncertainty of each, we use several such approaches here. We first quantify the water dependent evapotranspiration variance pattern inherent in two derived evapotranspiration datasets available from the literature. We then search for the pattern in proxy geophysical variables (air temperature, stream flow, and NDVI) known to have strong ties to evapotranspiration. The variances inherent in all of the different (and mostly independent) data sources show some differences but are generally strongly consistent they all show a large variance signal down the center of the U.S., with lower variances toward the east and (for the most part) toward the west. The robustness of the pattern across the datasets suggests that it indeed represents the pattern operating in nature. Using Budykos hydroclimatic framework, we show that the pattern can largely be explained by the relative strength of water and energy controls on evapotranspiration across the continent.

  14. Spatial interpolation of daily reference evapotranspiration in the Texas High Plains

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    The Texas High Plains Evapotranspiration (ET) Network collects meteorological data from 18 grass reference weather stations at hourly intervals and estimates hourly and daily reference ET using the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Standardized Reference ET equation. Producers in the Texas ...

  15. Spatial interpolation of daily evapotranspiration data in the Texas High Plains

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    The Texas High Plains Evapotranspiration (ET) Network collects meteorological data from grass-referenced weather stations at hourly intervals and estimates hourly and daily reference ET using the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Standardized Reference ET equation. Producers in the Texas Hi...

  16. Benchmarking NLDAS-2 Soil Moisture and Evapotranspiration to Separate Uncertainty Contributions

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Nearing, Grey S.; Mocko, David M.; Peters-Lidard, Christa D.; Kumar, Sujay V.; Xia, Youlong

    2016-01-01

    Model benchmarking allows us to separate uncertainty in model predictions caused 1 by model inputs from uncertainty due to model structural error. We extend this method with a large-sample approach (using data from multiple field sites) to measure prediction uncertainty caused by errors in (i) forcing data, (ii) model parameters, and (iii) model structure, and use it to compare the efficiency of soil moisture state and evapotranspiration flux predictions made by the four land surface models in the North American Land Data Assimilation System Phase 2 (NLDAS-2). Parameters dominated uncertainty in soil moisture estimates and forcing data dominated uncertainty in evapotranspiration estimates; however, the models themselves used only a fraction of the information available to them. This means that there is significant potential to improve all three components of the NLDAS-2 system. In particular, continued work toward refining the parameter maps and look-up tables, the forcing data measurement and processing, and also the land surface models themselves, has potential to result in improved estimates of surface mass and energy balances.

  17. Benchmarking NLDAS-2 Soil Moisture and Evapotranspiration to Separate Uncertainty Contributions

    PubMed Central

    Nearing, Grey S.; Mocko, David M.; Peters-Lidard, Christa D.; Kumar, Sujay V.; Xia, Youlong

    2018-01-01

    Model benchmarking allows us to separate uncertainty in model predictions caused by model inputs from uncertainty due to model structural error. We extend this method with a “large-sample” approach (using data from multiple field sites) to measure prediction uncertainty caused by errors in (i) forcing data, (ii) model parameters, and (iii) model structure, and use it to compare the efficiency of soil moisture state and evapotranspiration flux predictions made by the four land surface models in the North American Land Data Assimilation System Phase 2 (NLDAS-2). Parameters dominated uncertainty in soil moisture estimates and forcing data dominated uncertainty in evapotranspiration estimates; however, the models themselves used only a fraction of the information available to them. This means that there is significant potential to improve all three components of the NLDAS-2 system. In particular, continued work toward refining the parameter maps and look-up tables, the forcing data measurement and processing, and also the land surface models themselves, has potential to result in improved estimates of surface mass and energy balances. PMID:29697706

  18. Benchmarking NLDAS-2 Soil Moisture and Evapotranspiration to Separate Uncertainty Contributions.

    PubMed

    Nearing, Grey S; Mocko, David M; Peters-Lidard, Christa D; Kumar, Sujay V; Xia, Youlong

    2016-03-01

    Model benchmarking allows us to separate uncertainty in model predictions caused by model inputs from uncertainty due to model structural error. We extend this method with a "large-sample" approach (using data from multiple field sites) to measure prediction uncertainty caused by errors in (i) forcing data, (ii) model parameters, and (iii) model structure, and use it to compare the efficiency of soil moisture state and evapotranspiration flux predictions made by the four land surface models in the North American Land Data Assimilation System Phase 2 (NLDAS-2). Parameters dominated uncertainty in soil moisture estimates and forcing data dominated uncertainty in evapotranspiration estimates; however, the models themselves used only a fraction of the information available to them. This means that there is significant potential to improve all three components of the NLDAS-2 system. In particular, continued work toward refining the parameter maps and look-up tables, the forcing data measurement and processing, and also the land surface models themselves, has potential to result in improved estimates of surface mass and energy balances.

  19. Evapotranspiration response to multi-year dry periods in the semi-arid western United States

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rungee, J. P., II; Bales, R. C.

    2017-12-01

    Analysis of measured evapotranspiration shows multi-year regolith water storage can support evapotranspiration for years into a multi-year dry period. Measurements at 25 flux-tower sites in the semi-arid western United States, distributed across five primary land-cover types, show both resilience and vulnerability to multi-year dry periods. Average evapotranspiration ranged from about 700+200 mm per water year (October-September) in evergreen needleleaf forests to 350+150 mm per water year in grasslands and open shrublands. On average, in California's Mediterranean climate almost half of the water-year evapotranspiration is supported by seasonal and/or multi-year regolith water storage, compared to a characteristic 20 to 30 percent value of energy-limited and inland sites. Below 35oN latitude, water-year evapotranspiration exceeded estimated precipitation in over half of the years on record. For non-energy-limited sites, water-year evapotranspiration increased with precipitation up to a maximum water-year evapotranspiration value of about 900, 750, 600, 425 and 300 mm per water year for evergreen needleleaf forests, mixed forests, woody savannas, grasslands and open shrublands, respectively. There were 15 multi-year dry periods on record that exhibited either an attenuation in evapotranspiration, defined as an annual value below 80% of the wet-year average, or withdrawal from multi-year storage. A multi-year dry period was defined as three or more consecutive water years in which all water-year precipitation values and the mean period value were in the lower 50 and 35 percent of the historical record, respectively. For sites exhibiting evapotranspiration attenuation, resistance to multi-year dry periods ranged from 9 to 49 months, drafting as much as 444 mm of regolith storage. At some mountain sites regolith storage provided up to 678 mm, almost the equivalent of the average water-year evapotranspiration for these sites, over the extent of the multi-year dry

  20. Performance of the METRIC model in estimating evapotranspiration fluxes over an irrigated field in Saudi Arabia using Landsat-8 images

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Madugundu, Rangaswamy; Al-Gaadi, Khalid A.; Tola, ElKamil; Hassaballa, Abdalhaleem A.; Patil, Virupakshagouda C.

    2017-12-01

    Accurate estimation of evapotranspiration (ET) is essential for hydrological modeling and efficient crop water management in hyper-arid climates. In this study, we applied the METRIC algorithm on Landsat-8 images, acquired from June to October 2013, for the mapping of ET of a 50 ha center-pivot irrigated alfalfa field in the eastern region of Saudi Arabia. The METRIC-estimated energy balance components and ET were evaluated against the data provided by an eddy covariance (EC) flux tower installed in the field. Results indicated that the METRIC algorithm provided accurate ET estimates over the study area, with RMSE values of 0.13 and 4.15 mm d-1. The METRIC algorithm was observed to perform better in full canopy conditions compared to partial canopy conditions. On average, the METRIC algorithm overestimated the hourly ET by 6.6 % in comparison to the EC measurements; however, the daily ET was underestimated by 4.2 %.

  1. Emulation of recharge and evapotranspiration processes in shallow groundwater systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Doble, Rebecca C.; Pickett, Trevor; Crosbie, Russell S.; Morgan, Leanne K.; Turnadge, Chris; Davies, Phil J.

    2017-12-01

    In shallow groundwater systems, recharge and evapotranspiration are highly sensitive to changes in the depth to water table. To effectively model these fluxes, complex functions that include soil and vegetation properties are often required. Model emulation (surrogate modelling or meta-modelling) can provide a means of incorporating detailed conceptualisation of recharge and evapotranspiration processes, while maintaining the numerical tractability and computational performance required for regional scale groundwater models and uncertainty analysis. A method for emulating recharge and evapotranspiration processes in groundwater flow models was developed, and applied to the South East region of South Australia and western Victoria, which is characterised by shallow groundwater, wetlands and coastal lakes. The soil-vegetation-atmosphere transfer (SVAT) model WAVES was used to generate relationships between net recharge (diffuse recharge minus evapotranspiration from groundwater) and depth to water table for different combinations of climate, soil and land cover types. These relationships, which mimicked previously described soil, vegetation and groundwater behaviour, were combined into a net recharge lookup table. The segmented evapotranspiration package in MODFLOW was adapted to select values of net recharge from the lookup table depending on groundwater depth, and the climate, soil and land use characteristics of each cell. The model was found to be numerically robust in steady state testing, had no major increase in run time, and would be more efficient than tightly-coupled modelling approaches. It made reasonable predictions of net recharge and groundwater head compared with remotely sensed estimates of net recharge and a standard MODFLOW comparison model. In particular, the method was better able to predict net recharge and groundwater head in areas with steep hydraulic gradients.

  2. A Citizen's Guide to Evapotranspiration Covers

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    This guide explains Evapotranspiration Covers which are Evapotranspiration (ET) covers are a type of cap placed over contaminated material, such as soil, landfill waste, or mining tailings, to prevent water from reaching it.

  3. A review of models and micrometeorological methods used to estimate wetland evapotranspiration

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Drexler, J.Z.; Snyder, R.L.; Spano, D.; Paw, U.K.T.

    2004-01-01

    Within the past decade or so, the accuracy of evapotranspiration (ET) estimates has improved due to new and increasingly sophisticated methods. Yet despite a plethora of choices concerning methods, estimation of wetland ET remains insufficiently characterized due to the complexity of surface characteristics and the diversity of wetland types. In this review, we present models and micrometeorological methods that have been used to estimate wetland ET and discuss their suitability for particular wetland types. Hydrological, soil monitoring and lysimetric methods to determine ET are not discussed. Our review shows that, due to the variability and complexity of wetlands, there is no single approach that is the best for estimating wetland ET. Furthermore, there is no single foolproof method to obtain an accurate, independent measure of wetland ET. Because all of the methods reviewed, with the exception of eddy covariance and LIDAR, require measurements of net radiation (Rn) and soil heat flux (G), highly accurate measurements of these energy components are key to improving measurements of wetland ET. Many of the major methods used to determine ET can be applied successfully to wetlands of uniform vegetation and adequate fetch, however, certain caveats apply. For example, with accurate Rn and G data and small Bowen ratio (??) values, the Bowen ratio energy balance method can give accurate estimates of wetland ET. However, large errors in latent heat flux density can occur near sunrise and sunset when the Bowen ratio ?? ??? - 1??0. The eddy covariance method provides a direct measurement of latent heat flux density (??E) and sensible heat flux density (II), yet this method requires considerable expertise and expensive instrumentation to implement. A clear advantage of using the eddy covariance method is that ??E can be compared with Rn-G H, thereby allowing for an independent test of accuracy. The surface renewal method is inexpensive to replicate and, therefore, shows

  4. Evapotranspiration under advective conditions.

    PubMed

    Figuerola, Patricia I; Berliner, Pedro R

    2005-07-01

    Arid and semi-arid regions are heterogeneous landscapes in which irrigated fields are surrounded by arid areas. The advection of sensible heat flux from dry surfaces is a significant source of energy that has to be taken into consideration when evaluating the evaporation from crops growing in these areas. The basic requirement of most of the common methods for estimating evapotranspiration [Bowen ratio, aerodynamic and Penman-Monteith (PM) equation] is that the horizontal fluxes of sensible and latent heat are negligible when compared to the corresponding vertical fluxes. We carried out measurements above an irrigated tomato field in a desert area. Latent and sensible heat fluxes were measured using a four-level Bowen machine with aspirated psychrometers. Our results indicate that under advective conditions only measurements carried out in the lowest layer are satisfactory for the estimation of latent heat fluxes and that the use of the PM equation with an appropriately parameterized canopy resistance may be preferable.

  5. The influence of the surface roughness parameterization on remote sensing-based estimates of evapotranspiration from vineyards

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Alfieri, J. G.; Kustas, W. P.; Gao, F.; Nieto, H.; Prueger, J. H.; Hipps, L.

    2017-12-01

    Because the judicious application of water is key to ensuring berry quality, information regarding evapotranspiration (ET) is critical when making irrigation and other crop management decisions for vineyards. Increasingly, wine grape producers seek to use remote sensing-based models to monitor ET and inform management decisions. However, the parameterization schemes used by these models do not fully account for the effects of the highly-structured canopy architecture on either the roughness characteristics of the vineyard or the turbulent transport and exchange within and above the vines. To investigate the effects of vineyard structure on the roughness length (zo) and displacement height (do) of vineyards, data collected from 2013 to 2016 as a part of the Grape Remote Sensing Atmospheric Profiling and Evapotranspiration Experiment (GRAPEX), an ongoing multi-agency field campaign conducted in the Central Valley of California, was used. Specifically, vertical profiles (2.5 m, 3.75 m, 5 m, and 8 m, agl) of wind velocity collected under near-neutral conditions were used to estimate do and zo and characterize how these roughness parameters vary in response changing environmental conditions. The roughness length was found to vary as a function of wind direction. It increased sigmoidally from a minimum near 0.15 m when the wind direction was parallel to the vine rows to a maximum between 0.3 m and 0.4 m when the winds were perpendicularly to the rows. Similarly, do was found responds strongly to changes in vegetation density as measured via leaf area index (LAI). Although the maximum varied from year-to-year, do increased rapidly after bud break in all cases and then remained constant for the remainder of the growing season. A comparison of the model output from the remote sensing-based two-source energy balance (TSEB) model using the standard roughness parameterization scheme and the empirical relationships derived from observations indicates a that the modeled ET

  6. Past and future spatiotemporal changes in evapotranspiration and effective moisture on the Tibetan Plateau

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yin, Yunhe; Wu, Shaohong; Zhao, Dongsheng

    2013-10-01

    evaporative demand has decreased worldwide during the past several decades. This trend is also noted on the Tibetan Plateau, a region that is particularly sensitive to climate change. However, patterns and trends of evapotranspiration and their relationship to drought stress on the Tibetan Plateau are complex and poorly understood. Here, we analyze spatiotemporal changes in evapotranspiration and effective moisture (defined as the ratio of actual evapotranspiration (ETa) to reference crop evapotranspiration (ETo)) based on the modified Lund-Potsdam-Jena Dynamic Global Vegetation Model (LPJ). Climate data from 80 meteorological stations on the Tibetan Plateau were compiled for the period 1981-2010 and future climate projections were generated by a regional climate model through the 21st century. The results show regional trends towards decreasing ETo and statistically significant increases in ETa (p < 0.05) and effective moisture during the period 1981-2010 (p < 0.001). A transition from significant negative to positive ETo occurred in 1997. Additionally, a pronounced increase in effective moisture occurred during the period 1981-1997 because of significant decreased ETo before 1997. In the future, regional ETo and ETa are projected to increase, thus reducing drought stress, because of generally increased effective moisture. Future regional differences are most pronounced in terms of effective moisture, which shows notable increases in the northwestern plateau and decreases in the southeastern plateau. Moreover, the reduced magnitude of effective moisture is likely to intensify in the long term, due mainly to increased evaporative demand.

  7. NOAA AVHRR and its uses for rainfall and evapotranspiration monitoring

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Kerr, Yann H.; Imbernon, J.; Dedieu, G.; Hautecoeur, O.; Lagouarde, J. P.

    1989-01-01

    NOAA-7 Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) Global Vegetation Indices (GVI) were used during the 1986 rainy season (June-September) over Senegal to monitor rainfall. The satellite data were used in conjunction with ground-based measurements so as to derive empirical relationships between rainfall and GVI. The regression obtained was then used to map the total rainfall corresponding to the growing season, yielding good results. Normalized Difference Vegetation Indices (NDVI) derived from High Resolution Picture Transmission (HRPT) data were also compared with actual evapotranspiration (ET) data and proved to be closely correlated with it with a time lapse of 20 days.

  8. Evapotranspiration and water balance in a hot pepper (Capsicum frutescens L.) field during a dry season in the tropics

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Laban, S.; Oue, H.; Rampisela, D. A.

    2018-05-01

    Evapotranspiration and water balance in a hot pepper (Capsicum frutescens L.) field during the 2nd dry season were analyzed in this study. Actual evapotranspiration (ET) was estimated by Bowen Ratio Energy Budget (BREB) method, potential evaporation (EP) was calculated by Penman method, and irrigation volume of water was measured manually. Meteorological instruments were installed in the experimental field during hot pepper cultivation. Leaf area index increased during the growing stages where the highest LAI of 1.65 in the generative stage. The daily average of ET was 1.94 and EP was 6.71 mm resulting in low Kc. The Kc values were significantly different between stage to stage under T-test analysis (α = 0.05). Moreover, Kc in every stage could be related to soil water content (SWC) in logarithmic function. Totally, ET during hot pepper cultivation was 179.19 mm, while rainfall was 180.0 mm and irrigation water was 27.42 mm. However, there was a water shortages during vegetative and generative stages. This study suggested that consumptive water of hot pepper was complimented by soil and groundwater under the condition of water shortages in the vegetative and generative stages during the 2nd dry season.

  9. Spatially distributed potential evapotranspiration modeling and climate projections.

    PubMed

    Gharbia, Salem S; Smullen, Trevor; Gill, Laurence; Johnston, Paul; Pilla, Francesco

    2018-08-15

    Evapotranspiration integrates energy and mass transfer between the Earth's surface and atmosphere and is the most active mechanism linking the atmosphere, hydrosphsophere, lithosphere and biosphere. This study focuses on the fine resolution modeling and projection of spatially distributed potential evapotranspiration on the large catchment scale as response to climate change. Six potential evapotranspiration designed algorithms, systematically selected based on a structured criteria and data availability, have been applied and then validated to long-term mean monthly data for the Shannon River catchment with a 50m 2 cell size. The best validated algorithm was therefore applied to evaluate the possible effect of future climate change on potential evapotranspiration rates. Spatially distributed potential evapotranspiration projections have been modeled based on climate change projections from multi-GCM ensembles for three future time intervals (2020, 2050 and 2080) using a range of different Representative Concentration Pathways producing four scenarios for each time interval. Finally, seasonal results have been compared to baseline results to evaluate the impact of climate change on the potential evapotranspiration and therefor on the catchment dynamical water balance. The results present evidence that the modeled climate change scenarios would have a significant impact on the future potential evapotranspiration rates. All the simulated scenarios predicted an increase in potential evapotranspiration for each modeled future time interval, which would significantly affect the dynamical catchment water balance. This study addresses the gap in the literature of using GIS-based algorithms to model fine-scale spatially distributed potential evapotranspiration on the large catchment systems based on climatological observations and simulations in different climatological zones. Providing fine-scale potential evapotranspiration data is very crucial to assess the dynamical

  10. A thermal-based remote sensing modeling system for estimating evapotranspiration from field to global scales

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Thermal-infrared remote sensing of land surface temperature provides valuable information for quantifying root-zone water availability, evapotranspiration (ET) and crop condition. This paper describes a robust but relatively simple thermal-based energy balance model that parameterizes the key soil/s...

  11. Evaluation of energy balance closure adjustment methods by independent evapotranspiration estimates from lysimeters and hydrological simulations

    DOE PAGES

    Mauder, Matthias; Genzel, Sandra; Fu, Jin; ...

    2017-11-10

    Here, we report non-closure of the surface energy balance is a frequently observed phenomenon of hydrometeorological field measurements, when using the eddy-covariance method, which can be ascribed to an underestimation of the turbulent fluxes. Several approaches have been proposed in order to adjust the measured fluxes for this apparent systematic error. However, there are uncertainties about partitioning of the energy balance residual between the sensible and latent heat flux and whether such a correction should be applied on 30-minute data or longer time scales. The data for this study originate from two grassland sites in southern Germany, where measurements frommore » weighable lysimeters are available as reference. The adjusted evapotranspiration rates are also compared with joint energy and water balance simulations using a physically-based distributed hydrological model. We evaluate two adjustment methods: the first one preserves the Bowen ratio and the correction factor is determined on a daily basis. The second one attributes a smaller portion of the residual energy to the latent heat flux than to the sensible heat flux for closing the energy balance for every 30-minute flux integration interval. Both methods lead to an improved agreement of the eddy-covariance based fluxes with the independent lysimeter estimates and the physically-based model simulations. The first method results in a better comparability of evapotranspiration rates, and the second method leads to a smaller overall bias. These results are similar between both sites despite considerable differences in terrain complexity and grassland management. Moreover, we found that a daily adjustment factor leads to less scatter than a complete partitioning of the residual for every half-hour time interval. Lastly, the vertical temperature gradient in the surface layer and friction velocity were identified as important predictors for a potential future parameterization of the energy balance

  12. Evaluation of energy balance closure adjustment methods by independent evapotranspiration estimates from lysimeters and hydrological simulations

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Mauder, Matthias; Genzel, Sandra; Fu, Jin

    Here, we report non-closure of the surface energy balance is a frequently observed phenomenon of hydrometeorological field measurements, when using the eddy-covariance method, which can be ascribed to an underestimation of the turbulent fluxes. Several approaches have been proposed in order to adjust the measured fluxes for this apparent systematic error. However, there are uncertainties about partitioning of the energy balance residual between the sensible and latent heat flux and whether such a correction should be applied on 30-minute data or longer time scales. The data for this study originate from two grassland sites in southern Germany, where measurements frommore » weighable lysimeters are available as reference. The adjusted evapotranspiration rates are also compared with joint energy and water balance simulations using a physically-based distributed hydrological model. We evaluate two adjustment methods: the first one preserves the Bowen ratio and the correction factor is determined on a daily basis. The second one attributes a smaller portion of the residual energy to the latent heat flux than to the sensible heat flux for closing the energy balance for every 30-minute flux integration interval. Both methods lead to an improved agreement of the eddy-covariance based fluxes with the independent lysimeter estimates and the physically-based model simulations. The first method results in a better comparability of evapotranspiration rates, and the second method leads to a smaller overall bias. These results are similar between both sites despite considerable differences in terrain complexity and grassland management. Moreover, we found that a daily adjustment factor leads to less scatter than a complete partitioning of the residual for every half-hour time interval. Lastly, the vertical temperature gradient in the surface layer and friction velocity were identified as important predictors for a potential future parameterization of the energy balance

  13. Evapotranspiration and canopy resistance at an undeveloped prairie in a humid subtropical climate

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Bidlake, W.R.

    2002-01-01

    Reliable estimates of evapotranspiration from areas of wildland vegetation are needed for many types of water-resource investigations. However, little is known about surface fluxes from many areally important vegetation types, and relatively few comparisons have been made to examine how well evapotranspiration models can predict evapotranspiration for soil-, climate-, or vegetation-types that differ from those under which the models have been calibrated. In this investigation at a prairie site in west-central Florida, latent heat flux (??E) computed from the energy balance and alternatively by eddy covariance during a 15-month period differed by 4 percent and 7 percent on hourly and daily time scales, respectively. Annual evapotranspiration computed from the energy balance and by eddy covariance were 978 and 944 mm, respectively. An hourly Penman-Monteith (PM) evapotranspiration model with stomatal control predicated on water-vapor-pressure deficit at canopy level, incoming solar radiation intensity, and soil water deficit was developed and calibrated using surface fluxes from eddy covariance. Model-predicted ??E agreed closely with ??E computed from the energy balance except when moisture from dew or precipitation covered vegetation surfaces. Finally, an hourly PM model developed for an Amazonian pasture predicted ??E for the Florida prairie with unexpected reliability. Additional comparisons of PM-type models that have been developed for differing types of short vegetation could aid in assessing interchangeability of such models.

  14. Groundwater recharge estimation under semi arid climate: Case of Northern Gafsa watershed, Tunisia

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Melki, Achraf; Abdollahi, Khodayar; Fatahi, Rouhallah; Abida, Habib

    2017-08-01

    Natural groundwater recharge under semi arid climate, like rainfall, is subjected to large variations in both time and space and is therefore very difficult to predict. Nevertheless, in order to set up any strategy for water resources management in such regions, understanding the groundwater recharge variability is essential. This work is interested in examining the impact of rainfall on the aquifer system recharge in the Northern Gafsa Plain in Tunisia. The study is composed of two main parts. The first is interested in the analysis of rainfall spatial and temporal variability in the study basin while the second is devoted to the simulation of groundwater recharge. Rainfall analysis was performed based on annual precipitation data recorded in 6 rainfall stations over a period of 56 years (1960-2015). Potential evapotranspiration data were also collected from 1960 to 2011 (52 years). The hydrologic distributed model WetSpass was used for the estimation of groundwater recharge. Model calibration was performed based on an assessment of the agreement between the sum of recharge and runoff values estimated by the WetSpass hydrological model and those obtained by the climatic method. This latter is based on the difference calculated between rainfall and potential evapotranspiration recorded at each rainy day. Groundwater recharge estimation, on monthly scale, showed that average annual precipitation (183.3 mm/year) was partitioned to 5, 15.3, 36.8, and 42.8% for interception, runoff, actual evapotranspiration and recharge respectively.

  15. A direct estimate of evapotranspiration over the Amazon basin and implications for our understanding of carbon and water cycling

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Swann, A. L. S.; Koven, C.; Lombardozzi, D.; Bonan, G. B.

    2017-12-01

    Evapotranspiration (ET) is a critical term in the surface energy budget as well as the water cycle. There are few direct measurements of ET, and thus the magnitude and variability is poorly constrained at large spatial scales. Estimates of the annual cycle of ET over the Amazon are critical because they influence predictions of the seasonal cycle of carbon fluxes, as well as atmospheric dynamics and circulation. We estimate ET for the Amazon basin using a water budget approach, by differencing rainfall, discharge, and time-varying storage from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment. We find that the climatological annual cycle of ET over the Amazon basin upstream of Óbidos shows suppression of ET during the wet season, and higher ET during the dry season, consistent with flux tower based observations in seasonally dry forests. We also find a statistically significant decrease in ET over the time period 2002-2015 of -1.46 mm/yr. Our direct estimate of the seasonal cycle of ET is largely consistent with previous indirect estimates, including energy budget based approaches, an up-scaled station based estimate, and land surface model estimates, but suggests that suppression of ET during the wet season is underestimated by existing products. We further quantify possible contributors to the phasing of the seasonal cycle and downward time trend using land surface models.

  16. Comparing three approaches of evapotranspiration estimation in mixed urban vegetation; field-based, remote sensing-based and observational-based methods

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Nouri, Hamideh; Glenn, Edward P.; Beecham, Simon; Chavoshi Boroujeni, Sattar; Sutton, Paul; Alaghmand, Sina; Nagler, Pamela L.; Noori, Behnaz

    2016-01-01

    Despite being the driest inhabited continent, Australia has one of the highest per capita water consumptions in the world. In addition, instead of having fit-for-purpose water supplies (using different qualities of water for different applications), highly treated drinking water is used for nearly all of Australia’s urban water supply needs, including landscape irrigation. The water requirement of urban landscapes, and particularly urban parklands, is of growing concern. The estimation of ET and subsequently plant water requirements in urban vegetation needs to consider the heterogeneity of plants, soils, water and climate characteristics. Accurate estimation of evapotranspiration (ET), which is the main component of a plant’s water requirement, in urban parks is highly desirable because this water maintains the health of green infrastructure and this in turn provides essential ecosystem services. This research contributes to a broader effort to establish sustainable irrigation practices within the Adelaide Parklands in Adelaide, South Australia.

  17. Continuous monitoring of evapotranspiration (ET) overview of LSA-SAF evapotranspiration products

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Arboleda, A.; Ghilain, N.; Gellens-Meulenberghs, F.

    2017-10-01

    Evapotranspiration (ET) is the flux of water between the surface (vegetation, soil and water bodies) and the atmosphere. Monitoring this water loss may be of crucial importance for applications in hydrology, agriculture, water use efficiency studies and drought monitoring. We introduce one of the few satellite-based operational evapotranspiration products, generated continuously and in near real-time over Europe, Africa and part of South America. The ET products (30 minutes and daily) are generated at the EUMETSAT's Satellite Application Facility on Land Surface Analysis (LSA-SAF) operations centre (http://landsaf.ipma.pt). Following our commitments to our user's community, we are continuously looking for new ways to improve the product. To accomplish this, the feedback from users and potential users of the products is of great interest. In this contribution we present the ET products characteristics and recent improvements gained thanks to the inclusion in our ET algorithm of new variables derived from Earth observation by MSG SEVIRI. We show examples of the ET products and we highlight their potential in droughts detection and monitoring. Some examples of possible applications are presented to invite users and researchers to explore the possibilities offered by LSA-SAF evapotranspiration products.

  18. Assessing reference evapotranspiration in a subhumid climate in NE Austria

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nolz, Reinhard; Eitzinger, Josef; Cepuder, Peter

    2015-04-01

    Computing reference evapotranspiration and multiplying it with a specific crop coefficient as recommended by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is the most widely accepted approach to estimate plant water requirements. The standardized form of the well-known FAO Penman-Monteith equation, published by the Environmental and Water Resources Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE-EWRI), is recommended as a standard procedure for calculating reference evapotranspiration. Applied and validated under different climatic conditions it generally achieved good results compared to other methods. However, several studies documented deviations between measured and calculated reference evapotranspiration depending on local environmental conditions. Consequently, it seems advisable to evaluate the model under local environmental conditions. Evapotranspiration was determined at a subhumid site in Austria (48°12'N, 16°34'E; 157 m asl) using a large weighing lysimeter operated at (limited) reference conditions and compared with calculations according to ASCE-EWRI. The lysimeter had an inner diameter of 1.9 m and a hemispherical bottom with a maximum depth of 2.5 m. Seepage water was measured at a free draining outlet using a tipping bucket. Lysimeter mass changes were sensed by a weighing facility with an accuracy of ±0.1 mm. Both rainfall and evapotranspiration were determined directly from lysimeter data using a simple water balance equation. Meteorological data for the ASCE-EWRI model were obtained from a weather station of the Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics, Austria (ZAMG). The study period was from 2005 to 2010, analyses were based upon daily time steps. Daily calculated reference evapotranspiration was generally overestimated at small values, whereas it was rather underestimated when evapotranspiration was large, which is supported also by other studies. In the given case, advection of sensible heat proved

  19. Remote sensing applications for estimating changes on crop evapotranspiration of the most water intensive crops, due to climate change in Cyprus

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Papadavid, G.; Neocleous, D.; Stylianou, A.; Markou, M.; Kountios, G.; Hadjimitsis, D.

    2016-08-01

    Water allocation to crops, and especially to the most water intensive ones, has always been of great importance in agricultural process. Deficit or excess water irrigation quantities could create either crop health related problems or water over-consumption situation which lead to stored water reduction and toxic material depletion to deeper ground layers, respectively. In this context, and under the current conditions, where Cyprus is facing effects of climate changes, purpose of this study is basically to estimate the needed crop water requirements of the past (1995-2004) and the corresponding ones of the present (2005-2015) in order to test if there were any significant changes regarding the crop water requirements of the most water intensive trees in Cyprus. Mediterranean region has been identified as the region that will suffer the most from climate change. Thus the paper refers to effects of climate changes on crop evapotranspiration (ETc) using remotely sensed data from Landsat TM/ ETM+ / OLI employing a sound methodology used worldwide, the Surface Energy Balance Algorithm for Land (SEBAL). Though the general feeling is that of changes on climate will consequently affect ETc, the results have indicated that there is no significant effect of climate change on crop evapotranspiration, despite the fact that some climatic factors have changed. Applying Student's T-test, the mean values for the most water intensive trees in Cyprus of the 1994-2004 decade have shown no statistical difference from the mean values of 2005-2015 decade's for all the cases, concluding that the climate change taking place the last decades in Cyprus have either not affected the crop evapotranspiration or the crops have manage to adapt into the new environmental conditions through time.

  20. A water balance based, spatiotemporal evaluation of terrestrial evapotranspiration products across the contiguous United States

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Accurate gridded estimates of evapotranspiration (ET) are essential to the analysis of terrestrial water budgets. In this study, ET estimates from three gridded energy-balance based products (ETEB) with independent model formations and data forcings are evaluated for their ability to capture long te...

  1. The complementary relationship (CR) approach aids evapotranspiration estimation in the data scarce region of Tibetan Plateau: symmetric and asymmetric perspectives

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ma, N.; Zhang, Y.; Szilagyi, J.; Xu, C. Y.

    2015-12-01

    While the land surface latent and sensible heat release in the Tibetan Plateau (TP) could greatly influence the Asian monsoon circulation, the actual evapotranspiration (ETa) information in the TP has been largely hindered by its extremely sparse ground observation network. Thus the complementary relationship (CR) theory lends great potential in estimating the ETa since it relies on solely routine meteorological observations. With the in-situ energy/water flux observation over the highest semiarid alpine steppe in the TP, the modifications of specific components within the CR were first implemented. We found that the symmetry of the CR could be achieved for dry regions of TP when (i) the Priestley-Taylor coefficient, (ii) the slope of the saturation vapor pressure curve and (iii) the wind function were locally calibrated by using the ETa observations in wet days, an estimate of the wet surface temperature and the Monin-Obukhov Similarity (MOS) theory, respectively. In this way, the error of the simulated ETa by the symmetric AA model could be decreased to a large extent. Besides, the asymmetric CR was confirmed in TP when the D20 above-ground and/or E601B sunken pan evaporation (Epan) were used as a proxy of the ETp. Thus daily ETa could also be estimated by coupling D20 above-ground and/or E601B sunken pans through CR. Additionally, to overcome the modification of the specific components in the CR, we also evaluated the Nonlinear-CR model and the Morton's CRAE model. The former does not need the pre-determination of the asymmetry of CR, while the latter does not require the wind speed data as input. We found that both models are also able to simulate the daily ETa well provided their parameter values have been locally calibrated. The sensitivity analysis shows that, if the measured ETa data are absence to calibrate the models' parameter values, the Nonlinear-CR model may be a particularly good way for estimating ETabecause of its mild sensitivity to the parameter

  2. The best alternative for estimating reference crop evapotranspiration in different sub-regions of mainland China.

    PubMed

    Peng, Lingling; Li, Yi; Feng, Hao

    2017-07-14

    Reference crop evapotranspiration (ET o ) is a critically important parameter for climatological, hydrological and agricultural management. The FAO56 Penman-Monteith (PM) equation has been recommended as the standardized ET o (ET o,s ) equation, but it has a high requirements of climatic data. There is a practical need for finding a best alternative method to estimate ET o in the regions where full climatic data are lacking. A comprehensive comparison for the spatiotemporal variations, relative errors, standard deviations and Nash-Sutcliffe efficacy coefficients of monthly or annual ET o,s and ET o,i (i = 1, 2, …, 10) values estimated by 10 selected methods (i.e., Irmak et al., Makkink, Priestley-Taylor, Hargreaves-Samani, Droogers-Allen, Berti et al., Doorenbos-Pruitt, Wright and Valiantzas, respectively) using data at 552 sites over 1961-2013 in mainland China. The method proposed by Berti et al. (2014) was selected as the best alternative of FAO56-PM because it was simple in computation process, only utilized temperature data, had generally good accuracy in describing spatiotemporal characteristics of ET o,s in different sub-regions and mainland China, and correlated linearly to the FAO56-PM method very well. The parameters of the linear correlations between ET o of the two methods are calibrated for each site with the smallest determination of coefficient being 0.87.

  3. Microwave implementation of two-source energy balance approach for estimating evapotranspiration

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Holmes, Thomas R. H.; Hain, Christopher R.; Crow, Wade T.; Anderson, Martha C.; Kustas, William P.

    2018-02-01

    A newly developed microwave (MW) land surface temperature (LST) product is used to substitute thermal infrared (TIR)-based LST in the Atmosphere-Land Exchange Inverse (ALEXI) modeling framework for estimating evapotranspiration (ET) from space. ALEXI implements a two-source energy balance (TSEB) land surface scheme in a time-differential approach, designed to minimize sensitivity to absolute biases in input records of LST through the analysis of the rate of temperature change in the morning. Thermal infrared retrievals of the diurnal LST curve, traditionally from geostationary platforms, are hindered by cloud cover, reducing model coverage on any given day. This study tests the utility of diurnal temperature information retrieved from a constellation of satellites with microwave radiometers that together provide six to eight observations of Ka-band brightness temperature per location per day. This represents the first ever attempt at a global implementation of ALEXI with MW-based LST and is intended as the first step towards providing all-weather capability to the ALEXI framework. The analysis is based on 9-year-long, global records of ALEXI ET generated using both MW- and TIR-based diurnal LST information as input. In this study, the MW-LST (MW-based LST) sampling is restricted to the same clear-sky days as in the IR-based implementation to be able to analyze the impact of changing the LST dataset separately from the impact of sampling all-sky conditions. The results show that long-term bulk ET estimates from both LST sources agree well, with a spatial correlation of 92 % for total ET in the Europe-Africa domain and agreement in seasonal (3-month) totals of 83-97 % depending on the time of year. Most importantly, the ALEXI-MW (MW-based ALEXI) also matches ALEXI-IR (IR-based ALEXI) very closely in terms of 3-month inter-annual anomalies, demonstrating its ability to capture the development and extent of drought conditions. Weekly ET output from the two parallel

  4. Coupling Evapotranspiration and Watershed Storage to Assess the Impact of Forest Disturbance on Low Flows

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Brena Naranjo, J.; Stahl, K.; Weiler, M.

    2009-05-01

    Low flows are important for water-supply planning and design, and maintenance of quantity and quality of water for irrigation, recreation, and fish and wildlife conservation. There have been concerns recently that climate warming and land cover changes due to an unprecedented pine beetle epidemic in British Columbia, Canada, may cause a deterioration of water quantity during low flow periods and at certain times may become a hazard to ecosystem and to water management schemes. A study to characterize the sensitivity of the low flow regimes was performed for several mainly forested catchments located within the Fraser River basin. Here, summer low flows are maintained through the release of water from groundwater and riparian storage, lakes and wetlands, but are reduced by high evapotranspiration rates in the catchments. Since evapotranspiration in British Columbia accounts around 40% of the precipitation, the first part of this work was focused on the assessment of the relationship between the potential evapotranspiration (PET) and the actual evapotranspiration (AET) for undisturbed and disturbed landscapes which is expected to influence the hydrological behavior during the low-flow season. Through its influence on evapotranspiration, forest age appears to play an important role in the water balance. The second part of the study implemented a forest age dependent calculation of AET into a parsimonious water balance model, which was applied to simulate the sensitivity of the flow regimes of 15 non regulated watersheds to changes after the beginning of the pine beetle epidemic at a large scale. The model input was derived from disaggregated gridded 30-year climate normals. Since the geologic and topographic properties are first order controls on water storage and release of the examined catchments a framework for regionalization of these properties into ungauged catchments was developed. Furthermore, the interaction between forest disturbance and evapotranspiration

  5. Sensitivity of MODIS evapotranspiration algorithm (MOD16) to the acuracy of meteorological data and land use and land cover parameterization

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ruhoff, Anderson; Santini Adamatti, Daniela

    2017-04-01

    MODIS evapotranspiration (MOD16) is currently available with 1 km of spatial resolution over 109.03 Million km2 of vegetated land surface areas and this information is widely used to evaluate the linkages between hydrological, energy and carbon cycles. The algorithm is driven by meteorological reanalysis data and MODIS remotely-sensed data, which include land use and land cover classification (MCD12Q1), leaf area index (LAI) and fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation (FPAR) (MOD15A2) and albedo (MOD43b3). For calibration and parameterization, the algorithm uses a Biome Property Look-up Table (BPLUT) based on MCD12Q1 land cover classification. Several studies evaluated MOD16 accuracy using evapotranspiration measurements and water balance analysis, showing that this product can reproduce global evapotranspiration effectively under a variety climate condition, from local to wide-basin scale, with uncertainties up to 25%. In this study, we evaluated the sensitivity of MOD16 algorithm to land use and land cover parameterization and to meteorological data. Considering that MCD12Q1 has an accuracy between 70 and 85% at continental scale, we changed land cover parametererization to understand the influence of land use and land cover classification on MOD16 evapotranspiration estimations. Knowing that meteorological reanalysis data also have uncertainties (mostly related to the coarse spatial resolution), we compared MOD16 evapotranspiration driven by observed meteorological data to those driven by the reanalysis data. Our analysis were carried in South America, with evapotranspiration and meteorological measurements from the Large-Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia (LBA) at 8 different sites, including tropical rainforest, tropical dry forest, selective logged forest, seasonal flooded forest and pasture/agriculture. Our results indicate that land use and land cover classification has a strong influence on MOD16 algorithm. The use of

  6. Empirical relationships among atmospheric variables from rawinsonde and field data as surrogates for AVIRIS measurements: Estimation of regional land surface evapotranspiration

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Conel, James E.; Hoover, Gordon; Nolin, Anne; Alley, Ron; Margolis, Jack

    1992-01-01

    Empirical relationships between variables are ways of securing estimates of quantities difficult to measure by remote sensing methods. The use of empirical functions was explored between: (1) atmospheric column moisture abundance W (gm H2O/cm(sup 2) and surface absolute water vapor density rho(q-bar) (gm H2O/cm(sup 3), with rho density of moist air (gm/cm(sup 3), q-bar specific humidity (gm H2O/gm moist air), and (2) column abundance and surface moisture flux E (gm H2O/(cm(sup 2)sec)) to infer regional evapotranspiration from Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometers (AVIRIS) water vapor mapping data. AVIRIS provides, via analysis of atmospheric water absorption features, estimates of column moisture abundance at very high mapping rate (at approximately 100 km(sup 2)/40 sec) over large areas at 20 m ground resolution.

  7. Divergence of reference evapotranspiration observations with windy tropical conditions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Anderson, R. G.; Wang, D.; Tirado-Corbalá, R.; Zhang, H.; Ayars, J. E.

    2014-06-01

    Standardized reference evapotranspiration (ET) and ecosystem-specific vegetation coefficients are frequently used to estimate actual ET. However, equations for calculating reference ET have not been well validated in tropical environments. We measured ET (ETEC) using Eddy Covariance (EC) towers at two irrigated sugarcane fields on the leeward (dry) side of Maui, Hawaii, USA in contrasting climates. We calculated reference ET at the fields using the short (ET0) and tall (ETr) vegetation versions of the American Society for Civil Engineers (ASCE) equation. The ASCE equations were compared to the Priestley-Taylor ET (ETPT) and ETEC. Reference ET from the ASCE approaches exceeded ETEC during the mid-period (when vegetation coefficients suggest ETEC should exceed reference ET). At the windier tower site, cumulative ETr exceeded ETEC by 854 mm over the course of the mid-period (267 days). At the less windy site, mid-period ETr still exceeded ETEC, but the difference was smaller (443 mm). At both sites, ETPT approximated mid-period ETEC more closely than the ASCE equations ((ETPT-ETEC) < 170 mm). Analysis of applied water and precipitation, soil moisture, leaf stomatal resistance, and canopy cover suggest that the lower observed ETEC was not the result of water stress or reduced vegetation cover. Use of a custom calibrated bulk canopy resistance improved the reference ET estimate and reduced seasonal ET discrepancy relative to ETPT and ETEC for the less windy field and had mixed performance at the windier field. These divergences suggest that modifications to reference ET equations may be warranted in some tropical regions.

  8. A modified MOD16 algorithm to estimate evapotranspiration over alpine meadow on the Tibetan Plateau, China

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chang, Yaping; Qin, Dahe; Ding, Yongjian; Zhao, Qiudong; Zhang, Shiqiang

    2018-06-01

    The long-term change of evapotranspiration (ET) is crucial for managing water resources in areas with extreme climates, such as the Tibetan Plateau (TP). This study proposed a modified algorithm for estimating ET based on the MOD16 algorithm on a global scale over alpine meadow on the TP in China. Wind speed and vegetation height were integrated to estimate aerodynamic resistance, while the temperature and moisture constraints for stomatal conductance were revised based on the technique proposed by Fisher et al. (2008). Moreover, Fisher's method for soil evaporation was adopted to reduce the uncertainty in soil evaporation estimation. Five representative alpine meadow sites on the TP were selected to investigate the performance of the modified algorithm. Comparisons were made between the ET observed using the Eddy Covariance (EC) and estimated using both the original and modified algorithms. The results revealed that the modified algorithm performed better than the original MOD16 algorithm with the coefficient of determination (R2) increasing from 0.26 to 0.68, and root mean square error (RMSE) decreasing from 1.56 to 0.78 mm d-1. The modified algorithm performed slightly better with a higher R2 (0.70) and lower RMSE (0.61 mm d-1) for after-precipitation days than for non-precipitation days at Suli site. Contrarily, better results were obtained for non-precipitation days than for after-precipitation days at Arou, Tanggula, and Hulugou sites, indicating that the modified algorithm may be more suitable for estimating ET for non-precipitation days with higher accuracy than for after-precipitation days, which had large observation errors. The comparisons between the modified algorithm and two mainstream methods suggested that the modified algorithm could produce high accuracy ET over the alpine meadow sites on the TP.

  9. Prediction of the Reference Evapotranspiration Using a Chaotic Approach

    PubMed Central

    Wang, Wei-guang; Zou, Shan; Luo, Zhao-hui; Zhang, Wei; Kong, Jun

    2014-01-01

    Evapotranspiration is one of the most important hydrological variables in the context of water resources management. An attempt was made to understand and predict the dynamics of reference evapotranspiration from a nonlinear dynamical perspective in this study. The reference evapotranspiration data was calculated using the FAO Penman-Monteith equation with the observed daily meteorological data for the period 1966–2005 at four meteorological stations (i.e., Baotou, Zhangbei, Kaifeng, and Shaoguan) representing a wide range of climatic conditions of China. The correlation dimension method was employed to investigate the chaotic behavior of the reference evapotranspiration series. The existence of chaos in the reference evapotranspiration series at the four different locations was proved by the finite and low correlation dimension. A local approximation approach was employed to forecast the daily reference evapotranspiration series. Low root mean square error (RSME) and mean absolute error (MAE) (for all locations lower than 0.31 and 0.24, resp.), high correlation coefficient (CC), and modified coefficient of efficiency (for all locations larger than 0.97 and 0.8, resp.) indicate that the predicted reference evapotranspiration agrees well with the observed one. The encouraging results indicate the suitableness of chaotic approach for understanding and predicting the dynamics of the reference evapotranspiration. PMID:25133221

  10. Prediction of the reference evapotranspiration using a chaotic approach.

    PubMed

    Wang, Wei-guang; Zou, Shan; Luo, Zhao-hui; Zhang, Wei; Chen, Dan; Kong, Jun

    2014-01-01

    Evapotranspiration is one of the most important hydrological variables in the context of water resources management. An attempt was made to understand and predict the dynamics of reference evapotranspiration from a nonlinear dynamical perspective in this study. The reference evapotranspiration data was calculated using the FAO Penman-Monteith equation with the observed daily meteorological data for the period 1966-2005 at four meteorological stations (i.e., Baotou, Zhangbei, Kaifeng, and Shaoguan) representing a wide range of climatic conditions of China. The correlation dimension method was employed to investigate the chaotic behavior of the reference evapotranspiration series. The existence of chaos in the reference evapotranspiration series at the four different locations was proved by the finite and low correlation dimension. A local approximation approach was employed to forecast the daily reference evapotranspiration series. Low root mean square error (RSME) and mean absolute error (MAE) (for all locations lower than 0.31 and 0.24, resp.), high correlation coefficient (CC), and modified coefficient of efficiency (for all locations larger than 0.97 and 0.8, resp.) indicate that the predicted reference evapotranspiration agrees well with the observed one. The encouraging results indicate the suitableness of chaotic approach for understanding and predicting the dynamics of the reference evapotranspiration.

  11. Hydrology Model Formulation within the Training Range Environmental Evaluation and Characterization System (TREECS)

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2014-02-01

    Potential evapotranspiration is computed using the Thornthwaite Method. Infiltration is computed from a water balance. DISCLAIMER: The contents of...precipitation, rainfall, runoff, evapotranspiration , infiltration, and number of days with rainfall. A hydrology model was developed to estimate...temperatures. Potential evapotranspiration (PET) is computed using the Thornthwaite Method. Actual evapotranspiration (ET) and infiltration are computed from a

  12. Comparing SEBAL and METRIC: Evapotranspiration Models Applied to Paramount Farms Almond Orchards

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Furey, B. J.; Kefauver, S. C.

    2011-12-01

    Two evapotranspiration models were applied to almond and pistachio orchards in California. The SEBAL model, developed by W.G.M. Bastiaanssen, was programmed in MatLab for direct comparison to the METRIC model, developed by R.G. Allen and the IDWR. Remote sensing data from the NASA SARP 2011 Airborne Research Program was used in the application of these models. An evaluation of the models showed that they both followed the same pattern in evapotranspiration (ET) rates for different types of ground cover. The models exhibited a slightly different range of values and appeared to be related (non-linearly). The models both underestimated the actual ET at the CIMIS weather station. However, SEBAL overestimated the ET of the almond orchards by 0.16 mm/hr when applying its crop coefficient to the reference ET. This is compared to METRIC, which underestimated the ET of the almond orchards by only 0.10 mm/hr. Other types of ground cover were similarly compared. Temporal variability in ET rates between the morning and afternoon were also observed.

  13. A one-layer satellite surface energy balance for estimating evapotranspiration rates and crop water stress indexes.

    PubMed

    Barbagallo, Salvatore; Consoli, Simona; Russo, Alfonso

    2009-01-01

    Daily evapotranspiration fluxes over the semi-arid Catania Plain area (Eastern Sicily, Italy) were evaluated using remotely sensed data from Landsat Thematic Mapper TM5 images. A one-source parameterization of the surface sensible heat flux exchange using satellite surface temperature has been used. The transfer of sensible and latent heat is described by aerodynamic resistance and surface resistance. Required model inputs are brightness, temperature, fractional vegetation cover or leaf area index, albedo, crop height, roughness lengths, net radiation, air temperature, air humidity and wind speed. The aerodynamic resistance (r(ah)) is formulated on the basis of the Monin-Obukhov surface layer similarity theory and the surface resistance (r(s)) is evaluated from the energy balance equation. The instantaneous surface flux values were converted into evaporative fraction (EF) over the heterogeneous land surface to derive daily evapotranspiration values. Remote sensing-based assessments of crop water stress (CWSI) were also made in order to identify local irrigation requirements. Evapotranspiration data and crop coefficient values obtained from the approach were compared with: (i) data from the semi-empirical approach "K(c) reflectance-based", which integrates satellite data in the visible and NIR regions of the electromagnetic spectrum with ground-based measurements and (ii) surface energy flux measurements collected from a micrometeorological tower located in the experiment area. The expected variability associated with ET flux measurements suggests that the approach-derived surface fluxes were in acceptable agreement with the observations.

  14. Evapotranspiration Measurement and Estimation: Weighing Lysimeter and Neutron Probe Based Methods Compared with Eddy Covariance

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Evett, S. R.; Gowda, P. H.; Marek, G. W.; Alfieri, J. G.; Kustas, W. P.; Brauer, D. K.

    2014-12-01

    Evapotranspiration (ET) may be measured by mass balance methods and estimated by flux sensing methods. The mass balance methods are typically restricted in terms of the area that can be represented (e.g., surface area of weighing lysimeter (LYS) or equivalent representative area of neutron probe (NP) and soil core sampling techniques), and can be biased with respect to ET from the surrounding area. The area represented by flux sensing methods such as eddy covariance (EC) is typically estimated with a flux footprint/source area model. The dimension, position of, and relative contribution of upwind areas within the source area are mainly influenced by sensor height, wind speed, atmospheric stability and wind direction. Footprints for EC sensors positioned several meters above the canopy are often larger than can be economically covered by mass balance methods. Moreover, footprints move with atmospheric conditions and wind direction to cover different field areas over time while mass balance methods are static in space. Thus, EC systems typically sample a much greater field area over time compared with mass balance methods. Spatial variability of surface cover can thus complicate interpretation of flux estimates from EC systems. The most commonly used flux estimation method is EC; and EC estimates of latent heat energy (representing ET) and sensible heat fluxes combined are typically smaller than the available energy from net radiation and soil heat flux (commonly referred to as lack of energy balance closure). Reasons for this are the subject of ongoing research. We compare ET from LYS, NP and EC methods applied to field crops for three years at Bushland, Texas (35° 11' N, 102° 06' W, 1170 m elevation above MSL) to illustrate the potential problems with and comparative advantages of all three methods. In particular, we examine how networks of neutron probe access tubes can be representative of field areas large enough to be equivalent in size to EC footprints, and

  15. A comparison of three methods to estimate evapotranspiration in two contrasting loblolly pine plantations: age-related changes in water use and drought sensitivity of evapotranspiration components

    Treesearch

    Jean-Christophe Domec; Ge Sun; Asko Noormets; Michael J. Gavazzi; Emrys A. Treasure; Erika Cohen; Jennifer J. Swenson; Steve G. McNulty; John S. King

    2012-01-01

    Increasing variability of rainfall patterns requires detailed understanding of the pathways of water loss from ecosystems to optimize carbon uptake and management choices. In the current study we characterized the usability of three alternative methods of different rigor for quantifying stand-level evapotranspiration (ET), partitioned ET into tree transpiration (T),...

  16. RIPGIS-NET: a GIS tool for riparian groundwater evapotranspiration in MODFLOW.

    PubMed

    Ajami, Hoori; Maddock, Thomas; Meixner, Thomas; Hogan, James F; Guertin, D Phillip

    2012-01-01

    RIPGIS-NET, an Environmental System Research Institute (ESRI's) ArcGIS 9.2/9.3 custom application, was developed to derive parameters and visualize results of spatially explicit riparian groundwater evapotranspiration (ETg), evapotranspiration from saturated zone, in groundwater flow models for ecohydrology, riparian ecosystem management, and stream restoration. Specifically RIPGIS-NET works with riparian evapotranspiration (RIP-ET), a modeling package that works with the MODFLOW groundwater flow model. RIP-ET improves ETg simulations by using a set of eco-physiologically based ETg curves for plant functional subgroups (PFSGs), and separates ground evaporation and plant transpiration processes from the water table. The RIPGIS-NET program was developed in Visual Basic 2005, .NET framework 2.0, and runs in ArcMap 9.2 and 9.3 applications. RIPGIS-NET, a pre- and post-processor for RIP-ET, incorporates spatial variability of riparian vegetation and land surface elevation into ETg estimation in MODFLOW groundwater models. RIPGIS-NET derives RIP-ET input parameters including PFSG evapotranspiration curve parameters, fractional coverage areas of each PFSG in a MODFLOW cell, and average surface elevation per riparian vegetation polygon using a digital elevation model. RIPGIS-NET also provides visualization tools for modelers to create head maps, depth to water table (DTWT) maps, and plot DTWT for a PFSG in a polygon in the Geographic Information System based on MODFLOW simulation results. © 2011, The Author(s). Ground Water © 2011, National Ground Water Association.

  17. A thermal-based remote sensing modeling system for estimating daily evapotranspiration from field to global scales

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Thermal-infrared (TIR) remote sensing of land surface temperature (LST) provides valuable information for quantifying root-zone water availability, evapotranspiration (ET) and crop condition as well as providing useful information for constraining prognostic land surface models. This presentation d...

  18. Combining surface reanalysis and remote sensing data for monitoring evapotranspiration

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Marshall, M.; Tu, K.; Funk, C.; Michaelsen, J.; Williams, Pat; Williams, C.; Ardö, J.; Marie, B.; Cappelaere, B.; Grandcourt, A.; Nickless, A.; Noubellon, Y.; Scholes, R.; Kutsch, W.

    2012-01-01

    Climate change is expected to have the greatest impact on the world's poor. In the Sahel, a climatically sensitive region where rain-fed agriculture is the primary livelihood, expected decreases in water supply will increase food insecurity. Studies on climate change and the intensification of the water cycle in sub-Saharan Africa are few. This is due in part to poor calibration of modeled actual evapotranspiration (AET), a key input in continental-scale hydrologic models. In this study, a model driven by dynamic canopy AET was combined with the Global Land Data Assimilation System realization of the NOAH Land Surface Model (GNOAH) wet canopy and soil AET for monitoring purposes in sub-Saharan Africa. The performance of the hybrid model was compared against AET from the GNOAH model and dynamic model using eight eddy flux towers representing major biomes of sub-Saharan Africa. The greatest improvements in model performance are at humid sites with dense vegetation, while performance at semi-arid sites is poor, but better than individual models. The reduction in errors using the hybrid model can be attributed to the integration of a dynamic vegetation component with land surface model estimates, improved model parameterization, and reduction of multiplicative effects of uncertain data.

  19. Estimation of evapotranspiration for different land covers in a Brazilian semi-arid region: A case study of the Brígida River basin, Brazil

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Santos, Celso Augusto Guimarães; Silva, Richarde Marques da; Silva, Alexandro Medeiros; Brasil Neto, Reginaldo Moura

    2017-03-01

    In this study, the Surface Energy Balance Algorithm for Land (SEBAL) was used to compute the surface albedo, vegetation indices (NDVI, SAVI and LAI), surface temperature, soil heat flux and evapotranspiration (ET) over two contrasting years (dry and wet) in the Brígida River basin, a semi-arid region of north-eastern Brazil. The actual ET was computed during satellite overpass and was integrated for 24 h on a pixel-by-pixel basis for the daily ET distribution. Due to the topographic effects, an attempt was also made to incorporate DEM information to estimate the net radiation. The land cover types identified in the watershed are cropland, bare land, dense canopy, grassland, and caatinga vegetation. In order to study the variation among the biophysical parameters and ET, two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used. The ET calculated by SEBAL ranged between 2.46 and 6.87 mm/day for the dry year (1990) and 1.31 and 6.84 mm/day for the wet year (2009) for the river basin. The results showed that a reduction in vegetation cover is evident in the temporal and spatial analysis over the studied periods in the region and that these facts influence the values of the energy balance and ET. The results showed significant differences in the variables of land cover type and year at the probability level of 0.05 for all land cover types.

  20. Forest Surface Energy Balance and Evapotranspiration Estimated From Four Eddy Covariance Towers

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rabbani, G. A.; Adam, J. C.; Elliot, W. J.; Liu, H.

    2016-12-01

    Evapotranspiration (ET), which refers to the combined effect of surface water evaporation and plant transpiration, is one of the vital elements of the global water balance. It is also an important process for plants, providing water, nutrient, and cooling needs, and helping to regulate carbon dioxide entry through open/closure of the plant's stomata. Quantifying ET in forested environments is an ongoing research area. Complex physiological responses with climatic variation, combined with difficulty in making wide-spread measurements, makes ET one of the least understood components of a forest water balance. The objective of this study is to estimate ET and energy balance closure by using flux net data from eddy covariance towers. ET is estimated for different forest types with multiple age classes during the years of 2011, 2012 and 2013. We studied two coniferous forests (F1, F2), one deciduous forest (F3) and one mixed forest (F4) in Washington, Wyoming, Wisconsin and New Jersey, respectively. Label 2 (Data checked and formatted by Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center) gap filled flux data were collected from the AmeriFlux database (ameriflux.ornl.gov). Discrepancies between turbulent fluxes and available energy are investigated. Among the studied forests, the highest and lowest average monthly ET are exhibited by the mixed forest (F4) and coniferous forest (F1) in 2012 which are 2,692 and 633 mm/month, respectively. Difference in average monthly ET can be an implication of substantial age difference between these two types of forest. The regression analysis showed significant correlation between turbulent fluxes and available energy (R2=0.91) for mixed forest where the discrepancy varied from 5-11%. Conversely, for coniferous and deciduous forests, the discrepancy varied from 46-49% and 28%, respectively, with almost similar correlation between the fluxes (0.86 and 0.84, respectively). This study will facilitate an improved understanding of how forest type

  1. Global daily reference evapotranspiration modeling and evaluation

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Senay, G.B.; Verdin, J.P.; Lietzow, R.; Melesse, Assefa M.

    2008-01-01

    Accurate and reliable evapotranspiration (ET) datasets are crucial in regional water and energy balance studies. Due to the complex instrumentation requirements, actual ET values are generally estimated from reference ET values by adjustment factors using coefficients for water stress and vegetation conditions, commonly referred to as crop coefficients. Until recently, the modeling of reference ET has been solely based on important weather variables collected from weather stations that are generally located in selected agro-climatic locations. Since 2001, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Global Data Assimilation System (GDAS) has been producing six-hourly climate parameter datasets that are used to calculate daily reference ET for the whole globe at 1-degree spatial resolution. The U.S. Geological Survey Center for Earth Resources Observation and Science has been producing daily reference ET (ETo) since 2001, and it has been used on a variety of operational hydrological models for drought and streamflow monitoring all over the world. With the increasing availability of local station-based reference ET estimates, we evaluated the GDAS-based reference ET estimates using data from the California Irrigation Management Information System (CIMIS). Daily CIMIS reference ET estimates from 85 stations were compared with GDAS-based reference ET at different spatial and temporal scales using five-year daily data from 2002 through 2006. Despite the large difference in spatial scale (point vs. ∼100 km grid cell) between the two datasets, the correlations between station-based ET and GDAS-ET were very high, exceeding 0.97 on a daily basis to more than 0.99 on time scales of more than 10 days. Both the temporal and spatial correspondences in trend/pattern and magnitudes between the two datasets were satisfactory, suggesting the reliability of using GDAS parameter-based reference ET for regional water and energy balance studies in many parts of the world

  2. Know your community: evapotranspiration measurement and modeling

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    This publication discusses the Evapotranspiration Measurement and Modeling Community in the Agronomy Society of America. The importance of Evapotranspiration (ET) for agricultural studies is discussed along with research tools and methodologies for measuring and modeling ET. We discuss the communi...

  3. Micrometeorological and Soil Data for Calculating Evapotranspiration for Rainier Mesa, Nevada Test Site, Nevada, 2002-05

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    DeMeo, Guy A.; Flint, Alan L.; Laczniak, Randell J.; Nylund, Walter E.

    2006-01-01

    Micrometeorological and soil-moisture data were collected at two instrumented sites on Rainier Mesa at the Nevada Test Site, January 1, 2002 - August 23, 2005. Data collected at each site include net radiation, air temperature, and relative humidity at two heights; wind speed and direction; subsurface soil heat flux; subsurface soil temperature; volumetric soil water; and matric water potential. These data were used to estimate 20-minute average and daily average evapotranspiration values. The data presented in this report are collected and calculated evapotranspiration rates.

  4. Estimation of Actual Crop ET of Paddy Using the Energy Balance Model SMARET and Validation with Field Water Balance Measurements and a Crop Growth Model (ORYZA)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nallasamy, N. D.; Muraleedharan, B. V.; Kathirvel, K.; Narasimhan, B.

    2014-12-01

    Sustainable management of water resources requires reliable estimates of actual evapotranspiration (ET) at fine spatial and temporal resolution. This is significant in the case of rice based irrigation systems, one of the major consumers of surface water resources and where ET forms a major component of water consumption. However huge tradeoff in the spatial and temporal resolution of satellite images coupled with lack of adequate number of cloud free images within a growing season act as major constraints in deriving ET at fine spatial and temporal resolution using remote sensing based energy balance models. The scale at which ET is determined is decided by the spatial and temporal scale of Land Surface Temperature (LST) and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), which form inputs to energy balance models. In this context, the current study employed disaggregation algorithms (NL-DisTrad and DisNDVI) to generate time series of LST and NDVI images at fine resolution. The disaggregation algorithms aimed at generating LST and NDVI at finer scale by integrating temporal information from concurrent coarse resolution data and spatial information from a single fine resolution image. The temporal frequency of the disaggregated images is further improved by employing composite images of NDVI and LST in the spatio-temporal disaggregation method. The study further employed half-hourly incoming surface insolation and outgoing long wave radiation obtained from the Indian geostationary satellite (Kalpana-1) to convert the instantaneous ET into daily ET and subsequently to the seasonal ET, thereby improving the accuracy of ET estimates. The estimates of ET were validated with field based water balance measurements carried out in Gadana, a subbasin predominated by rice paddy fields, located in Tamil Nadu, India.

  5. Significant Discrepancy Between Estimated and Actual Longevity in St. Jude Medical Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillators.

    PubMed

    Doppalapudi, Harish; Barrios, James; Cuellar, Jose; Gannon, Melanie; Yamada, Takumi; Kumar, Vineet; Maddox, William R; Plumb, Vance J; Brown, Todd M; McElderry, H Tom

    2017-05-01

    Real-time estimated longevity has been reported in pacemakers for several years, and was recently introduced in implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs). We sought to evaluate the accuracy of this longevity estimate in St. Jude Medical (SJM) ICDs, especially as the device battery approaches depletion. Among patients with SJM ICDs who underwent generator replacements due to reaching elective replacement indicator (ERI) at our institution, we identified those with devices that provided longevity estimates and reviewed their device interrogations in the 18 months prior to ERI. Significant discrepancy was defined as a difference of more than 12 months between estimated and actual longevity at any point during this period. Forty-six patients with Current/Promote devices formed the study group (40 cardiac resynchronization therapy [CRT] and 6 single/dual chamber). Of these, 34 (74%) had significant discrepancy between estimated and actual longevity (28 CRT and all single/dual). Longevity was significantly overestimated by the device algorithm (mean maximum discrepancy of 18.8 months), more in single/dual than CRT devices (30.5 vs. 17.1 months). Marked discrepancy was seen at voltages ≥2.57 volts, with maximum discrepancy at 2.57 volts (23 months). The overall longevity was higher in the discrepant group of CRT devices than in the nondiscrepant group (67 vs. 61 months, log-rank P = 0.03). There was significant overestimation of longevity in nearly three-fourths of Current/Promote SJM ICDs in the last 18 months prior to ERI. Longevity estimates of SJM ICDs may not be reliable for making clinical decisions on frequency of follow-up, as the battery approaches depletion. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  6. Assessing the suitability of American National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) agro-climatology archive to predict daily meteorological variables and reference evapotranspiration in Sicily, Italy

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    For decades, the importance of evapotranspiration processes has been recognized in many disciplines, including hydrologic and drainage studies, irrigation systems design and management. A wide number of equations have been proposed to estimate crop reference evapotranspiration, ET0, based on the var...

  7. Sensitivity of the projected hydroclimatic environment of the Delaware River basin to formulation of potential evapotranspiration

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Williamson, Tanja N.; Nystrom, Elizabeth A.; Milly, Paul C.D.

    2016-01-01

    The Delaware River Basin (DRB) encompasses approximately 0.4 % of the area of the United States (U.S.), but supplies water to 5 % of the population. We studied three forested tributaries to quantify the potential climate-driven change in hydrologic budget for two 25-year time periods centered on 2030 and 2060, focusing on sensitivity to the method of estimating potential evapotranspiration (PET) change. Hydrology was simulated using the Water Availability Tool for Environmental Resources (Williamson et al. 2015). Climate-change scenarios for four Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) global climate models (GCMs) and two Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) were used to derive monthly change factors for temperature (T), precipitation (PPT), and PET according to the energy-based method of Priestley and Taylor (1972). Hydrologic simulations indicate a general increase in annual (especially winter) streamflow (Q) as early as 2030 across the DRB, with a larger increase by 2060. This increase in Q is the result of (1) higher winter PPT, which outweighs an annual actual evapotranspiration (AET) increase and (2) (for winter) a major shift away from storage of PPT as snow pack. However, when PET change is evaluated instead using the simpler T-based method of Hamon (1963), the increases in Q are small or even negative. In fact, the change of Q depends as much on PET method as on time period or RCP. This large sensitivity and associated uncertainty underscore the importance of exercising caution in the selection of a PET method for use in climate-change analyses.

  8. Water demand-supply analysis in a large spatial area based on the processes of evapotranspiration and runoff

    PubMed Central

    Maruyama, Toshisuke

    2007-01-01

    To estimate the amount of evapotranspiration in a river basin, the “short period water balance method” was formulated. Then, by introducing the “complementary relationship method,” the amount of evapotranspiration was estimated seasonally, and with reasonable accuracy, for both small and large areas. Moreover, to accurately estimate river discharge in the low water season, the “weighted statistical unit hydrograph method” was proposed and a procedure for the calculation of the unit hydrograph was developed. Also, a new model, based on the “equivalent roughness method,” was successfully developed for the estimation of flood runoff from newly reclaimed farmlands. Based on the results of this research, a “composite reservoir model” was formulated to analyze the repeated use of irrigation water in large spatial areas. The application of this model to a number of watershed areas provided useful information with regard to the realities of water demand-supply systems in watersheds predominately dedicated to paddy fields, in Japan. PMID:24367144

  9. Effects of water salinity on the correlation scale of Root density and Evapotranspiration fluxes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ajeel, Ali; Saeed, Ali; Dragonetti, Giovanna; Comegna, Alessandro; Lamaddalena, Nicola; Coppola, Antonio

    2015-04-01

    Spatial pattern and the correlation of different soil and plant parameters were examined in a green bean field experiment carried out at the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Bari, Italy. The experiment aimed to evaluate the role of local processes of salt accumulation and transport which mainly influences the evapotranspiration (and thus the root uptake) processes under different water salinity levels. The experiment consisted of three transects of 30m length and 4.2 m width, irrigated with three different salinity levels (1dSm-1, 3dSm-1, 6dSm-1). Soil measurements (electrical conductivity and soil water content) were monitored along transects in 24 sites, 1 m apart by using TDR probes and Diviner 2000. Water storage measured by TDR and Diviner sensor were coupled for calculating directly the evapotranspiration fluxes along the whole soil profile under the different salinity levels imposed during the experiment. In the same sites, crop monitoring involved measurements of Leaf Area Index (LAI), Osmotic Potential (OP), Leaf Water Potential (LWP), and Root length Density (RlD). Soil and plant properties were analyzed by classical statistics, geostatistics methods and spectral analysis. Results indicated moderate to large spatial variability across the field for soil and plant parameters under all salinity treatments. Furthermore, cross-semivariograms exhibited a strong positive spatial interdependence between electrical conductivity of soil solution ECw with ET and RlD in transect treated with 3dSm-1 as well as with LAI in transect treated with 6dSm-1 at all 24 monitoring sites. Spectral analysis enabled to identify the observation window to sample the soil salinity information responsible for a given plant response (ET, OP, RlD). It is also allowed a clear identification of the spatial scale at which the soil water salinity level and distribution and the crop response in terms of actual evapotranspiration ET, RlD and OP, are actually correlated. Additionally

  10. [Spatiotemporal changes of potential evapotranspiration in Songnen Plain of Northeast China].

    PubMed

    Zhang, Yong-fang; Deng, Jun-li; Guan, De-xin; Jin, Chang-jie; Wang, An-zhi; Wu, Jia-bing; Yuan, Feng-hui

    2011-07-01

    Based on the daily meteorological data from 72 weather stations from 1961-2003, a quantitative analysis was conducted on the spatiotemporal changes of the potential evapotranspiration in the Plain. The Penman-Monteith model was applied to calculate the potential evapotranspiration; the Mann-Kendall test, accumulative departure curve, and climatic change rate were adopted to analyze the change trend of the evapotranspiration; and the spatial analysis function of ArcGIS was used to detect the spatial distribution of the evapotranspiration. In 1961-2003, the mean annual potential evapotranspiration in the Plain was 330 - 860 mm, and presented an overall decreasing trend, with the high value appeared in southwest region, low value in surrounding areas of southwest region, and a ring-belt increasing southwestward. The climatic change rate of the annual potential evapotranspiration was -0.21 mm x a(-1). The annual potential evapotranspiration was the highest in 1982, the lowest in 1995, and increased thereafter. Seasonally, the climatic change rate of the potential evapotranspiration in spring, summer, autumn, and winter was -0.19, 0.01, -0.05, and 0.03 mm x a(-1), respectively, suggesting that the potential evapotranspiration had a weak increase in winter and summer and a slight decrease in spring and autumn.

  11. Quantifying variability in field scale evapotranspiration measurements in an irrigated agricultural region under advection

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    This study compares the evapotranspiration (ET) measurements from eddy covariance, lysimetry, and water balance using a network of neutron probe sensors and investigates the role of within-field variability in the vegetation density in explaining the differences among the ET estimates from the vario...

  12. Assessing the ability of potential evapotranspiration models in capturing dynamics of evaporative demand across various biomes and climatic regimes with ChinaFLUX measurements

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zheng, Han; Yu, Guirui; Wang, Qiufeng; Zhu, Xianjin; Yan, Junhua; Wang, Huimin; Shi, Peili; Zhao, Fenghua; Li, Yingnian; Zhao, Liang; Zhang, Junhui; Wang, Yanfen

    2017-08-01

    Estimates of atmospheric evaporative demand have been widely required for a variety of hydrological analyses, with potential evapotranspiration (PET) being an important measure representing evaporative demand of actual vegetated surfaces under given metrological conditions. In this study, we assessed the ability of various PET models in capturing long-term (typically 2003-2011) dynamics of evaporative demand at eight ecosystems across various biomes and climatic regimes in China. Prior to assessing PET dynamics, we first examined the reasonability of fourteen PET models in representing the magnitudes of evaporative demand using eddy-covariance actual evapotranspiration (AET) as an indicator. Results showed that the robustness of the fourteen PET models differed somewhat across the sites, and only three PET models could produce reasonable magnitudes of evaporative demand (i.e., PET ≥ AET on average) for all eight sites, including the: (i) Penman; (ii) Priestly-Taylor and (iii) Linacre models. Then, we assessed the ability of these three PET models in capturing dynamics of evaporative demand by comparing the annual and seasonal trends in PET against the equivalent trends in AET and precipitation (P) for particular sites. Results indicated that nearly all the three PET models could faithfully reproduce the dynamics in evaporative demand for the energy-limited conditions at both annual and seasonal scales, while only the Penman and Linacre models could represent dynamics in evaporative demand for the water-limited conditions. However, the Linacre model was unable to reproduce the seasonal switches between water- and energy-limited states for some sites. Our findings demonstrated that the choice of PET models would be essential for the evaporative demand analyses and other related hydrological analyses at different temporal and spatial scales.

  13. Environmental controls on seasonal ecosystem evapotranspiration/potential evapotranspiration ratio as determined by the global eddy flux measurements

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liu, Chunwei; Sun, Ge; McNulty, Steven G.; Noormets, Asko; Fang, Yuan

    2017-01-01

    The evapotranspiration / potential evapotranspiration (AET / PET) ratio is traditionally termed as the crop coefficient (Kc) and has been generally used as ecosystem evaporative stress index. In the current hydrology literature, Kc has been widely used as a parameter to estimate crop water demand by water managers but has not been well examined for other types of ecosystems such as forests and other perennial vegetation. Understanding the seasonal dynamics of this variable for all ecosystems is important for projecting the ecohydrological responses to climate change and accurately quantifying water use at watershed to global scales. This study aimed at deriving monthly Kc for multiple vegetation cover types and understanding its environmental controls by analyzing the accumulated global eddy flux (FLUXNET) data. We examined monthly Kc data for seven vegetation covers, including open shrubland (OS), cropland (CRO), grassland (GRA), deciduous broad leaf forest (DBF), evergreen needle leaf forest (ENF), evergreen broad leaf forest (EBF), and mixed forest (MF), across 81 sites. We found that, except for evergreen forests (EBF and ENF), Kc values had large seasonal variation across all land covers. The spatial variability of Kc was well explained by latitude, suggesting site factors are a major control on Kc. Seasonally, Kc increased significantly with precipitation in the summer months, except in EBF. Moreover, leaf area index (LAI) significantly influenced monthly Kc in all land covers, except in EBF. During the peak growing season, forests had the highest Kc values, while croplands (CRO) had the lowest. We developed a series of multivariate linear monthly regression models for Kc by land cover type and season using LAI, site latitude, and monthly precipitation as independent variables. The Kc models are useful for understanding water stress in different ecosystems under climate change and variability as well as for estimating seasonal ET for large areas with mixed

  14. Calibration of mass transfer-based models to predict reference crop evapotranspiration

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Valipour, Mohammad

    2017-05-01

    The present study aims to compare mass transfer-based models to determine the best model under different weather conditions. The results showed that the Penman model estimates reference crop evapotranspiration better than other models in most provinces of Iran (15 provinces). However, the values of R 2 were less than 0.90 for 24 provinces of Iran. Therefore, the models were calibrated, and precision of estimation was increased (the values of R 2 were less than 0.90 for only ten provinces in the modified models). The mass transfer-based models estimated reference crop evapotranspiration in the northern (near the Caspian Sea) and southern (near the Persian Gulf) Iran (annual relative humidity more than 65 %) better than other provinces. The best values of R 2 were 0.96 and 0.98 for the Trabert and Rohwer models in Ardabil (AR) and Mazandaran (MZ) provinces before and after calibration, respectively. Finally, a list of the best performances of each model was presented to use other regions and next studies according to values of mean, maximum, and minimum temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed. The best weather conditions to use mass transfer-based equations are 8-18 °C (with the exception of Ivanov), <25.5 °C, <15 °C, >55 % for mean, maximum, and minimum temperature, and relative humidity, respectively.

  15. Mapping Daily Evapotranspiration at Field to Global Scales using Geostationary and Polar Orbiting Satellite Imagery

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Thermal infrared (TIR) remote sensing of land-surface temperature (LST) provides valuable information about the sub-surface moisture status required for estimating evapotranspiration (ET) and detecting the onset and severity of drought. While empirical indices measuring anomalies in LST and vegetati...

  16. Improving evapotranspiration processes in distrubing hydrological models using Remote Sensing derived ET products.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Abitew, T. A.; van Griensven, A.; Bauwens, W.

    2015-12-01

    Evapotranspiration is the main process in hydrology (on average around 60%), though has not received as much attention in the evaluation and calibration of hydrological models. In this study, Remote Sensing (RS) derived Evapotranspiration (ET) is used to improve the spatially distributed processes of ET of SWAT model application in the upper Mara basin (Kenya) and the Blue Nile basin (Ethiopia). The RS derived ET data is obtained from recently compiled global datasets (continuously monthly data at 1 km resolution from MOD16NBI,SSEBop,ALEXI,CMRSET models) and from regionally applied Energy Balance Models (for several cloud free days). The RS-RT data is used in different forms: Method 1) to evaluate spatially distributed evapotransiration model resultsMethod 2) to calibrate the evotranspiration processes in hydrological modelMethod 3) to bias-correct the evapotranpiration in hydrological model during simulation after changing the SWAT codesAn inter-comparison of the RS-ET products shows that at present there is a significant bias, but at the same time an agreement on the spatial variability of ET. The ensemble mean of different ET products seems the most realistic estimation and was further used in this study.The results show that:Method 1) the spatially mapped evapotranspiration of hydrological models shows clear differences when compared to RS derived evapotranspiration (low correlations). Especially evapotranspiration in forested areas is strongly underestimated compared to other land covers.Method 2) Calibration allows to improve the correlations between the RS and hydrological model results to some extent.Method 3) Bias-corrections are efficient in producing (sesonal or annual) evapotranspiration maps from hydrological models which are very similar to the patterns obtained from RS data.Though the bias-correction is very efficient, it is advised to improve the model results by better representing the ET processes by improved plant/crop computations, improved

  17. Estimated ground-water discharge by evapotranspiration from Death Valley, California, 1997-2001

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    DeMeo, Guy A.; Laczniak, Randell J.; Boyd, Robert A.; Smith, J. LaRue; Nylund, Walter E.

    2003-01-01

    The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the National Park Service and Inyo County, Calif., collected field data from 1997 through 2001 to accurately estimate the amount of annual ground-water discharge by evapotranspiration (ET) from the floor of Death Valley, California. Multispectral satellite-imagery and National Wetlands Inventory data are used to delineate evaporative ground-water discharge areas on the Death Valley floor. These areas are divided into five general units where ground-water discharge from ET is considered to be significant. Based upon similarities in soil type, soil moisture, vegetation type, and vegetation density; the ET units are salt-encrusted playa (21,287 acres), bare-soil playa (75,922 acres), low-density vegetation (6,625 acres), moderate-density vegetation (5,019 acres), and high-density vegetation (1,522 acres). Annual ET was computed for ET units with micrometeorological data which were continuously measured at six instrumented sites. Total ET was determined at sites that were chosen for their soil- and vegetated-surface conditions, which include salt-encrusted playa (extensive salt encrustation) 0.17 feet per year, bare-soil playa (silt and salt encrustation) 0.21 feet per year, pickleweed (pickleweed plants, low-density vegetation) 0.60 feet per year, Eagle Borax (arrowweed plants and salt grass, moderate-density vegetation) 1.99 feet per year, Mesquite Flat (mesquite trees, high-density vegetation) 2.86 feet per year, and Mesquite Flat mixed grasses (mixed meadow grasses, high-density vegetation) 3.90 feet per year. Precipitation, flooding, and ground-water discharge satisfy ET demand in Death Valley. Ground-water discharge is estimated by deducting local precipitation and flooding from cumulative ET estimates. Discharge rates from ET units were not estimated directly because the range of vegetation units far exceeded the five specific vegetation units that were measured. The rate of annual ground-water discharge by ET for

  18. Continuous estimation of evapotranspiration and gross primary productivity from an Unmanned Aerial System

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, S.; Bandini, F.; Jakobsen, J.; J Zarco-Tejada, P.; Liu, X.; Haugård Olesen, D.; Ibrom, A.; Bauer-Gottwein, P.; Garcia, M.

    2017-12-01

    Model prediction of evapotranspiration (ET) and gross primary productivity (GPP) using optical and thermal satellite imagery is biased towards clear-sky conditions. Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) can collect optical and thermal signals at unprecedented very high spatial resolution (< 1 meter) under sunny and cloudy weather conditions. However, methods to obtain model outputs between image acquisitions are still needed. This study uses UAS based optical and thermal observations to continuously estimate daily ET and GPP in a Danish willow forest for an entire growing season of 2016. A hexacopter equipped with multispectral and thermal infrared cameras and a real-time kinematic Global Navigation Satellite System was used. The Normalized Differential Vegetation Index (NDVI) and the Temperature Vegetation Dryness Index (TVDI) were used as proxies for leaf area index and soil moisture conditions, respectively. To obtain continuously daily records between UAS acquisitions, UAS surface temperature was assimilated by the ensemble Kalman filter into a prognostic land surface model (Noilhan and Planton, 1989), which relies on the force-restore method, to simulate the continuous land surface temperature. NDVI was interpolated into daily time steps by the cubic spline method. Using these continuous datasets, a joint ET and GPP model, which combines the Priestley-Taylor Jet Propulsion Laboratory ET model (Fisher et al., 2008; Garcia et al., 2013) and the Light Use Efficiency GPP model (Potter et al., 1993), was applied. The simulated ET and GPP were compared with the footprint of eddy covariance observations. The simulated daily ET has a RMSE of 14.41 W•m-2 and a correlation coefficient of 0.83. The simulated daily GPP has a root mean square error (RMSE) of 1.56 g•C•m-2•d-1 and a correlation coefficient of 0.87. This study demonstrates the potential of UAS based multispectral and thermal mapping to continuously estimate ET and GPP for both sunny and cloudy weather

  19. Evaluating Evapotranspiration of a crop mosaic using microwave scintillometry

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cohard, J. M.; Barral, H.; Coulaud, C.; Mercier, B.; Cappelaere, B.; Demarty, J.; Arpin-Pont, F.; Bradford, J.

    2017-12-01

    Evapotranspiration (ET) remains particularly difficult to quantify, especially on complex and heterogeneous landscapes. Since the 1990s, scintillometry has been recognized as an accurate method to estimate turbulent fluxes at km² scales compatible with a satellite pixel or a hydrological model mesh. If optic scintillometry is today considered to be an accomplished technique to measure spatially integrated sensible heat fluxes and to indirectly derive ET through the energy budget equation, very few results have been published using microwave (MW) scintillometry to derive ET more directly at km² scales for lack of reliable instruments. The recent development of new sensors operating in the microwave (MW) range and the formalization of new algorithms for the treatment of turbulent correlations revive dreams of reliable and continuous measurements of the evapotranspiration at the landscape scale. This study presents a long term evapotranspiration series measured over a crop mosaic with the combination of two scintillometers (Two-wavelength method) operating, one in the near infra-red (BLS2000, Scintec) and the other in radiofrequencies (94GHz) developed in collaboration with the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (UK). These instruments have been installed in the Critical Zone observatory Oracle, located east of Paris in the Seine Catchment, and have run continuously since May 2016. This first ET series shows the robustness of both the MW scintillometer and the two wavelength method in this context. Scintillation ET will be presented and compared with Eddy Covariance measurements carried out on different landcover types within the scintillometer footprint, with regard to the energy balance closure.

  20. Catchments' hedging strategy on evapotranspiration for climatic variability

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ding, W.; Zhang, C.; Li, Y.; Tang, Y.; Wang, D.; Xu, B.

    2017-12-01

    Hydrologic responses to climate variability and change are important for human society. Here we test the hypothesis that natural catchments utilize hedging strategies for evapotranspiration and water storage carryover with uncertain future precipitation. The hedging strategy for evapotranspiration in catchments under different levels of water availability is analytically derived from the economic perspective. It is found that there exists hedging between evapotranspiration for current and future only with a portion of water availability. Observation data sets of 160 catchments in the United States covering the period from 1983 to 2003 demonstrate the existence of hedging in catchment hydrology and validate the proposed hedging strategies. We also find that more water is allocated to carryover storage for hedging against the future evapotranspiration risk in the catchments with larger aridity indexes or with larger uncertainty in future precipitation, i.e., long-term climate and precipitation variability control the degree of hedging.

  1. Driving Factors of Understory Evapotranspiration within a Siberian Larch Forest

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tobio, A.; Loranty, M. M.; Kropp, H.; Pena, H., III; Alexander, H. D.; Natali, S.; Kholodov, A. L.; Spawn, S.; Farmer, S.

    2017-12-01

    Amplified rates of climate change are causing alterations in vegetation productivity, hydrologic cycling, and wildfire severity and intensity in arctic ecosystems. Boreal larch forests in northeastern Siberia are a critical but understudied ecosystem that are affected by these modifications. These forests cover 2.5 million km2 with densities ranging from spare to thick. The current average canopy cover is at around 17% and is expected to increase with the observed increases in vegetation productivity and wildfire. These projected changes in forest density can alter the proportional contributions of over- and understory vegetation to whole ecosystem evapotranspiration. Low density boreal forests have much higher rates of understory evapotranspiration and can contribute as much as 80% to total ecosystem evapotranspiration, while the understory in high density forests is responsible for only around 15% of total ecosystem evapotranspiration. The objective of this research is to understand why there are changes in understory evapotranspiration with varying overstory density by looking at light levels, biomass, vegetation, and air and soil differences. To better learn about these differences in understory evapotranspiration in boreal larch forests the driving factors of evapotranspiration were measured within a burn scar with varying densities of high, medium, and low. Water fluxes were conducted using the static chamber technique under different environmental conditions. Furthermore, controlling factors of evapotranspiration such as photosynethically active radiation, vapor pressure deficit, soil moisture, moss cover, biomass, and leaf area index were measured or derived. In general, we found that low density areas have highest rates of evapotranspiration due to larger amount of biomass, and increased access to light, despite low levels of soil moisture. These results can help us understand how and why total ecosystem water exchange will change in boreal larch forests

  2. Linking precipitation, evapotranspiration and soil moisture content for the improvement of predictability over land

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Catalano, Franco; Alessandri, Andrea; De Felice, Matteo

    2013-04-01

    Climate change scenarios are expected to show an intensification of the hydrological cycle together with modifications of evapotranspiration and soil moisture content. Evapotranspiration changes have been already evidenced for the end of the 20th century. The variance of evapotranspiration has been shown to be strongly related to the variance of precipitation over land. Nevertheless, the feedbacks between evapotranspiration, soil moisture and precipitation have not yet been completely understood at present-day. Furthermore, soil moisture reservoirs are associated to a memory and thus their proper initialization may have a strong influence on predictability. In particular, the linkage between precipitation and soil moisture is modulated by the effects on evapotranspiration. Therefore, the investigation of the coupling between these variables appear to be of primary importance for the improvement of predictability over the continents. The coupled manifold (CM) technique (Navarra and Tribbia 2005) is a method designed to separate the effects of the variability of two variables which are connected. This method has proved to be successful for the analysis of different climate fields, like precipitation, vegetation and sea surface temperature. In particular, the coupled variables reveal patterns that may be connected with specific phenomena, thus providing hints regarding potential predictability. In this study we applied the CM to recent observational datasets of precipitation (from CRU), evapotranspiration (from GIMMS and MODIS satellite-based estimates) and soil moisture content (from ESA) spanning a time period of 23 years (1984-2006) with a monthly frequency. Different data stratification (monthly, seasonal, summer JJA) have been employed to analyze the persistence of the patterns and their characteristical time scales and seasonality. The three variables considered show a significant coupling among each other. Interestingly, most of the signal of the

  3. Evapotranspiration of rubber ( Hevea brasiliensis ) cultivated at two plantation sites in Southeast Asia: RUBBER EVAPOTRANSPIRATION IN SE ASIA

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Giambelluca, Thomas W.; Mudd, Ryan G.; Liu, Wen

    The expansion of rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) cultivation to higher latitudes and higher elevations in southeast Asia is part of a dramatic shift in the direction of rural land cover change in the region toward more tree covered landscapes. To investigate the possible effects of increasing rubber cultivation in the region on ecosystem services including water cycling, eddy covariance towers were established to measure ecosystem fluxes within two rubber plantations, one each in Bueng Kan, northeastern Thailand, and Kampong Cham, central Cambodia. The results show that evapotranspiration (ET) at both sites is strongly related to variations in available energy and leafmore » area, and moderately controlled by soil moisture. Measured mean annual ET was 1128 and 1272 mm for the Thailand and Cambodia sites, respectively. After adjustment for energy closure, mean annual was estimated to be 1211 and 1459 mm yr at the Thailand and Cambodia sites, respectively. Based on these estimates and that of another site in Xishuangbanna, southwestern China, it appears that of rubber is higher than that of other tree dominated land covers in the region, including forest. While measurements by others in non rubber tropical ecosystems indicate that at high net radiation sites is at most only slightly higher than for sites with lower net radiation, mean annual rubber increases strongl with increasing net radiation across the three available rubber plantation observation sites. With the continued expansion of tree dominated land covers, including rubber cultivation, in southeast Asia, the possible association between commercially viable, fast growing tree crop species Giambelluca et al. Evapotranspiration of rubber (Havea brasiliensis) cultivated at two sites in southeast Asia and their relatively high water use raises concerns about potential effects on water and food security.« less

  4. High spatial resolution WorldView-2 imagery for mapping NDVI and its relationship to temporal urban landscape evapotranspiration factors

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Nouri, Hamideh; Beecham, Simon; Anderson, Sharolyn; Nagler, Pamela

    2014-01-01

    Evapotranspiration estimation has benefitted from recent advances in remote sensing and GIS techniques particularly in agricultural applications rather than urban environments. This paper explores the relationship between urban vegetation evapotranspiration (ET) and vegetation indices derived from newly-developed high spatial resolution WorldView-2 imagery. The study site was Veale Gardens in Adelaide, Australia. Image processing was applied on five images captured from February 2012 to February 2013 using ERDAS Imagine. From 64 possible two band combinations of WorldView-2, the most reliable one (with the maximum median differences) was selected. Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) values were derived for each category of landscape cover, namely trees, shrubs, turf grasses, impervious pavements, and water bodies. Urban landscape evapotranspiration rates for Veale Gardens were estimated through field monitoring using observational-based landscape coefficients. The relationships between remotely sensed NDVIs for the entire Veale Gardens and for individual NDVIs of different vegetation covers were compared with field measured urban landscape evapotranspiration rates. The water stress conditions experienced in January 2013 decreased the correlation between ET and NDVI with the highest relationship of ET-Landscape NDVI (Landscape Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) for shrubs (r2 = 0.66) and trees (r2 = 0.63). However, when the January data was excluded, there was a significant correlation between ET and NDVI. The highest correlation for ET-Landscape NDVI was found for the entire Veale Gardens regardless of vegetation type (r2 = 0.95, p > 0.05) and the lowest one was for turf (r2 = 0.88, p > 0.05). In support of the feasibility of ET estimation by WV2 over a longer period, an algorithm recently developed that estimates evapotranspiration rates based on the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) from MODIS was employed. The results revealed a significant positive

  5. Comprehensive Evaluation of Attitude and Orbit Estimation Using Actual Earth Magnetic Field Data

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Deutschmann, Julie K.; Bar-Itzhack, Itzhack Y.

    2000-01-01

    A single, augmented Extended Kalman Filter (EKF), which simultaneously and autonomously estimates spacecraft attitude and orbit has been developed and successfully tested with real magnetometer and gyro data only. Because the earth magnetic field is a function of time and position, and because time is known quite precisely, the differences between the computed and measured magnetic field components, as measured by the magnetometers throughout the entire spacecraft orbit, are a function of both orbit and attitude errors. Thus, conceivably these differences could be used to estimate both orbit and attitude; an observability study validated this assumption. The results of testing the EKF with actual magnetometer and gyro data, from four satellites supported by the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) Guidance, Navigation, and Control Center, are presented and evaluated. They confirm the assumption that a single EKF can estimate both attitude and orbit when using gyros and magnetometers only.

  6. Evaluation of the relation between evapotranspiration and normalized difference vegetation index for downscaling the simplified surface energy balance model

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Haynes, Jonathan V.; Senay, Gabriel B.

    2012-01-01

    The Simplified Surface Energy Balance (SSEB) model uses satellite imagery to estimate actual evapotranspiration (ETa) at 1-kilometer resolution. SSEB ETa is useful for estimating irrigation water use; however, resolution limitations restrict its use to regional scale applications. The U.S. Geological Survey investigated the downscaling potential of SSEB ETa from 1 kilometer to 250 meters by correlating ETa with the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer instrument (MODIS). Correlations were studied in three arid to semiarid irrigated landscapes of the Western United States (Escalante Valley near Enterprise, Utah; Palo Verde Valley near Blythe, California; and part of the Columbia Plateau near Quincy, Washington) during several periods from 2002 to 2008. Irrigation season ETa-NDVI correlations were lower than expected, ranging from R2 of 0.20 to 0.61 because of an eastward 2–3 kilometer shift in ETadata. The shift is due to a similar shift identified in the land-surface temperature (LST) data from the MODIS Terra satellite, which is used in the SSEB model. Further study is needed to delineate the Terra LST shift, its effect on SSEB ETa, and the relation between ETa and NDVI.

  7. Effects of spatial variability and scale on areal -average evapotranspiration

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Famiglietti, J. S.; Wood, Eric F.

    1993-01-01

    This paper explores the effect of spatial variability and scale on areally-averaged evapotranspiration. A spatially-distributed water and energy balance model is employed to determine the effect of explicit patterns of model parameters and atmospheric forcing on modeled areally-averaged evapotranspiration over a range of increasing spatial scales. The analysis is performed from the local scale to the catchment scale. The study area is King's Creek catchment, an 11.7 sq km watershed located on the native tallgrass prairie of Kansas. The dominant controls on the scaling behavior of catchment-average evapotranspiration are investigated by simulation, as is the existence of a threshold scale for evapotranspiration modeling, with implications for explicit versus statistical representation of important process controls. It appears that some of our findings are fairly general, and will therefore provide a framework for understanding the scaling behavior of areally-averaged evapotranspiration at the catchment and larger scales.

  8. Time Series Analysis of Remote Sensing Observations for Citrus Crop Growth Stage and Evapotranspiration Estimation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sawant, S. A.; Chakraborty, M.; Suradhaniwar, S.; Adinarayana, J.; Durbha, S. S.

    2016-06-01

    Satellite based earth observation (EO) platforms have proved capability to spatio-temporally monitor changes on the earth's surface. Long term satellite missions have provided huge repository of optical remote sensing datasets, and United States Geological Survey (USGS) Landsat program is one of the oldest sources of optical EO datasets. This historical and near real time EO archive is a rich source of information to understand the seasonal changes in the horticultural crops. Citrus (Mandarin / Nagpur Orange) is one of the major horticultural crops cultivated in central India. Erratic behaviour of rainfall and dependency on groundwater for irrigation has wide impact on the citrus crop yield. Also, wide variations are reported in temperature and relative humidity causing early fruit onset and increase in crop water requirement. Therefore, there is need to study the crop growth stages and crop evapotranspiration at spatio-temporal scale for managing the scarce resources. In this study, an attempt has been made to understand the citrus crop growth stages using Normalized Difference Time Series (NDVI) time series data obtained from Landsat archives (http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/). Total 388 Landsat 4, 5, 7 and 8 scenes (from year 1990 to Aug. 2015) for Worldwide Reference System (WRS) 2, path 145 and row 45 were selected to understand seasonal variations in citrus crop growth. Considering Landsat 30 meter spatial resolution to obtain homogeneous pixels with crop cover orchards larger than 2 hectare area was selected. To consider change in wavelength bandwidth (radiometric resolution) with Landsat sensors (i.e. 4, 5, 7 and 8) NDVI has been selected to obtain continuous sensor independent time series. The obtained crop growth stage information has been used to estimate citrus basal crop coefficient information (Kcb). Satellite based Kcb estimates were used with proximal agrometeorological sensing system

  9. Large Scale Evapotranspiration Estimates: An Important Component in Regional Water Balances to Assess Water Availability

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Garatuza-Payan, J.; Yepez, E. A.; Watts, C.; Rodriguez, J. C.; Valdez-Torres, L. C.; Robles-Morua, A.

    2013-05-01

    Water security, can be defined as the reliable supply in quantity and quality of water to help sustain future populations and maintaining ecosystem health and productivity. Water security is rapidly declining in many parts of the world due to population growth, drought, climate change, salinity, pollution, land use change, over-allocation and over-utilization, among other issues. Governmental offices (such as the Comision Nacional del Agua in Mexico, CONAGUA) require and conduct studies to estimate reliable water balances at regional or continental scales in order to provide reasonable assessments of the amount of water that can be provided (from surface or ground water sources) to supply all the human needs while maintaining natural vegetation, on an operational basis and, more important, under disturbances, such as droughts. Large scale estimates of evapotranspiration (ET), a critical component of the water cycle, are needed for a better comprehension of the hydrological cycle at large scales, which, in most water balances is left as the residual. For operational purposes, such water balance estimates can not rely on ET measurements since they do not exist, should be simple and require the least ground information possible, information that is often scarce or does not exist at all. Given this limitation, the use of remotely sensed data to estimate ET could supplement the lack of ground information, particularly in remote regions In this study, a simple method, based on the Makkink equation is used to estimate ET for large areas at high spatial resolutions (1 km). The Makkink model used here is forced using three remotely sensed datasets. First, the model uses solar radiation estimates obtained from the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES); Second, the model uses an Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) obtained from the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) normalized to get an estimate for vegetation amount and land use which was

  10. Investigation of Climate Change Impact on Water Resources for an Alpine Basin in Northern Italy: Implications for Evapotranspiration Modeling Complexity

    PubMed Central

    Ravazzani, Giovanni; Ghilardi, Matteo; Mendlik, Thomas; Gobiet, Andreas; Corbari, Chiara; Mancini, Marco

    2014-01-01

    Assessing the future effects of climate change on water availability requires an understanding of how precipitation and evapotranspiration rates will respond to changes in atmospheric forcing. Use of simplified hydrological models is required beacause of lack of meteorological forcings with the high space and time resolutions required to model hydrological processes in mountains river basins, and the necessity of reducing the computational costs. The main objective of this study was to quantify the differences between a simplified hydrological model, which uses only precipitation and temperature to compute the hydrological balance when simulating the impact of climate change, and an enhanced version of the model, which solves the energy balance to compute the actual evapotranspiration. For the meteorological forcing of future scenario, at-site bias-corrected time series based on two regional climate models were used. A quantile-based error-correction approach was used to downscale the regional climate model simulations to a point scale and to reduce its error characteristics. The study shows that a simple temperature-based approach for computing the evapotranspiration is sufficiently accurate for performing hydrological impact investigations of climate change for the Alpine river basin which was studied. PMID:25285917

  11. Investigation of climate change impact on water resources for an Alpine basin in northern Italy: implications for evapotranspiration modeling complexity.

    PubMed

    Ravazzani, Giovanni; Ghilardi, Matteo; Mendlik, Thomas; Gobiet, Andreas; Corbari, Chiara; Mancini, Marco

    2014-01-01

    Assessing the future effects of climate change on water availability requires an understanding of how precipitation and evapotranspiration rates will respond to changes in atmospheric forcing. Use of simplified hydrological models is required because of lack of meteorological forcings with the high space and time resolutions required to model hydrological processes in mountains river basins, and the necessity of reducing the computational costs. The main objective of this study was to quantify the differences between a simplified hydrological model, which uses only precipitation and temperature to compute the hydrological balance when simulating the impact of climate change, and an enhanced version of the model, which solves the energy balance to compute the actual evapotranspiration. For the meteorological forcing of future scenario, at-site bias-corrected time series based on two regional climate models were used. A quantile-based error-correction approach was used to downscale the regional climate model simulations to a point scale and to reduce its error characteristics. The study shows that a simple temperature-based approach for computing the evapotranspiration is sufficiently accurate for performing hydrological impact investigations of climate change for the Alpine river basin which was studied.

  12. Development OF A Multi-Scale Framework for Mapping Global Evapotranspiration

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hain, Christopher R.; Anderson, Martha C.; Schull, Mitchell; Neale, Christopher; Zhan, Xiwu

    2017-01-01

    As the worlds water resources come under increasing tension due to dual stressors of climate change and population growth, accurate knowledge of water consumption through evapotranspiration (ET) over a range in spatial scales will be critical in developing adaptation strategies. Remote sensing methods for monitoring consumptive water use (e.g, ET) are becoming increasingly important, especially in areas of significant water and food insecurity. One method to estimate ET from satellite-based methods, the Atmosphere Land Exchange Inverse (ALEXI) model uses the change in mid-morning land surface temperature to estimate the partitioning of sensible and latent heat fluxes which are then used to estimate daily ET. This presentation will outline several recent enhancements to the ALEXI modeling system, with a focus on global ET and drought monitoring.

  13. A New Method to Quantify the Isotopic Signature of Leaf Transpiration: Implications for Landscape-Scale Evapotranspiration Partitioning Studies

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, L.; Good, S. P.; Caylor, K. K.

    2010-12-01

    Characterizing the constituent components of evapotranspiration is crucial to better understand ecosystem-level water budgets and water use dynamics. Isotope based evapotranspiration partitioning methods are promising but their utility lies in the accurate estimation of the isotopic composition of underlying transpiration and evaporation. Here we report a new method to quantify the isotopic signature of leaf transpiration under field conditions. This method utilizes a commercially available laser-based isotope analyzer and a transparent leaf chamber, modified from Licor conifer leaf chamber. The method is based on the water mass balance in ambient air and leaf transpired air. We verified the method using “artificial leaves” and glassline extracted samples. The method provides a new and direct way to estimate leaf transpiration isotopic signatures and it has wide applications in ecology, hydrology and plant physiology.

  14. Evapotranspiration trends over the eastern United States during the 20th century

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Kramer, Ryan J.; Bounoua, Lahouari; Zhang, Ping; Wolfe, Robert E.; Huntington, Thomas G.; Imhoff, Marc L.; Thome, Kurtis; Noyce, Genevieve L.

    2015-01-01

    Most models evaluated by the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate change estimate projected increases in temperature and precipitation with rising atmospheric CO2 levels. Researchers have suggested that increases in CO2 and associated increases in temperature and precipitation may stimulate vegetation growth and increase evapotranspiration (ET), which acts as a cooling mechanism, and on a global scale, may slow the climate-warming trend. This hypothesis has been modeled under increased CO2 conditions with models of different vegetation-climate dynamics. The significance of this vegetation negative feedback, however, has varied between models. Here we conduct a century-scale observational analysis of the Eastern US water balance to determine historical evapotranspiration trends and whether vegetation greening has affected these trends. We show that precipitation has increased significantly over the twentieth century while runoff has not. We also show that ET has increased and vegetation growth is partially responsible.

  15. Adequacy of selected evapotranspiration approximations for hydrologic simulation

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Sumner, D.M.

    2006-01-01

    Evapotranspiration (ET) approximations, usually based on computed potential ET (PET) and diverse PET-to-ET conceptualizations, are routinely used in hydrologic analyses. This study presents an approach to incorporate measured (actual) ET data, increasingly available using micrometeorological methods, to define the adequacy of ET approximations for hydrologic simulation. The approach is demonstrated at a site where eddy correlation-measured ET values were available. A baseline hydrologic model incorporating measured ET values was used to evaluate the sensitivity of simulated water levels, subsurface recharge, and surface runoff to error in four ET approximations. An annually invariant pattern of mean monthly vegetation coefficients was shown to be most effective, despite the substantial year-to-year variation in measured vegetation coefficients. The temporal variability of available water (precipitation minus ET) at the humid, subtropical site was largely controlled by the relatively high temporal variability of precipitation, benefiting the effectiveness of coarse ET approximations, a result that is likely to prevail at other humid sites.

  16. Environmental controls on seasonal ecosystem evapotranspiration/potential evapotranspiration ratio as determined by the global eddy flux measurements

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Liu, Chunwei; Sun, Ge; McNulty, Steven G.

    The evapotranspiration / potential evapotranspiration (AET / PET) ratio is traditionally termed as the crop coefficient ( K c) and has been generally used as ecosystem evaporative stress index. In the current hydrology literature, K c has been widely used as a parameter to estimate crop water demand by water managers but has not been well examined for other types of ecosystems such as forests and other perennial vegetation. Understanding the seasonal dynamics of this variable for all ecosystems is important for projecting the ecohydrological responses to climate change and accurately quantifying water use at watershed to global scales. Thismore » study aimed at deriving monthly K c for multiple vegetation cover types and understanding its environmental controls by analyzing the accumulated global eddy flux (FLUXNET) data. We examined monthly K c data for seven vegetation covers, including open shrubland (OS), cropland (CRO), grassland (GRA), deciduous broad leaf forest (DBF), evergreen needle leaf forest (ENF), evergreen broad leaf forest (EBF), and mixed forest (MF), across 81 sites. We found that, except for evergreen forests (EBF and ENF), K c values had large seasonal variation across all land covers. The spatial variability of K c was well explained by latitude, suggesting site factors are a major control on K c. Seasonally, K c increased significantly with precipitation in the summer months, except in EBF. Moreover, leaf area index (LAI) significantly influenced monthly K c in all land covers, except in EBF. During the peak growing season, forests had the highest K c values, while croplands (CRO) had the lowest. We developed a series of multivariate linear monthly regression models for K c by land cover type and season using LAI, site latitude, and monthly precipitation as independent variables. Here, the K c models are useful for understanding water stress in different ecosystems under climate change and variability as well as for estimating seasonal ET

  17. Environmental controls on seasonal ecosystem evapotranspiration/potential evapotranspiration ratio as determined by the global eddy flux measurements

    DOE PAGES

    Liu, Chunwei; Sun, Ge; McNulty, Steven G.; ...

    2017-01-18

    The evapotranspiration / potential evapotranspiration (AET / PET) ratio is traditionally termed as the crop coefficient ( K c) and has been generally used as ecosystem evaporative stress index. In the current hydrology literature, K c has been widely used as a parameter to estimate crop water demand by water managers but has not been well examined for other types of ecosystems such as forests and other perennial vegetation. Understanding the seasonal dynamics of this variable for all ecosystems is important for projecting the ecohydrological responses to climate change and accurately quantifying water use at watershed to global scales. Thismore » study aimed at deriving monthly K c for multiple vegetation cover types and understanding its environmental controls by analyzing the accumulated global eddy flux (FLUXNET) data. We examined monthly K c data for seven vegetation covers, including open shrubland (OS), cropland (CRO), grassland (GRA), deciduous broad leaf forest (DBF), evergreen needle leaf forest (ENF), evergreen broad leaf forest (EBF), and mixed forest (MF), across 81 sites. We found that, except for evergreen forests (EBF and ENF), K c values had large seasonal variation across all land covers. The spatial variability of K c was well explained by latitude, suggesting site factors are a major control on K c. Seasonally, K c increased significantly with precipitation in the summer months, except in EBF. Moreover, leaf area index (LAI) significantly influenced monthly K c in all land covers, except in EBF. During the peak growing season, forests had the highest K c values, while croplands (CRO) had the lowest. We developed a series of multivariate linear monthly regression models for K c by land cover type and season using LAI, site latitude, and monthly precipitation as independent variables. Here, the K c models are useful for understanding water stress in different ecosystems under climate change and variability as well as for estimating seasonal ET

  18. Estimating evapotranspiration change due to forest treatment and fire at the basin scale in the Sierra Nevada, California

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Roche, J. W.; Goulden, M.; Bales, R. C.

    2017-12-01

    Increased forest evapotranspiration (ET) coupled with snowpack decreases in a warming climate is likely to decrease runoff and increase forest drought stress. Field experiments and modeling suggest that forest thinning can reduce ET and thus increase potential runoff relative to untreated areas. We investigated the potential magnitude and duration of ET decreases resulting from forest-thinning treatments and fire using a robust empirical relation between Landsat-derived mean-annual normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and annual ET measured at flux towers. Among forest treatments, the minimum observed NDVI change required to produce a significant departure from control plots with NDVI of about 0.70 was -0.07 units, corresponding to a basal-area reduction of 3.1 m2 ha-1, and equivalent to an estimated ET reduction of -102 mm yr-1. Intensive thinning in highly productive forests that approached pre-fire-exclusion densities reduced basal area by 40-50%, generating estimated ET reductions of 152-216 mm yr-1 over five years following treatment. Between 1990 and 2008, fires in the American River basin generated more than twice the ET reduction per unit area than those in the Kings River basin, corresponding to greater water and energy limitations in the latter and greater fire severity in the former. A rough extrapolation of these results to the entire American River watershed, much of which would have burned naturally during this 19-year period, could result in ET reductions that approach 10% of full natural flows for drought years and 5% averaged over all years. This work demonstrates the potential utility to estimate forest ET change at the patch scale, which in turn may allow managers to estimate thinning benefits in areas lacking detailed hydrologic measurements.

  19. Encounter risk analysis of rainfall and reference crop evapotranspiration in the irrigation district

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhang, Jinping; Lin, Xiaomin; Zhao, Yong; Hong, Yang

    2017-09-01

    Rainfall and reference crop evapotranspiration are random but mutually affected variables in the irrigation district, and their encounter situation can determine water shortage risks under the contexts of natural water supply and demand. However, in reality, the rainfall and reference crop evapotranspiration may have different marginal distributions and their relations are nonlinear. In this study, based on the annual rainfall and reference crop evapotranspiration data series from 1970 to 2013 in the Luhun irrigation district of China, the joint probability distribution of rainfall and reference crop evapotranspiration are developed with the Frank copula function. Using the joint probability distribution, the synchronous-asynchronous encounter risk, conditional joint probability, and conditional return period of different combinations of rainfall and reference crop evapotranspiration are analyzed. The results show that the copula-based joint probability distributions of rainfall and reference crop evapotranspiration are reasonable. The asynchronous encounter probability of rainfall and reference crop evapotranspiration is greater than their synchronous encounter probability, and the water shortage risk associated with meteorological drought (i.e. rainfall variability) is more prone to appear. Compared with other states, there are higher conditional joint probability and lower conditional return period in either low rainfall or high reference crop evapotranspiration. For a specifically high reference crop evapotranspiration with a certain frequency, the encounter risk of low rainfall and high reference crop evapotranspiration is increased with the decrease in frequency. For a specifically low rainfall with a certain frequency, the encounter risk of low rainfall and high reference crop evapotranspiration is decreased with the decrease in frequency. When either the high reference crop evapotranspiration exceeds a certain frequency or low rainfall does not exceed a

  20. Estimates of evapotranspiration from the Ruby Lake National Wildlife Refuge area, Ruby Valley, northeastern Nevada, May 1999-October 2000

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Berger, David L.; Johnson, Michael J.; Tumbusch, Mary L.; Mackay, Jeffrey

    2001-01-01

    The Ruby Lake National Wildlife Refuge in Ruby Valley, Nevada, contains the largest area of perennial wetlands in northeastern Nevada and provides habitat to a large number of migratory and nesting waterfowl. The long-term preservation of the refuge depends on the availability of sufficient water to maintain optimal habitat conditions. In the Ruby Valley water budget, evapotranspiration (ET) from the refuge is one of the largest components of natural outflow. To help determine the amount of inflow needed to maintain wetland habitat, estimates of ET for May 1999 through October 2000 were made at major habitats throughout the refuge. The Bowen-ratio method was used to estimate daily ET at four sites: over open water, in a moderate-to-dense cover of bulrush marsh, in a moderate cover of mixed phreatophytic shrubs, and in a desert-shrub upland. The eddy-correlation method was used to estimate daily ET for periods of 2 to 12 weeks at a meadow site and at four sites in a sparse-to-moderate cover of phreatophytic shrubs. Daily ET rates ranged from less than 0.010 inch per day at all of the sites to a maximum of 0.464 inch per day at the open-water site. Average daily ET rates estimated for open water and a bulrush marsh were about four to five times greater than in areas of mixed phreatophytic shrubs, where the depth to ground water is less than 5 feet. Based on the seasonal distribution of major habitats in the refuge and on winter and summer ET rates, an estimated total of about 89,000 acre-feet of water was consumed by ET during October 1999-September 2000 (2000 water year). Of this total, about 49,800 acre-feet was consumed by ET in areas of open water and bulrush marsh.

  1. Evapotranspiration Estimation over Yangtze River Basin from GRACE satellite measurement and in situ data

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Li, Qiong; Luo, Zhicai; Zhong, Bo; Wang, Haihong; Zhou, Zebing

    2016-04-01

    As the critical component of hydrologic cycle, evapotranspiration (ET) plays an important role in global water exchanges and energy flow across the hydrosphere, atmosphere and biosphere. Influenced by the Asian monsoon, the Yangtze River Basin (YRB) suffer from the several severe floods and droughts over the last decades due to the significant difference between temporal and spatial distribution terrestrial water storages. As an indispensable part, it is practically important to assessment ET in the YRB accompany with increased population and rapid economic and agriculture development. Average ET over the YRB is computed as the residual of terrestrial water budget using the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite-based measurements and the ground-based observations. The GRACE-based ET were well coincidence with the ET from MODIS, with the correlation coefficient of 0.853, and the correlation coefficient is 0.696 while comparing with the ET ground-based observation. The mean monthly average of ET from these various estimates is 56.9 mm/month over the whole YRB, and peak between June and August. Monthly variations of ET reach a maximum in Wujiang with 69.11 mm/month and a minimum in Jinshajiang with 39.01 mm/month. Based on the correlation between ET and independent estimates of near-surface temperature and soil moisture, it is showed that as the temperature increased, the ET of the seven sub-catchment were rising except for the Poyang Lake and Donting Lake. And we also can infer that the midstream of YRB is significant correlated with ESON especially in the Hanjiang basin. The Surface Humidity Index over the YRB was gradually decreased and its variations in each sub-catchment showed a significant decreasing trend in Jinshajiang and Mingjiang. This research has important potential for use in large-scale water budget assessments and intercomparison studies. Acknowledgements: This research is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of

  2. Using Remote Sensing to Estimate Crop Water Use to Improve Irrigation Water Management

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Reyes-Gonzalez, Arturo

    Irrigation water is scarce. Hence, accurate estimation of crop water use is necessary for proper irrigation managements and water conservation. Satellite-based remote sensing is a tool that can estimate crop water use efficiently. Several models have been developed to estimate crop water requirement or actual evapotranspiration (ETa) using remote sensing. One of them is the Mapping EvapoTranspiration at High Resolution using Internalized Calibration (METRIC) model. This model has been compared with other methods for ET estimations including weighing lysimeters, pan evaporation, Bowen Ratio Energy Balance System (BREBS), Eddy Covariance (EC), and sap flow. However, comparison of METRIC model outputs to an atmometer for ETa estimation has not yet been attempted in eastern South Dakota. The results showed a good relationship between ETa estimated by the METRIC model and estimated with atmometer (r2 = 0.87 and RMSE = 0.65 mm day-1). However, ETa values from atmometer were consistently lower than ET a values from METRIC. The verification of remotely sensed estimates of surface variables is essential for any remote-sensing study. The relationships between LAI, Ts, and ETa estimated using the remote sensing-based METRIC model and in-situ measurements were established. The results showed good agreement between the variables measured in situ and estimated by the METRIC model. LAI showed r2 = 0.76, and RMSE = 0.59 m2 m -2, Ts had r2 = 0.87 and RMSE 1.24 °C and ETa presented r2= 0.89 and RMSE = 0.71 mm day -1. Estimation of ETa using energy balance method can be challenging and time consuming. Thus, there is a need to develop a simple and fast method to estimate ETa using minimum input parameters. Two methods were used, namely 1) an energy balance method (EB method) that used input parameters of the Landsat image, weather data, a digital elevation map, and a land cover map and 2) a Kc-NDVI method that use two input parameters: the Landsat image and weather data. A strong

  3. Hydroclimate of the Spring Mountains and Sheep Range, Clark County, Nevada

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Moreo, Michael T.; Senay, Gabriel B.; Flint, Alan L.; Damar, Nancy A.; Laczniak, Randell J.; Hurja, James

    2014-01-01

    Precipitation, potential evapotranspiration, and actual evapotranspiration often are used to characterize the hydroclimate of a region. Quantification of these parameters in mountainous terrains is difficult because limited access often hampers the collection of representative ground data. To fulfill a need to characterize ecological zones in the Spring Mountains and Sheep Range of southern Nevada, spatially and temporally explicit estimates of these hydroclimatic parameters are determined from remote-sensing and model-based methodologies. Parameter-elevation Regressions on Independent Slopes Model (PRISM) precipitation estimates for this area ranges from about 100 millimeters (mm) in the low elevations of the study area (700 meters [m]) to more than 700 mm in the high elevations of the Spring Mountains (> 2,800 m). The PRISM model underestimates precipitation by 7–15 percent based on a comparison with four high‑elevation precipitation gages having more than 20 years of record. Precipitation at 3,000-m elevation is 50 percent greater in the Spring Mountains than in the Sheep Range. The lesser amount of precipitation in the Sheep Range is attributed to partial moisture depletion by the Spring Mountains of eastward-moving, cool-season (October–April) storms. Cool-season storms account for 66–76 percent of annual precipitation. Potential evapotranspiration estimates by the Basin Characterization Model range from about 700 mm in the high elevations of the Spring Mountains to 1,600 mm in the low elevations of the study area. The model realistically simulates lower potential evapotranspiration on northeast-to-northwest facing slopes compared to adjacent southeast-to-southwest facing slopes. Actual evapotranspiration, estimated using a Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer based water-balance model, ranges from about 100 to 600 mm. The magnitude and spatial variation of simulated, actual evapotranspiration was validated by comparison to PRISM precipitation

  4. Evapotranspiration in a cottonwood (Populus fremontii) restoration plantation estimated by sap flow and remote sensing methods

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Nagler, P.; Jetton, A.; Fleming, J.; Didan, K.; Glenn, E.; Erker, J.; Morino, K.; Milliken, J.; Gloss, S.

    2007-01-01

    Native tree plantations have been proposed for the restoration of wildlife habitat in human-altered riparian corridors of western U.S. rivers. Evapotranspiration (ET) by riparian vegetation is an important, but poorly quantified, term in river water budgets. Native tree restoration plots will potentially increase ET. We used sap flow sensors and satellite imagery to estimate ET in a 8 ha, cottonwood (Populus fremontii) restoration plot on the Lower Colorado River. Biometric methods were used to scale leaf area to whole trees and stands of trees. This technique was used to validate our estimates of ET obtained by scaling from branch level to stand (or plot) level measurements of ET. Cottonwood trees used 6-10 mm day-1 of water during the peak of the growing season as determined by sap flow sensors, and annual rates scaled by time-series MODIS satellite imagery were approximately 1.2 m year-1. Although irrigation was not quantified, the field had been flood irrigated at 2 week intervals during the 3 years prior to the study, receiving approximately 2 m year-1 of water. A frequency-domain electromagnetic induction survey of soil moisture content showed that the field was saturated (26-28% gravimetric water content) at the 90-150 cm soil depth under the field. Trees were apparently rooted into the saturated soil, and considerable saving of water could potentially be achieved by modifying the irrigation regime to take into account that cottonwoods are phreatophytes. The study showed that cottonwood ET can be monitored by remote sensing methods calibrated with ground measurements with an accuracy or uncertainty of 20-30% in western riparian corridors. ?? 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  5. The discrepancy between emotional vs. rational estimates of body size, actual size, and ideal body ratings: theoretical and clinical implications.

    PubMed

    Thompson, J K; Dolce, J J

    1989-05-01

    Thirty-two asymptomatic college females were assessed on multiple aspects of body image. Subjects' estimation of the size of three body sites (waist, hips, thighs) was affected by instructional protocol. Emotional ratings, based on how they "felt" about their body, elicited ratings that were larger than actual and ideal size measures. Size ratings based on rational instructions were no different from actual sizes, but were larger than ideal ratings. There were no differences between actual and ideal sizes. The results are discussed with regard to methodological issues involved in body image research. In addition, a working hypothesis that differentiates affective/emotional from cognitive/rational aspects of body size estimation is offered to complement current theories of body image. Implications of the findings for the understanding of body image and its relationship to eating disorders are discussed.

  6. Simulating Crop Evapotranspiration Response under Different Planting Scenarios by Modified SWAT Model in an Irrigation District, Northwest China.

    PubMed

    Liu, Xin; Wang, Sufen; Xue, Han; Singh, Vijay P

    2015-01-01

    Modelling crop evapotranspiration (ET) response to different planting scenarios in an irrigation district plays a significant role in optimizing crop planting patterns, resolving agricultural water scarcity and facilitating the sustainable use of water resources. In this study, the SWAT model was improved by transforming the evapotranspiration module. Then, the improved model was applied in Qingyuan Irrigation District of northwest China as a case study. Land use, soil, meteorology, irrigation scheduling and crop coefficient were considered as input data, and the irrigation district was divided into subdivisions based on the DEM and local canal systems. On the basis of model calibration and verification, the improved model showed better simulation efficiency than did the original model. Therefore, the improved model was used to simulate the crop evapotranspiration response under different planting scenarios in the irrigation district. Results indicated that crop evapotranspiration decreased by 2.94% and 6.01% under the scenarios of reducing the planting proportion of spring wheat (scenario 1) and summer maize (scenario 2) by keeping the total cultivated area unchanged. However, the total net output values presented an opposite trend under different scenarios. The values decreased by 3.28% under scenario 1, while it increased by 7.79% under scenario 2, compared with the current situation. This study presents a novel method to estimate crop evapotranspiration response under different planting scenarios using the SWAT model, and makes recommendations for strategic agricultural water management planning for the rational utilization of water resources and development of local economy by studying the impact of planting scenario changes on crop evapotranspiration and output values in the irrigation district of northwest China.

  7. Simulating Crop Evapotranspiration Response under Different Planting Scenarios by Modified SWAT Model in an Irrigation District, Northwest China

    PubMed Central

    Liu, Xin; Wang, Sufen; Xue, Han; Singh, Vijay P.

    2015-01-01

    Modelling crop evapotranspiration (ET) response to different planting scenarios in an irrigation district plays a significant role in optimizing crop planting patterns, resolving agricultural water scarcity and facilitating the sustainable use of water resources. In this study, the SWAT model was improved by transforming the evapotranspiration module. Then, the improved model was applied in Qingyuan Irrigation District of northwest China as a case study. Land use, soil, meteorology, irrigation scheduling and crop coefficient were considered as input data, and the irrigation district was divided into subdivisions based on the DEM and local canal systems. On the basis of model calibration and verification, the improved model showed better simulation efficiency than did the original model. Therefore, the improved model was used to simulate the crop evapotranspiration response under different planting scenarios in the irrigation district. Results indicated that crop evapotranspiration decreased by 2.94% and 6.01% under the scenarios of reducing the planting proportion of spring wheat (scenario 1) and summer maize (scenario 2) by keeping the total cultivated area unchanged. However, the total net output values presented an opposite trend under different scenarios. The values decreased by 3.28% under scenario 1, while it increased by 7.79% under scenario 2, compared with the current situation. This study presents a novel method to estimate crop evapotranspiration response under different planting scenarios using the SWAT model, and makes recommendations for strategic agricultural water management planning for the rational utilization of water resources and development of local economy by studying the impact of planting scenario changes on crop evapotranspiration and output values in the irrigation district of northwest China. PMID:26439928

  8. The effects of spatial heterogeneity and subsurface lateral transfer on evapotranspiration estimates in large scale Earth system models

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rouholahnejad, E.; Fan, Y.; Kirchner, J. W.; Miralles, D. G.

    2017-12-01

    Most Earth system models (ESM) average over considerable sub-grid heterogeneity in land surface properties, and overlook subsurface lateral flow. This could potentially bias evapotranspiration (ET) estimates and has implications for future temperature predictions, since overestimations in ET imply greater latent heat fluxes and potential underestimation of dry and warm conditions in the context of climate change. Here we quantify the bias in evaporation estimates that may arise from the fact that ESMs average over considerable heterogeneity in surface properties, and also neglect lateral transfer of water across the heterogeneous landscapes at global scale. We use a Budyko framework to express ET as a function of P and PET to derive simple sub-grid closure relations that quantify how spatial heterogeneity and lateral transfer could affect average ET as seen from the atmosphere. We show that averaging over sub-grid heterogeneity in P and PET, as typical Earth system models do, leads to overestimation of average ET. Our analysis at global scale shows that the effects of sub-grid heterogeneity will be most pronounced in steep mountainous areas where the topographic gradient is high and where P is inversely correlated with PET across the landscape. In addition, we use the Total Water Storage (TWS) anomaly estimates from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) remote sensing product and assimilate it into the Global Land Evaporation Amsterdam Model (GLEAM) to correct for existing free drainage lower boundary condition in GLEAM and quantify whether, and how much, accounting for changes in terrestrial storage can improve the simulation of soil moisture and regional ET fluxes at global scale.

  9. Comparison of evapotranspiration rates for flatwoods and ridge citrus

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Jia, X.; Swancar, A.; Jacobs, J.M.; Dukes, M.D.; Morgan, K.

    2007-01-01

    Florida citrus groves are typically grown in two regions of the state: flatwoods and ridge. The southern flatwoods citrus area has poorly drained fine textured sands with low organic matter in the shallow root zone. Ridge citrus is located in the northern ridge citrus zone and has fine to coarse textured sands with low water-holding capacity. Two commercial citrus groves, selected from each region, were studied from 15 July 2004 to 14 July 2005. The flatwoods citrus (FC) grove had a grass cover and used drainage ditches to remove excess water from the root zone. The ridge citrus (RC) grove had a bare soil surface with weeds periodically eliminated by tillage. Citrus crop evapotranspiration (ETc) rates at the two citrus groves were measured by the eddy correlation method, and components in the energy balance were also examined and compared. The study period had higher than average rainfall, and as a result, the two locations had similar annual ETc rates (1069 and 1044 mm for RC and FC, respectively). The ETc rates were 59% (RC) and 47% (FC) of the rainfall amounts during the study period. The annual reference crop evapotranspiration (ETo) rates were 1180 mm for RC and 1419 mm for FC, estimated using the standardized reference evapotranspiration equation. The citrus crop coefficients (Kc, ratio of ETc to ET o) were different between the two locations because of differences in latitude, ground cover, and rainfall amounts. The Kc values ranged from 0.70 between December and March to 1.05 between July and November for RC, and from 0.65 between November and May to 0.85 between June and October for FC. The results are consistent with other Kc values reported from field studies on citrus in both Florida and elsewhere using these and alternate methods.

  10. Calibration of Valiantzas' reference evapotranspiration equations for the Pilbara region, Western Australia

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ahooghalandari, Matin; Khiadani, Mehdi; Jahromi, Mina Esmi

    2017-05-01

    Reference evapotranspiration (ET0) is a critical component of water resources management and planning. Different methods have been developed to estimate ET0 with various required data. In this study, Hargreaves, Turc, Oudin, Copais, Abtew methods and three forms of Valiantzas' formulas, developed in recent years, were used to estimate ET0 for the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The estimated ET0 values from these methods were compared with those from the FAO-56 Penman-Monteith (PM) method. The results showed that the Copais methods and two of Valiantzas' equations, in their original forms, are suitable for estimating ET0 for the study area. A modification of Honey-Bee Mating Optimization (MHBMO) algorithm was further implemented, and three Valiantzas' equations for a region located in the southern hemisphere were calibrated.

  11. Evaluation of Water Stress Coefficient Methods to Estimate Actual Corn Evapotranspiration in Colorado

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Abstract for Kullberg Hydrology Days: Abstract. Increased competition for water resources is placing pressure on the agricultural sector to remain profitable while reducing water use. Remote sensing techniques have been developed to monitor crop water stress and produce information for evapotranspi...

  12. Daily Landsat-scale evapotranspiration estimation over a forested landscape in North Carolina, USA, using multi-satellite data fusion

    Treesearch

    Yun Yang; Martha C. Anderson; Feng Gao; Christopher R. Hain; Kathryn A. Semmens; William P. Kustas; Asko Noormets; Randolph H. Wynne; Valerie A. Thomas; Ge Sun

    2017-01-01

    As a primary flux in the global water cycle, evapotranspiration (ET) connects hydrologic and biological processes and is directly affected by water and land management, land use change and climate variability. Satellite remote sensing provides an effective means for diagnosing ET patterns over heterogeneous landscapes; however, limitations on the spatial and temporal...

  13. A comparison of methods for determining the cotton field evapotranspiration and its components under mulched drip irrigation conditions: photosynthesis system, sap flow, and eddy covariance

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhang, Z.; Tian, F.; Hu, H.

    2013-12-01

    A multi-scale, multi-technique study was conducted to measure evapotranspiration and its components in a cotton field under mulched drip irrigation conditions in northwestern China. Three measurement techniques at different scales were used: photosynthesis system (leaf scale), sap flow (plant scale), and eddy covariance (field scale). The experiment was conducted from July to September 2012. For upscaling the evapotranspiration from the leaf to the plant scale, an approach that incorporated the canopy structure and the relationships between sunlit and shaded leaves was proposed. For upscaling the evapotranspiration from the plant to the field scale, an approach based on the transpiration per unit leaf area was adopted and modified to incorporate the temporal variability in the relationships between the leaf area and the stem diameter. At the plant scale, the estimate of the transpiration based on the photosynthesis system with upscaling is slightly higher (18%) than that obtained by sap flow. At the field scale, the estimate of the transpiration obtained by upscaling the estimate based on sap flow measurements is also systematically higher (10%) compared to that obtained through eddy covariance during the cotton open boll growth stage when soil evaporation can be neglected. Nevertheless, the results derived from these three distinct methods show reasonable consistency at the field scale, which indicates that the upscaling approaches are reasonable and valid. Based on the measurements and the upscaling approaches, the evapotranspiration components were analyzed under mulched drip irrigation. During the cotton flower and bolling stages in July and August, the evapotranspiration are 3.94 and 4.53 mm day-1, respectively. The proportion of transpiration to evapotranspiration reaches 87.1% before drip irrigation and 82.3% after irrigation. The high water use efficiency is principally due to the mulched film above the drip pipe, the low soil water content in the inter

  14. Simple analytical model of evapotranspiration in the presence of roots.

    PubMed

    Cejas, Cesare M; Hough, L A; Castaing, Jean-Christophe; Frétigny, Christian; Dreyfus, Rémi

    2014-10-01

    Evaporation of water out of a soil involves complicated and well-debated mechanisms. When plant roots are added into the soil, water transfer between the soil and the outside environment is even more complicated. Indeed, plants provide an additional process of water transfer. Water is pumped by the roots, channeled to the leaf surface, and released into the surrounding air by a process called transpiration. Prediction of the evapotranspiration of water over time in the presence of roots helps keep track of the amount of water that remains in the soil. Using a controlled visual setup of a two-dimensional model soil consisting of monodisperse glass beads, we perform experiments on actual roots grown under different relative humidity conditions. We record the total water mass loss in the medium and the position of the evaporating front that forms within the medium. We then develop a simple analytical model that predicts the position of the evaporating front as a function of time as well as the total amount of water that is lost from the medium due to the combined effects of evaporation and transpiration. The model is based on fundamental principles of evaporation fluxes and includes empirical assumptions on the quantity of open stomata in the leaves, where water transpiration occurs. Comparison between the model and experimental results shows excellent prediction of the position of the evaporating front as well as the total mass loss from evapotranspiration in the presence of roots. The model also provides a way to predict the lifetime of a plant.

  15. Comparison of MODIS and SWAT evapotranspiration over a complex terrain at different spatial scales

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Abiodun, Olanrewaju O.; Guan, Huade; Post, Vincent E. A.; Batelaan, Okke

    2018-05-01

    In most hydrological systems, evapotranspiration (ET) and precipitation are the largest components of the water balance, which are difficult to estimate, particularly over complex terrain. In recent decades, the advent of remotely sensed data based ET algorithms and distributed hydrological models has provided improved spatially upscaled ET estimates. However, information on the performance of these methods at various spatial scales is limited. This study compares the ET from the MODIS remotely sensed ET dataset (MOD16) with the ET estimates from a SWAT hydrological model on graduated spatial scales for the complex terrain of the Sixth Creek Catchment of the Western Mount Lofty Ranges, South Australia. ET from both models was further compared with the coarser-resolution AWRA-L model at catchment scale. The SWAT model analyses are performed on daily timescales with a 6-year calibration period (2000-2005) and 7-year validation period (2007-2013). Differences in ET estimation between the SWAT and MOD16 methods of up to 31, 19, 15, 11 and 9 % were observed at respectively 1, 4, 9, 16 and 25 km2 spatial resolutions. Based on the results of the study, a spatial scale of confidence of 4 km2 for catchment-scale evapotranspiration is suggested in complex terrain. Land cover differences, HRU parameterisation in AWRA-L and catchment-scale averaging of input climate data in the SWAT semi-distributed model were identified as the principal sources of weaker correlations at higher spatial resolution.

  16. Trend analysis and forecast of precipitation, reference evapotranspiration and rainfall deficit in the Blackland Prairie of eastern Mississippi

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Trend analysis and estimation of monthly and annual precipitation, reference evapotranspiration (ETo) and rainfall deficit are essential for water resources management and cropping system design. Rainfall, ETo, and water deficit patterns and trends in eastern Mississippi USA for a 120-year period (1...

  17. Observing Seasonal and Diurnal Hydrometeorological Variability Within a Tropical Alpine Valley: Implications for Evapotranspiration

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hellstrom, R. A.; Mark, B. G.

    2007-12-01

    Conditions of glacier recession in the seasonally dry tropical Peruvian Andes motivate research to better constrain the hydrological balance in alpine valleys. There is an outstanding need to better understand the impact of the pronounced tropical hygric seasonality on energy and water budgets within pro-glacial valleys that channel glacier runoff to stream flow. This paper presents a novel embedded network installed in the glacierized Llanganuco valley of the Cordillera Blanca (9°S) comprising eight low-cost, discrete temperature and humidity microloggers ranging from 3470 to 4740 masl and an automatic weather station at 3850 masl. Data are aggregated into distinct dry and wet periods sampled from two full annual cycles (2004-2006) to explore patterns of diurnal and seasonal variability. The magnitude of diurnal solar radiation varies little within the valley between the dry and wet periods, while wet season near-surface air temperatures are cooler. Seasonally characteristic diurnal fluctuations in lapse rate partially regulate convection and humidity. Steep lapse rates during the wet season afternoon promote up-slope convection of warm, moist air and nocturnal rainfall events. Standardized grass reference evapotranspiration (ET0) was estimated using the FAO-56 algorithm of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and compared with estimates of actual ET from the process-based BROOK90 model that incorporates more realistic vegetation parameters. Comparisons of composite diurnal cycles of ET for the wet and dry periods suggest about twice the daily ET0 during the dry period, attributed primarily to the 500% higher vapor pressure deficit and 20% higher daily total solar irradiance. Conversely, the near absence of rainfall during the dry season diminishes actual ET below that of the wet season by two orders of magnitude. Nearly cloud-free daylight conditions are critical for ET during the wet season. We found significant variability of ET with elevation

  18. Effects of changing climate on reference crop evapotranspiration over 1961-2013 in Xinjiang, China

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yao, Ning; Li, Yi; Sun, Changfeng

    2018-01-01

    To know the importance of different climate variables on reference crop evapotranspiration ( ET o), a step-by-step sensitivity analysis of ET o to single, two, and multi-climate variables ( C) was conducted. ET o in north, south, and entire Xinjiang Province, China, over 1961-2013 was estimated using the Penman-Monteith equation. Trends in the involved six Cs (i.e., minimum temperature— T min, average temperature— T ave, maximum temperature— T max, wind speed at 2 m— U 2, sunshine hour— n, and relative humidity— RH) were detected by the modified Mann-Kendall test. Nineteen scenarios of changed Cs were preset to obtain recalculated ET o values considering the actual trend in each C and the Pearson's correlation relationship between ET o and Cs. The results showed that ET o was mostly sensitive to T max, U 2, and n. Sensitivity of ET o to the two overlapped changes of T min and T max caused larger increases in ET o than T max and T ave, T ave and T max, T max and (- n), T max and RH, T max and (- U 2), and T min and T ave, but the overlapped changes (- U 2) and (- n) caused larger decreases in ET o than the other two C scenarios. The simultaneously increased T max, T min, T ave, and RH plus decreased U 2 and n had caused the actual decreases in ET o in Xinjiang. In general, the effects of decreased U 2 and n on decreasing ET o compensated the effects of increased T max on decreasing ET o in Xinjiang.

  19. Estimating daily Landsat-scale evapotranspiration over a managed pine plantation in North Carolina, USA using a data fusion method

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    As a primary flux in the global water cycle, evapotranspiration (ET) connects hydrologic and biological processes and is directly affected by water management, land use change and climate change. The two source energy balance (TSEB) model has been widely applied to quantify field scale ET using sate...

  20. Daily Landsat-scale evapotranspiration estimation over a managed pine plantation in North Carolina, USA using multi-satellite data fusion

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    As a primary flux in the global water cycle, evapotranspiration (ET) connects hydrologic and biological processes and is directly affected by water and land management, land use change and climate variability. The Two Source Energy Balance (TSEB) model has been widely applied to quantify field- to g...

  1. Low Evapotranspiration Enhances the Resilience of Peatland Carbon Stocks to Fire

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kettridge, N.; Lukenbach, M. C.; Hokanson, K. J.; Hopkinson, C.; Devito, K. J.; Petrone, R. M.; Mendoza, C. A.; Waddington, J. M.

    2017-09-01

    Boreal peatlands may be vulnerable to projected changes in the wildfire regime under future climates. Extreme drying during the sensitive postfire period may exceed peatland ecohydrological resilience, triggering long-term degradation of these globally significant carbon stocks. Despite these concerns, we show low peatland evapotranspiration at both the plot- and landscape-scale postfire, in water-limited peatlands dominated by feather moss that are ubiquitous across continental western Canada. Low postfire evapotranspiration enhances the resilience of carbon stocks in such peatlands to wildfire disturbance and reinforces their function as a regional source of water. Near-surface water repellency may provide an important, previously unexplored, regulator of peatland evapotranspiration that can induce low evapotranspiration in the initial postfire years by restricting the supply of water to the peat surface.

  2. Use of finite-difference arrays of observation wells to estimate evapotranspiration from ground water in the Arkansas River Valley, Colorado

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Weeks, Edwin P.; Sorey, M.L.

    1973-01-01

    A method to determine evapotranspiration from ground water was tested at four sites in the flood plain of the Arkansas River in Colorado. Approximate ground-water budgets were obtained by analyzing water-level data from observation wells installed in five-point arrays. The analyses were based on finite difference approximations of the differential equation describing ground-water flow. Data from the sites were divided into two groups by season. It was assumed that water levels during the dormant season were unaffected by evapotranspiration of ground water or by recharge, collectively termed 'accretion.' Regression analyses of these data were made to provide an equation for separating the effects of changes in aquifer storage and of aquifer heterogeneity from those due to accretion during the growing season. The data collected during the growing season were thus analyzed to determine accretion.

  3. Seasonal comparison of two spatially distributed evapotranspiration mapping methods

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kisfaludi, Balázs; Csáki, Péter; Péterfalvi, József; Primusz, Péter

    2017-04-01

    More rainfall is disposed of through evapotranspiration (ET) on a global scale than through runoff and storage combined. In Hungary, about 90% of the precipitation evapotranspirates from the land and only 10% goes to surface runoff and groundwater recharge. Therefore, evapotranspiration is a very important element of the water balance, so it is a suitable parameter for the calibration of hydrological models. Monthly ET values of two MODIS-data based ET products were compared for the area of Hungary and for the vegetation period of the year 2008. The differences were assessed by land cover types and by elevation zones. One ET map was the MOD16, aiming at global coverage and provided by the MODIS Global Evaporation Project. The other method is called CREMAP, it was developed at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics for regional scale ET mapping. CREMAP was validated for the area of Hungary with good results, but ET maps were produced only for the period of 2000-2008. The aim of this research was to evaluate the performance of the MOD16 product compared to the CREMAP method. The average difference between the two products was the highest during summer, CREMAP estimating higher ET values by about 25 mm/month. In the spring and autumn, MOD16 ET values were higher by an average of 6 mm/month. The differences by land cover types showed a similar seasonal pattern to the average differences, and they correlated strongly with each other. Practically the same difference values could be calculated for arable lands and forests that together cover nearly 75% of the area of the country. Therefore, it can be said that the seasonal changes had the same effect on the two method's ET estimations in each land cover type areas. The analysis by elevation zones showed that on elevations lower than 200 m AMSL the trends of the difference values were similar to the average differences. The correlation between the values of these elevation zones was also strong. However weaker

  4. A comparison between evapotranspiration estimates based on remotely sensed surface energy balance and ground-based soil water balance analyses

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Remotely sensed and in-situ data were used to investigate dynamics of root zone soil moisture and evapotranspiration (ET) at four Mesonet stations in north-central Oklahoma over an 11-year period (2000-2010). Two moisture deficit indicators based on soil matric potential had spatial and temporal pat...

  5. Performance of five surface energy balance models for estimating daily evapotranspiration in high biomass sorghum

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wagle, Pradeep; Bhattarai, Nishan; Gowda, Prasanna H.; Kakani, Vijaya G.

    2017-06-01

    Robust evapotranspiration (ET) models are required to predict water usage in a variety of terrestrial ecosystems under different geographical and agrometeorological conditions. As a result, several remote sensing-based surface energy balance (SEB) models have been developed to estimate ET over large regions. However, comparison of the performance of several SEB models at the same site is limited. In addition, none of the SEB models have been evaluated for their ability to predict ET in rain-fed high biomass sorghum grown for biofuel production. In this paper, we evaluated the performance of five widely used single-source SEB models, namely Surface Energy Balance Algorithm for Land (SEBAL), Mapping ET with Internalized Calibration (METRIC), Surface Energy Balance System (SEBS), Simplified Surface Energy Balance Index (S-SEBI), and operational Simplified Surface Energy Balance (SSEBop), for estimating ET over a high biomass sorghum field during the 2012 and 2013 growing seasons. The predicted ET values were compared against eddy covariance (EC) measured ET (ETEC) for 19 cloud-free Landsat image. In general, S-SEBI, SEBAL, and SEBS performed reasonably well for the study period, while METRIC and SSEBop performed poorly. All SEB models substantially overestimated ET under extremely dry conditions as they underestimated sensible heat (H) and overestimated latent heat (LE) fluxes under dry conditions during the partitioning of available energy. METRIC, SEBAL, and SEBS overestimated LE regardless of wet or dry periods. Consequently, predicted seasonal cumulative ET by METRIC, SEBAL, and SEBS were higher than seasonal cumulative ETEC in both seasons. In contrast, S-SEBI and SSEBop substantially underestimated ET under too wet conditions, and predicted seasonal cumulative ET by S-SEBI and SSEBop were lower than seasonal cumulative ETEC in the relatively wetter 2013 growing season. Our results indicate the necessity of inclusion of soil moisture or plant water stress

  6. A scaling approach to Budyko's framework and the complementary relationship of evapotranspiration in humid environments: case study of the Amazon River basin.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Carmona, A.; Poveda, G.; Sivapalan, M.; Vallejo-Bernal, S. M.; Bustamante, E.

    2015-12-01

    We study a 3-D generalization of Budyko's framework that involves the complementary relationship between long-term mean actual evapotranspiration (E) and potential evapotranspiration (Ep), and that captures the mutual interdependence among E, Ep, and mean annual precipitation (P). For this purpose we use three dimensionless and dependent quantities: Ψ=E/P, Φ=Ep/P and Ω=E/Ep. We demonstrate analytically that Budyko-type equations are unable to capture the physical limit of the relation between Ω and Φ in humid environments, owing to the unfeasibility of Ep/P→0 at E/Ep=1. Using independent datasets from 146 sub-catchments in the Amazon River basin we overcome this physical inconsistency by proposing a physically consistent power law Ψ=kΦ e with pre-factor k=0.66 and scaling exponent e=0.83 (R2=0.93). The proposed power law is compared with other Budyko-type equations, namely those by Yang et al (2008) and Cheng et al (2011). Taking into account the goodness of fits with confidence bounds set at 95% level and the ability to comply with the physical limits of the 3-D space, our results show that the power law works better to model the long-term water and energy balances within the Amazon River basin. At the interannual time scale, parameters from the three studied equations are estimated for each catchment using 27 years of information and interesting regional patterns emerge, as well as evidence of space-time symmetry. In addition, results show that within individual catchments the parameters from the linear relationship by Cheng et al (2011) and from the power law resemble and are related to the partitioning of energy via evapotranspiration in terms of Ω. Finally, signs of co-evolution of catchments are explored by linking the emerging spatial patterns of the parameters with landscape properties that represent some of the main features of the Amazon River basin, including topography, water in soils and vegetation.

  7. Accuracy assessment of NOAA gridded daily reference evapotranspiration for the Texas High Plains

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Moorhead, Jerry; Gowda, Prasanna H.; Hobbins, Michael; Senay, Gabriel; Paul, George; Marek, Thomas; Porter, Dana

    2015-01-01

    The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) provides daily reference evapotranspiration (ETref) maps for the contiguous United States using climatic data from North American Land Data Assimilation System (NLDAS). This data provides large-scale spatial representation of ETref, which is essential for regional scale water resources management. Data used in the development of NOAA daily ETref maps are derived from observations over surfaces that are different from short (grass — ETos) or tall (alfalfa — ETrs) reference crops, often in nonagricultural settings, which carries an unknown discrepancy between assumed and actual conditions. In this study, NOAA daily ETos and ETrs maps were evaluated for accuracy, using observed data from the Texas High Plains Evapotranspiration (TXHPET) network. Daily ETos, ETrs and the climatic data (air temperature, wind speed, and solar radiation) used for calculating ETref were extracted from the NOAA maps for TXHPET locations and compared against ground measurements on reference grass surfaces. NOAA ETrefmaps generally overestimated the TXHPET observations (1.4 and 2.2 mm/day ETos and ETrs, respectively), which may be attributed to errors in the NLDAS modeled air temperature and wind speed, to which reference ETref is most sensitive. Therefore, a bias correction to NLDAS modeled air temperature and wind speed data, or adjustment to the resulting NOAA ETref, may be needed to improve the accuracy of NOAA ETref maps.

  8. Ground-water discharge determined from estimates of evapotranspiration, Death Valley regional flow system, Nevada and California

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Laczniak, Randell J.; Smith, J. LaRue; Elliott, Peggy E.; DeMeo, Guy A.; Chatigny, Melissa A.; Roemer, Gaius J.

    2001-01-01

    The Death Valley regional flow system (DVRFS) is one of the larger ground-water flow systems in the southwestern United States and includes much of southern Nevada and the Death Valley region of eastern California. Centrally located within the ground-water flow system is the Nevada Test Site (NTS). The NTS, a large tract covering about 1,375 square miles, historically has been used for testing nuclear devices and currently is being studied as a potential repository for the long-term storage of high-level nuclear waste generated in the United States. The U.S. Department of Energy, as mandated by Federal and State regulators, is evaluating the risk associated with contaminants that have been or may be introduced into the subsurface as a consequence of any past or future activities at the NTS. Because subsurface contaminants can be transported away from the NTS by ground water, components of the ground-water budget are of great interest. One such component is regional ground-water discharge. Most of the ground water leaving the DVRFS is limited to local areas where geologic and hydrologic conditions force ground water upward toward the surface to discharge at springs and seeps. Available estimates of ground-water discharge are based primarily on early work done as part of regional reconnaissance studies. These early efforts covered large, geologically complex areas and often applied substantially different techniques to estimate ground-water discharge. This report describes the results of a study that provides more consistent, accurate, and scientifically defensible measures of regional ground-water losses from each of the major discharge areas of the DVRFS. Estimates of ground-water discharge presented in this report are based on a rigorous quantification of local evapotranspiration (ET). The study identifies areas of ongoing ground-water ET, delineates different ET areas based on similarities in vegetation and soil-moisture conditions, and determines an ET rate for

  9. Tower-scale performance of four observation-based evapotranspiration algorithms within the WACMOS-ET project

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Michel, Dominik; Miralles, Diego; Jimenez, Carlos; Ershadi, Ali; McCabe, Matthew F.; Hirschi, Martin; Seneviratne, Sonia I.; Jung, Martin; Wood, Eric F.; (Bob) Su, Z.; Timmermans, Joris; Chen, Xuelong; Fisher, Joshua B.; Mu, Quiaozen; Fernandez, Diego

    2015-04-01

    Research on climate variations and the development of predictive capabilities largely rely on globally available reference data series of the different components of the energy and water cycles. Several efforts have recently aimed at producing large-scale and long-term reference data sets of these components, e.g. based on in situ observations and remote sensing, in order to allow for diagnostic analyses of the drivers of temporal variations in the climate system. Evapotranspiration (ET) is an essential component of the energy and water cycle, which cannot be monitored directly on a global scale by remote sensing techniques. In recent years, several global multi-year ET data sets have been derived from remote sensing-based estimates, observation-driven land surface model simulations or atmospheric reanalyses. The LandFlux-EVAL initiative presented an ensemble-evaluation of these data sets over the time periods 1989-1995 and 1989-2005 (Mueller et al. 2013). The WACMOS-ET project (http://wacmoset.estellus.eu) started in the year 2012 and constitutes an ESA contribution to the GEWEX initiative LandFlux. It focuses on advancing the development of ET estimates at global, regional and tower scales. WACMOS-ET aims at developing a Reference Input Data Set exploiting European Earth Observations assets and deriving ET estimates produced by a set of four ET algorithms covering the period 2005-2007. The algorithms used are the SEBS (Su et al., 2002), Penman-Monteith from MODIS (Mu et al., 2011), the Priestley and Taylor JPL model (Fisher et al., 2008) and GLEAM (Miralles et al., 2011). The algorithms are run with Fluxnet tower observations, reanalysis data (ERA-Interim), and satellite forcings. They are cross-compared and validated against in-situ data. In this presentation the performance of the different ET algorithms with respect to different temporal resolutions, hydrological regimes, land cover types (including grassland, cropland, shrubland, vegetation mosaic, savanna

  10. Urban heat island-induced increases in evapotranspirative demand

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zipper, Samuel C.; Schatz, Jason; Kucharik, Christopher J.; Loheide, Steven P.

    2017-01-01

    Although the importance of vegetation in mitigating the urban heat island (UHI) is known, the impacts of UHI-induced changes in micrometeorological conditions on vegetation are not well understood. Here we show that plant water requirements are significantly higher in urban areas compared to rural areas surrounding Madison, WI, driven by increased air temperature with minimal effects of decreased air moisture content. Local increases in impervious cover are strongly associated with increased evapotranspirative demand in a consistent manner across years, with most increases caused by elevated temperatures during the growing season rather than changes in changes in growing season length. Potential evapotranspiration is up to 10% higher due to the UHI, potentially mitigating changes to the water and energy balances caused by urbanization. Our results indicate that local-scale land cover decisions (increases in impervious cover) can significantly impact evapotranspirative demand, with likely implications for water and carbon cycling in urban ecosystems.

  11. Effects of climate change on evapotranspiration over the Okavango Delta water resources

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Moses, Oliver; Hambira, Wame L.

    2018-06-01

    In semi-arid developing countries, most poor people depend on contaminated surface or groundwater resources since they do not have access to safe and centrally supplied water. These water resources are threatened by several factors that include high evapotranspiration rates. In the Okavango Delta region in the north-western Botswana, communities facing insufficient centrally supplied water rely mainly on the surface water resources of the Delta. The Delta loses about 98% of its water through evapotranspiration. However, the 2% remaining water rescues the communities facing insufficient water from the main stream water supply. To understand the effects of climate change on evapotranspiration over the Okavango Delta water resources, this study analysed trends in the main climatic parameters needed as input variables in evapotranspiration models. The Mann Kendall test was used in the analysis. Trend analysis is crucial since it reveals the direction of trends in the climatic parameters, which is helpful in determining the effects of climate change on evapotranspiration. The main climatic parameters required as input variables in evapotranspiration models that were of interest in this study were wind speeds, solar radiation and relative humidity. Very little research has been conducted on these climatic parameters in the Okavango Delta region. The conducted trend analysis was more on wind speeds, which had relatively longer data records than the other two climatic parameters of interest. Generally, statistically significant increasing trends have been found, which suggests that climate change is likely to further increase evapotranspiration over the Okavango Delta water resources.

  12. Stable isotope measurements of evapotranspiration partitioning in a maize field

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hogan, Patrick; Parajka, Juraj; Oismüller, Markus; Strauss, Peter; Heng, Lee; Blöschl, Günter

    2017-04-01

    Evapotranspiration (ET) is one of the most important processes in describing land surface - atmosphere interactions as it connects the energy and water balances. Furthermore knowledge of the individual components of evapotranspiration is important for ecohydrological modelling and agriculture, particularly for irrigation efficiency and crop productivity. In this study, we tested the application of the stable isotope method for evapotranspiration partitioning to a maize crop during the vegetative stage, using sap flow sensors as a comparison technique. Field scale ET was measured using an eddy covariance device and then partitioned using high frequency in-situ measurements of the isotopic signal of the canopy water vapor. The fraction of transpiration (Ft) calculated with the stable isotope method showed good agreement with the sap flow method. High correlation coefficient values were found between the two techniques, indicating the stable isotope method can successfully be applied in maize. The results show the changes in transpiration as a fraction of evapotranspiration after rain events and during the subsequent drying conditions as well as the relationship between transpiration and solar radiation and vapor pressure deficit.

  13. Calibration between the Estimated Probability of the Risk Assessment Chart of Japan Atherosclerosis Society and Actual Mortality Using External Population: Evidence for Cardiovascular Prevention from Observational Cohorts in Japan (EPOCH-JAPAN).

    PubMed

    Nakai, Michikazu; Miyamoto, Yoshihiro; Higashiyama, Aya; Murakami, Yoshitaka; Nishimura, Kunihiro; Yatsuya, Hiroshi; Saitoh, Shigeyuki; Sakata, Kiyomi; Iso, Hiroyasu; Miura, Katsuyuki; Ueshima, Hirotsugu; Okamura, Tomonori

    2016-01-01

    In Japan Atherosclerosis Society guidelines for the prevention of atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases 2012 (JAS2012), NIPPON DATA80 risk assessment chart (ND80RAC) was adopted to estimate the 10-year probability of coronary artery disease (CAD) mortality. However, there was no comparison between the estimated mortality calculated by ND80RAC and actual mortality in external populations. Accordingly, we used the large pooled database of cohorts in Japan, EPOCH-JAPAN, as an external population. The participants of EPOCH-JAPAN without a history of cardiovascular disease (15,091 men and 18,589 women aged 40-74 years) were analyzed based on sex. The probability of a 10-year risk of CAD/stroke mortality was estimated by ND80RAC. The participants were divided into both decile of their estimated mortality and three categories according to JAS2012. The calibration between the mean estimated mortality and the actual mortality was performed by the Hosmer and Lemeshow (H-L) test. In both sexes, the estimated CAD mortality was higher than the actual mortality, particularly in higher deciles of estimated mortality, and the estimated stroke mortality was almost concordant with the actual mortality in low/moderate deciles of estimated mortality. As for the categories according to JAS2012, the estimated CAD mortality was higher than the actual mortality in both sexes; actual mortality in Category III was lower than that in Category II in women. However, it increased in the ascending order of category when we excluded the presence of diabetes from Category III. The estimated CAD mortality by ND80RAC tended to be higher than the actual mortality in the population in which the baseline survey was more recently performed.

  14. Spatial Estimation of Evapotranspiration in an Irrigated Semi-arid Region Using LSMs Driven by Remote Sensing Data.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Etchanchu, J.; Delogu, E.; Saadi, S.; Chebbi, W.; Trapon, D.; Rivalland, V.; Boulet, G.; Boone, A. A.; Fanise, P.; Mougenot, B.; LE Dantec, V.

    2017-12-01

    Evapotranspiration and sensible-latent heat flux partition are important decision critera to manage crops, detect water stress and plan irrigation, particularly in a semi-arid context. Nowadays, remote sensing information (at medium -MODIS- and high resolution -LANDSAT, SPOT-) allows us to spatially estimate the different terms of the energy balance at daily and infra-daily time step through various approaches, either by forcing data in an energy balance model (EVASPA, Gallego-Elvira et al., 2013, and SPARSE, Boulet et al., 2015) or data assimilation in coupled water/energy balance models (SURFEX-ISBA, Noilhan et Planton, 1989). However, these different methods of flux estimations still require an evaluation through comparison to in-situ measurements and inter-comparison.The area selected for this study is the Kairouan agricultural plain, a semi-arid region in central Tunisia. Different flux datasets were acquired over two years, on an extensive rainfed oliveyard with very low vegetation cover, and on irrigated and rainfed wheat plots. In the same time, a third dataset has been acquired over a complex agricultural landscape with an eXtra-Large Aperture Scintillometer (XLAS) set-up on a 4 km transect.First, EC fluxes from towers are compared to the different model simulations at plot scale. Then a spatial comparison with retrievals of sensible and latent heat fluxes from XLAS is performed which allows to take into account the heterogeneity of the landscape (mix of wheat, irrigated oliveyards and bare soil). Effects on irrigation scenarios, through an automatic irrigation triggering method are tested and discussed. Finally, we cross-compare the different modeling approaches.We tackle the various issues: the accuracy of the measurements, the temporal frequency of remote sensing data, and the difficulty to calibrate the models.

  15. Evapotranspiration partitioning, stomatal conductance, and components of the water balance: A special case of a desert ecosystem in China

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhao, Wenzhi; Liu, Bing; Chang, Xuexiang; Yang, Qiyue; Yang, Yuting; Liu, Zhiling; Cleverly, James; Eamus, Derek

    2016-07-01

    Partitioning evapotranspiration (ET) into its components reveals details of the processes that underlie ecosystem hydrologic budgets and their feedback to the water cycle. We measured rates of actual evapotranspiration (ETa), canopy transpiration (Tc), soil evaporation (Eg), canopy-intercepted precipitation (EI), and patterns of stomatal conductance of the desert shrub Calligonum mongolicum in northern China to determine the water balance of this ecosystem. The ETa was 251 ± 8 mm during the growing period, while EI, Tc, and Eg accounted for 3.2%, 63.9%, and 31.3%, respectively, of total water use (256 ± 4 mm) during the growing period. In this unique ecosystem, groundwater was the main water source for plant transpiration and soil evaporation, Tc and exceeded 60% of the total annual water used by desert plants. ET was not sensitive to air temperature in this unique desert ecosystem. Partitioning ET into its components improves our understanding of the mechanisms that underlie adaptation of desert shrubs, especially the role of stomatal regulation of Tc as a determinant of ecosystem water balance.

  16. Selected micrometeorological, soil-moisture, and evapotranspiration data at Amargosa Desert Research Site in Nye County near Beatty, Nevada, 2001-05

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Johnson, Michael J.; Mayers, C. Justin; Garcia, C. Amanda; Andraski, Brian J.

    2007-01-01

    Selected micrometeorological and soil-moisture data were collected at the Amargosa Desert Research Site adjacent to a low-level radio-active waste and hazardous chemical waste facility near Beatty, Nevada, 2001-05. Evapotranspiration data were collected from February 2002 through the end of December 2005. Data were col-lected in support of ongoing research to improve the understanding of hydrologic and contaminant-transport processes in arid environments. Micrometeorological data include solar radiation, net radiation, air temperature, relative humidity, saturated and ambient vapor pressure, wind speed and direction, barometric pressure, precipitation, near-surface soil temperature, soil-heat flux and soil-water content. All micrometeorological data were collected using a 10-second sampling interval by data loggers that output daily and hourly mean values. Daily maximum and minimum values are based on hourly mean values. Precipitation data output includes daily and hourly totals. Selected soil-moisture profiles at depth include periodic measurements of soil volumetric water-content measurements at nine neutron-probe access tubes to depths ranging from 5.25 to 29.25 meters. Evapotranspiration data include measurement of daily evapotranspiration and 15-minute fluxes of the four principal energy budget components of latent-heat flux, sensible-heat flux, soil-heat flux, and net radiation. Other data collected and used in equations to determine evapotranspiration include temperature and water content of soil, temperature and vapor pressure of air, and covariance values. Evapotranspiration and flux estimates during 15-minute intervals were calculated at a 0.1-second execution interval using the eddy covariance method. Data files included in this report contain the complete micrometeorological, soil-moisture, and evapotranspiration field data sets. These data files are presented in tabular Excel spreadsheet format. This report highlights selected data contained in the

  17. Evapotranspiration and crop coefficients for a super intensive olive orchard. An application of SIMDualKc and METRIC models using ground and satellite observations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Paço, Teresa A.; Pôças, Isabel; Cunha, Mário; Silvestre, José C.; Santos, Francisco L.; Paredes, Paula; Pereira, Luís S.

    2014-11-01

    The estimation of crop evapotranspiration (ETc) from the reference evapotranspiration (ETo) and a standard crop coefficient (Kc) in olive orchards requires that the latter be adjusted to planting density and height. The use of the dual Kc approach may be the best solution because the basal crop coefficient Kcb represents plant transpiration and the evaporation coefficient reproduces the soil coverage conditions and the frequency of wettings. To support related computations for a super intensive olive orchard, the model SIMDualKc was adopted because it uses the dual Kc approach. Alternatively, to consider the physical characteristics of the vegetation, the satellite-based surface energy balance model METRIC™ - Mapping EvapoTranspiration at high Resolution using Internalized Calibration - was used to estimate ETc and to derive crop coefficients. Both approaches were compared in this study. SIMDualKc model was calibrated and validated using sap-flow measurements of the transpiration for 2011 and 2012. In addition, eddy covariance estimation of ETc was also used. In the current study, METRIC™ was applied to Landsat images from 2011 to 2012. Adaptations for incomplete cover woody crops were required to parameterize METRIC. It was observed that ETc obtained from both approaches was similar and that crop coefficients derived from both models showed similar patterns throughout the year. Although the two models use distinct approaches, their results are comparable and they are complementary in spatial and temporal scales.

  18. Evapotranspiration information reporting: II. Recommended documentation

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Researchers and journal authors, reviewers, and readers can benefit from more complete documentation of published evapotranspiration (ET) information, including a description of field procedures, instrumentation, data filtering, model parameterization, and site review. This information is important ...

  19. Remote Sensing of Snow and Evapotranspiration

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Schmugge, T. (Editor)

    1985-01-01

    The use of snowmelt runoff models from both the U.S. and Japan for simulating discharge on basins in both countries is discussed as well as research in snowpack properties and evapotranspiration using remotely sensed data.

  20. Evapotranspiration and crop coefficient of oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) on the main nursery in a greenhouse

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sigalingging, R.; Sumono; Rahmansyah, N.

    2018-02-01

    The estimation of crop water requirement is an important part of oil palm plantation because fruit yield of oil palm can be affected by water stress. Evapotranspiration and crop coefficient of oil palm using Tenera variety at 7-12 months old was determined. Soil texture was sandy loam with 73.8 % sand, 10.8 % silt, 15.77 % clay and 1.41 % organic matter. The results showed that the oil palm getting older decreased significantly in bulk density, particle density and porosity of soil caused the root of oil palm enlarged (19.42 g to 53.37 g). This was indicated by increased the dry root weight. On the other hand, the value of evapotranspiration and crop coefficient increased significantly, that was 1.85 to 2.00 mm/day and 0.8 to 0.87 respectively.

  1. Trend analysis and forecast of precipitation, reference evapotranspiration, and rainfall deficit in the Blackland Prairie of eastern Mississippi

    Treesearch

    Gary Feng; Stacy Cobb; Zaid Abdo; Daniel K. Fisher; Ying Ouyang; Ardeshir Adeli; Johnie N. Jenkins

    2016-01-01

    Trend analysis and estimation of monthly and annual precipitation, reference evapotranspiration ET, and rainfall deficit are essential for water-resources management and cropping-system design. Rainfall, ET, and water-deficit patterns and trends at Macon in eastern Mississippi for a 120-yr period (1894-2014) were analyzed for annual, seasonal, and monthly...

  2. A gap-filling model for eddy covariance latent heat flux: Estimating evapotranspiration of a subtropical seasonal evergreen broad-leaved forest as an example

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chen, Yi-Ying; Chu, Chia-Ren; Li, Ming-Hsu

    2012-10-01

    SummaryIn this paper we present a semi-parametric multivariate gap-filling model for tower-based measurement of latent heat flux (LE). Two statistical techniques, the principal component analysis (PCA) and a nonlinear interpolation approach were integrated into this LE gap-filling model. The PCA was first used to resolve the multicollinearity relationships among various environmental variables, including radiation, soil moisture deficit, leaf area index, wind speed, etc. Two nonlinear interpolation methods, multiple regressions (MRS) and the K-nearest neighbors (KNNs) were examined with random selected flux gaps for both clear sky and nighttime/cloudy data to incorporate into this LE gap-filling model. Experimental results indicated that the KNN interpolation approach is able to provide consistent LE estimations while MRS presents over estimations during nighttime/cloudy. Rather than using empirical regression parameters, the KNN approach resolves the nonlinear relationship between the gap-filled LE flux and principal components with adaptive K values under different atmospheric states. The developed LE gap-filling model (PCA with KNN) works with a RMSE of 2.4 W m-2 (˜0.09 mm day-1) at a weekly time scale by adding 40% artificial flux gaps into original dataset. Annual evapotranspiration at this study site were estimated at 736 mm (1803 MJ) and 728 mm (1785 MJ) for year 2008 and 2009, respectively.

  3. RIP-ET: A riparian evapotranspiration package for MODFLOW-2005

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Maddock, Thomas; Baird, Kathryn J.; Hanson, R.T.; Schmid, Wolfgang; Ajami, Hoori

    2012-01-01

    A new evapotranspiration package for the U.S. Geological Survey's groundwater-flow model, MODFLOW, is documented. The Riparian Evapotranspiration Package (RIP-ET) provides flexibility in simulating riparian and wetland transpiration not provided by the Evapotranspiration (EVT) or Segmented Function Evapotranspiration (ETS1) Packages for MODFLOW 2005. This report describes how the RIP-ET package was conceptualized and provides input instructions, listings and explanations of the source code, and an example. Traditional approaches to modeling evapotranspiration (ET) processes assume a piecewise linear relationship between ET flux and hydraulic head. The RIP-ET replaces this traditional relationship with a segmented, nonlinear dimensionless curve that reflects the eco-physiology of riparian and wetland ecosystems. Evapotranspiration losses from these ecosystems are dependent not only on hydraulic head, but on the plant types present. User-defined plant functional groups (PFGs) are used to elucidate the interaction between plant transpiration and groundwater conditions. Five generalized plant functional groups based on transpiration rates, plant rooting depth, and water tolerance ranges are presented: obligate wetland, shallow-rooted riparian, deep-rooted riparian, transitional riparian and bare ground/open water. Plant functional groups can be further divided into subgroups (PFSGs) based on plant size, density or other characteristics. The RIP-ET allows for partial habitat coverage and mixtures of plant functional subgroups to be present in a single model cell. RIP-ET also distinguishes between plant transpiration and bare-ground evaporation. Habitat areas are designated by polygons; each polygon can contain a mixture of PFSGs and bare ground, and is assigned a surface elevation. This process requires a determination of fractional coverage for each of the plant functional subgroups present in a polygon to account for the mixture of coverage types and resulting

  4. Multiyear riparian evapotranspiration and groundwater use for a semiarid watershed

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Scott, R.L.; Cable, W.L.; Huxman, T. E.; Nagler, P.L.; Hernandez, M.; Goodrich, D.C.

    2008-01-01

    Riparian evapotranspiration (ET) is a major component of the surface and subsurface water balance for many semiarid watersheds. Measurement or model-based estimates of ET are often made on a local scale, but spatially distributed estimates are needed to determine ET over catchments. In this paper, we document the ET that was quantified over 3 years using eddy covariance for three riparian ecosystems along the Upper San Pedro River of southeastern Arizona, USA, and we use a water balance equation to determine annual groundwater use. Riparian evapotranspiration and groundwater use for the watershed were then determined by using a calibrated, empirical model that uses 16-day, 250-1000 m remote-sensing products for the years of 2001-2005. The inputs for the model were derived entirely from the NASA MODIS sensor and consisted of the Enhanced Vegetation Index and land surface temperature. The scaling model was validated using subsets of the entire dataset (omitting different sites or years) and its capable performance for well-watered sites (MAD=0.32 mm day-1, R2=0.93) gave us confidence in using it to determine ET over the watershed. Three years of eddy covariance data for the riparian sites reveal that ET and groundwater use increased as woody plant density increased. Groundwater use was less variable at the woodland site, which had the greatest density of phreatophytes. Annual riparian groundwater use within the watershed was nearly constant over the study period despite an on-going drought. For the San Pedro alone, the amounts determined in this paper are within the range of most recently reported values that were derived using an entirely different approach. However, because of our larger estimates for groundwater use for the main tributary of the San Pedro, the watershed totals were higher. The approach presented here can provide riparian ET and groundwater use amounts that reflect real natural variability in phreatophyte withdrawals and improve the accuracy of a

  5. Use of Satellite-based Remote Sensing to inform Evapotranspiration parameters in Cropping System Models

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dhungel, S.; Barber, M. E.

    2016-12-01

    The objectives of this paper are to use an automated satellite-based remote sensing evapotranspiration (ET) model to assist in parameterization of a cropping system model (CropSyst) and to examine the variability of consumptive water use of various crops across the watershed. The remote sensing model is a modified version of the Mapping Evapotranspiration at high Resolution with Internalized Calibration (METRIC™) energy balance model. We present the application of an automated python-based implementation of METRIC to estimate ET as consumptive water use for agricultural areas in three watersheds in Eastern Washington - Walla Walla, Lower Yakima and Okanogan. We used these ET maps with USDA crop data to identify the variability of crop growth and water use for the major crops in these three watersheds. Some crops, such as grapes and alfalfa, showed high variability in water use in the watershed while others, such as corn, had comparatively less variability. The results helped us to estimate the range and variability of various crop parameters that are used in CropSyst. The paper also presents a systematic approach to estimate parameters of CropSyst for a crop in a watershed using METRIC results. Our initial application of this approach was used to estimate irrigation application rate for CropSyst for a selected farm in Walla Walla and was validated by comparing crop growth (as Leaf Area Index - LAI) and consumptive water use (ET) from METRIC and CropSyst. This coupling of METRIC with CropSyst will allow for more robust parameters in CropSyst and will enable accurate predictions of changes in irrigation practices and crop rotation, which are a challenge in many cropping system models.

  6. Rainfall and evapotranspiration data for southwest Medina County, Texas, August 2006-December 2009

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Slattery, Richard N.; Asquith, William H.; Ockerman, Darwin J.

    2011-01-01

    During August 2006-December 2009, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Fort Worth District, collected rainfall and evapotranspiration data to help characterize the hydrology of the Nueces River Basin, Texas. The USGS installed and operated a station to collect continuous (30-minute interval) rainfall and evapotranspiration data in southwest Medina County approximately 14 miles southwest of D'Hanis, Texas, and 23 miles northwest of Pearsall, Texas. Rainfall data were collected by using an 8-inch tipping bucket raingage. Meteorological and surface-energy flux data used to calculate evapotranspiration were collected by using an extended Open Path Eddy Covariance system from Campbell Scientific, Inc. Data recorded by the system were used to calculate evapotranspiration by using the eddy covariance and Bowen ratio closure methods and to analyze the surface energy budget closure. During August 2006-December 2009 (excluding days of missing record), measured rainfall totaled 86.85 inches. In 2007, 2008, and 2009, annual rainfall totaled 40.98, 12.35, and 27.15 inches, respectively. The largest monthly rainfall total, 12.30 inches, occurred in July 2007. During August 2006-December 2009, evapotranspiration calculated by using the eddy covariance method totaled 69.91 inches. Annual evapotranspiration calculated by using the eddy covariance method totaled 34.62 inches in 2007, 15.24 inches in 2008, and 15.57 inches in 2009. During August 2006-December 2009, evapotranspiration calculated by using the Bowen ratio closure method (the more refined of the two datasets) totaled 68.33 inches. Annual evapotranspiration calculated by using the Bowen ratio closure method totaled 32.49, 15.54, and 15.80 inches in 2007, 2008, and 2009, respectively (excluding days of missing record).

  7. Geohydrology and evapotranspiration at Franklin Lake playa, Inyo County, California

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Czarnecki, J.B.

    1997-12-31

    Franklin Lake playa is one of the principal discharge areas of the Furnace Creek Ranch-Alkali Flat ground-water-flow system in southern Nevada and adjacent California. Yucca Mountain, Nevada, located within this flow system, is being evaluated by the US Department of Energy to determine its suitability as a potential site for a high-level nuclear-waste repository. To assist the U.S. Department of Energy with its evaluation of the Yucca Mountain site, the US Geological Survey developed a parameter-estimation model of the Furnace Creek Ranch-Alkali Flat ground-water-flow system. Results from sensitivity analyses made using the parameter-estimation model indicated that simulated rates of evapotranspirationmore » at Franklin Lake playa had the largest effect on the calculation of transmissivity values at Yucca Mountain of all the model-boundary conditions and, therefore, that evapotranspiration required careful definition.« less

  8. Analytical solutions of travel time to a pumping well with variable evapotranspiration.

    PubMed

    Chen, Tian-Fei; Wang, Xu-Sheng; Wan, Li; Li, Hailong

    2014-01-01

    Analytical solutions of groundwater travel time to a pumping well in an unconfined aquifer have been developed in previous studies, however, the change in evapotranspiration was not considered. Here, we develop a mathematical model of unconfined flow toward a discharge well with redistribution of groundwater evapotranspiration for travel time analysis. Dependency of groundwater evapotranspiration on the depth to water table is described using a linear formula with an extinction depth. Analytical solutions of groundwater level and travel time are obtained. For a typical hypothetical example, these solutions perfectly agree with the numerical simulation results based on MODFLOW and MODPATH. As indicated in a dimensionless framework, a lumped parameter which is proportional to the pumping rate controls the distributions of groundwater evapotranspiration rate and the travel time along the radial direction. © 2013, National Ground Water Association.

  9. Evapotranspiration and turbulent transport in an irrigated desert orchard

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Stoughton, Thomas E.; Miller, David R.; Huddleston, Ellis W.; Ross, James B.

    2002-10-01

    Micrometeorological measurements were recorded in an irrigated pecan orchard for 2 weeks in the summer of 1996 near Las Cruces, NM. A vertical array of five sonic anemometers recorded three-dimensional wind and temperature data within and above the orchard. The measured energy budget closure error was only 3.2% of net radiation, indicating freedom from local edge advection. The effects of regional (oasis) advection and unsteady winds on evapotranspiration (ET) were considered by comparing the observed latent heat flux values to estimates of ET using the Penman-Monteith and Advection-Aridity approaches. Penman-Monteith underestimated observed ET values by 82%. The Advection-Aridity modifications of potential evapotranspiration (PET) underestimated ET by 11%. Profiles of turbulence statistics demonstrated vertical heterogeneity of turbulence within the canopy. Directly above the canopy, momentum flux profiles showed little divergence. However, at a level of two times the tree heights, sensible heat flux profiles did show divergence, confirming the presence of "oasis" advection resulting from warm, dry air moving above the internal boundary layer. Upward convection from the hot soil surface between the trees diluted the oasis condition to the point where a weak upward sensible heat flux was observed during the midday periods when the soil was not shaded. Convection ratios, and exuberance ratios, generated from quadrant analyses of the heat and momentum flux events, showed that turbulent motions moved freely up and down within this canopy with little attenuation due to the open spaces between the trees.

  10. Determination of the isotopic composition of evapotranspiration in a mature oil palm plantation in Jambi province, Indonesia.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bonazza, Mattia; Meijide, Ana; Knohl, Alexander

    2017-04-01

    Evapotranspiration (ET) is defined as the sum of the water vapor fluxes from evaporation (E) and transpiration (T). The relative proportion between these two quantities depends on the species, on their age and on the structure of the stand and canopy. Evaporation represents the fraction of water that doesn't contribute to plants growth hence it often considered as "unused" water by the plants root system. For this reason, in a fast changing environment like Indonesia where, since almost 30 years, tropical rainforests are gradually converted into extensive oil palm plantation, it is important to quantify the amount of evaporated water to improve agricultural practices and water quality. As powerful tracers of the hydrological cycle, water stable isotopes represent an important tool to estimate the isotopic composition of the evapotranspiration flux and they can be used as a starting point for the determination of the T/ET ratio, which can be considered as a plant water uptake efficiency indicator. The isotopic composition (δDvand δ18Ov) and the mixing ratio (qv) of water vapor measured in a stand is the result of the isotopic mixing between two members; ecosystem evapotranspiration (δET) and background air (δa). With the implementation of laser-based isotopic analysers we are now able to improve the measurement frequency of δDvand δ18Ov that leads us to an improved estimation of δET. Here we present the results of a measurement campaign, performed with a Picarro L-2120i and conducted in a mature oil palm plantation in the province of Jambi, Indonesia. We measured the atmospheric water vapor mixing ratio and isotopic composition at 5 sampling heights (21 m, 16 m, 9 m, 3.5 and 0.3 m) along a flux tower throughout the oil palm canopy (average height 10 m). The range of the water vapor isotopic composition was between -19 and -11 and -134 and -82 ‰ for δ18Ov and δDvrespectively. A fairly open canopy structure resulted in small mixing ratio gradients along the

  11. Using data of remote sensing to retrieve surface's evapotranspiration in northwest of China

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yu, Xinwen; Zheng, Youfei; Guo, Jianmao; He, Jinhai

    2005-08-01

    Northwestern China is a semi-arid or arid area in China. Ningnan (or South Ningxia) district is located south of Ningxia Province belong to Northwestern part of China. Climate in this region is more dry and lack of precipitation. Because global climate have been changing, temperature has been increasing and rainfall has been decreasing in South Ningxia. The ecology has been deteriorating, such as vegetation cover destroying, water losing and soil erosion. Therefore, the people who live in South Ningxia have been poor. Recently, Chinese government put into effect on strategy of "great development of Chinese northwest", aiming to improve environmental and ecological conditions and rise people's living standard. South Ningxia district was defined as area of emigration where the measurements of returning land for farming to forestry were taken into account . How to evaluate the plans and measurements is very important to continue to improving local environmental and ecological conditions further. The basic index of evaluation is soil water profit and loss statement while evapotranspiration (ET) is an important component in statement income and outcome of soil water. It is a very complicated problem to estimate evapotranspiration (ET) over large area of natural surface. In this paper, the natural surface was classified as 5 categories based on information from remote sensing, each categories being dealt with special way. Using data of remote sensing and weather stations, the result of regional evapotranspiration over Ningnan(South Ningxia) was given out, and verified and discussing are also made out. The work helps to assess whether or not improve environmental and ecological conditions.

  12. Trends in soil moisture and real evapotranspiration in Douro River for the period 1980-2010

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    García-Valdecasas-Ojeda, Matilde; de Franciscis, Sebastiano; Raquel Gámiz-Fortis, Sonia; Castro-Díez, Yolanda; Jesús Esteban-Parra, María

    2017-04-01

    This study analyzes the evolution of different hydrological variables, such as soil moisture and real evapotranspiration, for the last 30 years, in the Douro Basin, the most extensive basin in the Iberian Peninsula. The different components of the real evaporation, connected to the soil moisture content, can be important when analyzing the intensity of droughts and heat waves, and particularly relevant for the study of the climate change impacts. The real evapotranspiration and soil moisture data are provided by simulations obtained using the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) hydrological model. This model is a large-scale hydrologic model and allows estimates of different variables in the hydrological system of a basin. Land surface is modeled as a grid of large and uniform cells with sub-grid heterogeneity (e.g. land cover), while water influx is local, only depending from the interaction between grid cells and local atmosphere environment. Observational data of temperature and precipitation from Spain02 dataset are used as input variables for VIC model. The simulations have a spatial resolution of about 9 km, and the analysis is carried out on a seasonal time-scale. Additionally, we compare these results with those obtained from a dynamical downscaling driven by ERA-Interim data using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, with the same spatial resolution. The results obtained from Spain02 data show a decrease in soil moisture at different parts of the basin during spring and summer, meanwhile soil moisture seems to be increased for autumn. No significant changes are found for real evapotranspiration. Keywords: real evapotranspiration, soil moisture, Douro Basin, trends, VIC, WRF. Acknowledgements: This work has been financed by the projects P11-RNM-7941 (Junta de Andalucía-Spain) and CGL2013-48539-R (MINECO-Spain, FEDER).

  13. A review of global terrestrial evapotranspiration: Observation, modeling, climatology, and climatic variability

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Kaicun; Dickinson, Robert E.

    2012-06-01

    This review surveys the basic theories, observational methods, satellite algorithms, and land surface models for terrestrial evapotranspiration, E (or λE, i.e., latent heat flux), including a long-term variability and trends perspective. The basic theories used to estimate E are the Monin-Obukhov similarity theory (MOST), the Bowen ratio method, and the Penman-Monteith equation. The latter two theoretical expressions combine MOST with surface energy balance. Estimates of E can differ substantially between these three approaches because of their use of different input data. Surface and satellite-based measurement systems can provide accurate estimates of diurnal, daily, and annual variability of E. But their estimation of longer time variability is largely not established. A reasonable estimate of E as a global mean can be obtained from a surface water budget method, but its regional distribution is still rather uncertain. Current land surface models provide widely different ratios of the transpiration by vegetation to total E. This source of uncertainty therefore limits the capability of models to provide the sensitivities of E to precipitation deficits and land cover change.

  14. Estimates of fetch-induced errors in Bowen-ratio energy-budget measurements of evapotranspiration from a prairie wetland, Cottonwood Lake Area, North Dakota, USA

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Stannard, David L.; Rosenberry, Donald O.; Winter, Thomas C.; Parkhurst, Renee S.

    2004-01-01

    Micrometeorological measurements of evapotranspiration (ET) often are affected to some degree by errors arising from limited fetch. A recently developed model was used to estimate fetch-induced errors in Bowen-ratio energy-budget measurements of ET made at a small wetland with fetch-to-height ratios ranging from 34 to 49. Estimated errors were small, averaging −1.90%±0.59%. The small errors are attributed primarily to the near-zero lower sensor height, and the negative bias reflects the greater Bowen ratios of the drier surrounding upland. Some of the variables and parameters affecting the error were not measured, but instead are estimated. A sensitivity analysis indicates that the uncertainty arising from these estimates is small. In general, fetch-induced error in measured wetland ET increases with decreasing fetch-to-height ratio, with increasing aridity and with increasing atmospheric stability over the wetland. Occurrence of standing water at a site is likely to increase the appropriate time step of data integration, for a given level of accuracy. Occurrence of extensive open water can increase accuracy or decrease the required fetch by allowing the lower sensor to be placed at the water surface. If fetch is highly variable and fetch-induced errors are significant, the variables affecting fetch (e.g., wind direction, water level) need to be measured. Fetch-induced error during the non-growing season may be greater or smaller than during the growing season, depending on how seasonal changes affect both the wetland and upland at a site.

  15. Global estimates of evapotranspiration and gross primary production based on MODIS and global meteorology data

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Yuan, W.; Liu, S.; Yu, G.; Bonnefond, J.-M.; Chen, J.; Davis, K.; Desai, A.R.; Goldstein, Allen H.; Gianelle, D.; Rossi, F.; Suyker, A.E.; Verma, S.B.

    2010-01-01

    The simulation of gross primary production (GPP) at various spatial and temporal scales remains a major challenge for quantifying the global carbon cycle. We developed a light use efficiency model, called EC-LUE, driven by only four variables: normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), air temperature, and the Bowen ratio of sensible to latent heat flux. The EC-LUE model may have the most potential to adequately address the spatial and temporal dynamics of GPP because its parameters (i.e., the potential light use efficiency and optimal plant growth temperature) are invariant across the various land cover types. However, the application of the previous EC-LUE model was hampered by poor prediction of Bowen ratio at the large spatial scale. In this study, we substituted the Bowen ratio with the ratio of evapotranspiration (ET) to net radiation, and revised the RS-PM (Remote Sensing-Penman Monteith) model for quantifying ET. Fifty-four eddy covariance towers, including various ecosystem types, were selected to calibrate and validate the revised RS-PM and EC-LUE models. The revised RS-PM model explained 82% and 68% of the observed variations of ET for all the calibration and validation sites, respectively. Using estimated ET as input, the EC-LUE model performed well in calibration and validation sites, explaining 75% and 61% of the observed GPP variation for calibration and validation sites respectively.Global patterns of ET and GPP at a spatial resolution of 0.5° latitude by 0.6° longitude during the years 2000–2003 were determined using the global MERRA dataset (Modern Era Retrospective-Analysis for Research and Applications) and MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer). The global estimates of ET and GPP agreed well with the other global models from the literature, with the highest ET and GPP over tropical forests and the lowest values in dry and high latitude areas. However, comparisons with observed

  16. Spatial and temporal variation in evapotranspiration

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Spatial and temporal variation in evapotranspiration occurs at multiple scales as the result of several different spatial and temporal patterns in precipitation, soil water holding capacity, cloudiness (available energy), types of crops, and residue and tillage management practices. We have often as...

  17. Analysis of Numerical Weather Predictions of Reference Evapotranspiration and Precipitation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bughici, Theodor; Lazarovitch, Naftali; Fredj, Erick; Tas, Eran

    2017-04-01

    This study attempts to improve the forecast skill of the evapotranspiration (ET0) and Precipitation for the purpose of crop irrigation management over Israel using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model. Optimized crop irrigation, in term of timing and quantities, decreases water and agrochemicals demand. Crop water demands depend on evapotranspiration and precipitation. The common method for computing reference evapotranspiration, for agricultural needs, ET0, is according to the FAO Penman-Monteith equation. The weather variables required for ET0 calculation (air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and solar irradiance) are estimated by the WRF model. The WRF Model with two-way interacting domains at horizontal resolutions of 27, 9 and 3 km is used in the study. The model prediction was performed in an hourly time resolution and a 3 km spatial resolution, with forecast lead-time of up to four days. The WRF prediction of these variables have been compared against measurements from 29 meteorological stations across Israel for the year 2013. The studied area is small but with strong climatic gradient, diverse topography and variety of synoptic conditions. The forecast skill that was used for forecast validation takes into account the prediction bias, mean absolute error and root mean squared error. The forecast skill of the variables was almost robust to lead time, except for precipitation. The forecast skill was tested across stations with respect to topography and geographic location and for all stations with respect to seasonality and synoptic weather system determined by employing a semi-objective synoptic systems classification to the forecasted days. It was noticeable that forecast skill of some of the variables was deteriorated by seasonality and topography. However, larger impacts in the ET0 skill scores on the forecasted day are achieved by a synoptic based forecast. These results set the basis for increasing the robustness of ET0 to

  18. An overview of the Central Queensland University self-contained evapotranspiration beds.

    PubMed

    Kele, B; Midmore, D J; Harrower, K; McKennariey, B J; Hood, B

    2005-01-01

    The Central Queensland University (CQU) has championed a self-contained concrete lined evapotranspiration channel. Any non-transpired effluent returns to a holding tank and is recirculated through the evapotranspiration channel until it is used. This paper examines the results from the Rockhampton trial site. Nutrient ions in the effluent were quantified over time and found not to accumulate in solution. Microbial analysis of the treated effluent was performed and was found to be within the ranges required by the relevant legislative codes. Citrus fruit grown in the evapotranspiration channel were sampled and no elevated levels of faecal coliforms were recorded. Macronutrients and micronutrients of the soil in the channels were measured over a 5-year period. No toxic accumulations or nutrient deficiencies in the soil occurred. Levels of salinity and sodicity in the evapotranspiration channel soil were quantified. Salinity rose slightly, as did sodium. Concentrations of salts and sodium did not reach unsustainable levels. The aim of the trial was to develop an on-site treatment and reuse system that is sustainable and protects public and environmental health.

  19. Evapotranspiration from two peatland watersheds

    Treesearch

    Roger R. Bay

    1968-01-01

    Measurements of precipitation, runoff, and bog water table levels have provided data for the calculation of evapotranspiration from two forested peatland watersheds near Grand Rapids, Minnesota (ca. 47? 32'N, 93? 28'W). Continuous hydrologie records were collected on one experimental bog for 6 years (1961-1966) and on the other for the past 2 years (1965-1966...

  20. A biophysical approach using water deficit factor for daily estimations of evapotranspiration and CO2 uptake in Mediterranean environments

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Helman, David; Lensky, Itamar M.; Osem, Yagil; Rohatyn, Shani; Rotenberg, Eyal; Yakir, Dan

    2017-09-01

    Estimations of ecosystem-level evapotranspiration (ET) and CO2 uptake in water-limited environments are scarce and scaling up ground-level measurements is not straightforward. A biophysical approach using remote sensing (RS) and meteorological data (RS-Met) is adjusted to extreme high-energy water-limited Mediterranean ecosystems that suffer from continuous stress conditions to provide daily estimations of ET and CO2 uptake (measured as gross primary production, GPP) at a spatial resolution of 250 m. The RS-Met was adjusted using a seasonal water deficit factor (fWD) based on daily rainfall, temperature and radiation data. We validated our adjusted RS-Met with eddy covariance flux measurements using a newly developed mobile lab system and the single active FLUXNET station operating in this region (Yatir pine forest station) at a total of seven forest and non-forest sites across a climatic transect in Israel (280-770 mm yr-1). RS-Met was also compared to the satellite-borne MODIS-based ET and GPP products (MOD16 and MOD17, respectively) at these sites.Results show that the inclusion of the fWD significantly improved the model, with R = 0.64-0.91 for the ET-adjusted model (compared to 0.05-0.80 for the unadjusted model) and R = 0.72-0.92 for the adjusted GPP model (compared to R = 0.56-0.90 of the non-adjusted model). The RS-Met (with the fWD) successfully tracked observed changes in ET and GPP between dry and wet seasons across the sites. ET and GPP estimates from the adjusted RS-Met also agreed well with eddy covariance estimates on an annual timescale at the FLUXNET station of Yatir (266 ± 61 vs. 257 ± 58 mm yr-1 and 765 ± 112 vs. 748 ± 124 gC m-2 yr-1 for ET and GPP, respectively). Comparison with MODIS products showed consistently lower estimates from the MODIS-based models, particularly at the forest sites. Using the adjusted RS-Met, we show that afforestation significantly increased the water use efficiency (the ratio of carbon uptake to ET) in this region

  1. Ecological restoration of groundwater-dependent vegetation in the arid Ejina Delta: evidences from satellite evapotranspiration

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kai, Lu; Garcia, Monica; Yu, Jingjie; Zhang, Yichi; Wang, Ping; Wang, Sheng; Liu, Xiao

    2017-04-01

    The ecological water conveyance project (EWCP) in the Ejina delta, a typical hyper-arid area of China, aimed to restore degraded phreatophytic ecosystems. We assessed the degree of ecosystem recovery using as an ecohydrological indicator a ratio between actual and potential evapotranspiration derived from MODIS since the beginning of the project in 2001. The selected indicator was the Temperature Vegetation Dryness Index (TVDI) which was validated with Eddy covariance (EC) data confirming its applicability to monitor groundwater dependent vegetation. The spatial analyses of the evapotranspiration ratio show drying trends (2000-2015) which are stronger and also cover larger extensions than the wetting trends. Thus, the condition of key riparian areas relying mostly on surface water improved since the project began. However, groundwater dependent ecosystems located in lower river Xihe reaches present drying trends. It seems that despite of the runoff supplemented by the EWCP project, there is nowadays more inequality in the access to water by groundwater dependent ecosystems in the Ejina Delta. The study shows that energy-evaporation indices, relying on radiometric satellite temperature like the TVDI, can detect degradation signals that otherwise might go undetected by NDVI analyses especially in arid regions, where vegetation indices are greatly affected by the soil background signals. Additionally, they can provide timely information to water managers on how much water to allocate for a sustainable restoration program.

  2. Modeling evapotranspiration over China's landmass from 1979-2012 using three surface models

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sun, Shaobo; Chen, Baozhang; Zhang, Huifang; Lin, Xiaofeng

    2017-04-01

    Land surface models (LSMs) are useful tools to estimate land evapotranspiration at a grid scale and for a long-term applications. Here, the Community Land Model 4.0 (CLM4.0), Dynamic Land Model (DLM) and Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) model were driven with observation-based forcing data sets, and a multiple LSM ensemble-averaged evapotranspiration (ET) product (LSMs-ET) was developed and its spatial-temporal variations were analyzed for the China landmass over the period 1979-2012. Evaluations against measurements from nine flux towers at site scale and surface water budget based ET at regional scale showed that the LSMs-ET had good performance in most areas of China's landmass. The inter-comparisons between the ET estimates and the independent ET products from remote sensing and upscaling methods suggested that there were a fairly consistent patterns between each data sets. The LSMs-ET produced a mean annual ET of 351.24±10.7 mm yr-1 over 1979-2012, and its spatial-temporal variation analyses showed that (i) there was an overall significant ET increasing trend, with a value of 0.72 mm yr-1 (p < 0.01); (ii) 36.01% of Chinese land had significant increasing trends, ranging from 1 to 9 mm yr-1, while only 6.41% of the area showed significant decreasing trends, ranging from -6.28 to -0.08 mm yr-1. Analyses of ET variations in each climate region clearly showed that the Tibetan Plateau areas were the main contributors to the overall increasing ET trends of China.

  3. Improving the performance of the mass transfer-based reference evapotranspiration estimation approaches through a coupled wavelet-random forest methodology

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Shiri, Jalal

    2018-06-01

    Among different reference evapotranspiration (ETo) modeling approaches, mass transfer-based methods have been less studied. These approaches utilize temperature and wind speed records. On the other hand, the empirical equations proposed in this context generally produce weak simulations, except when a local calibration is used for improving their performance. This might be a crucial drawback for those equations in case of local data scarcity for calibration procedure. So, application of heuristic methods can be considered as a substitute for improving the performance accuracy of the mass transfer-based approaches. However, given that the wind speed records have usually higher variation magnitudes than the other meteorological parameters, application of a wavelet transform for coupling with heuristic models would be necessary. In the present paper, a coupled wavelet-random forest (WRF) methodology was proposed for the first time to improve the performance accuracy of the mass transfer-based ETo estimation approaches using cross-validation data management scenarios in both local and cross-station scales. The obtained results revealed that the new coupled WRF model (with the minimum scatter index values of 0.150 and 0.192 for local and external applications, respectively) improved the performance accuracy of the single RF models as well as the empirical equations to great extent.

  4. Mapping Evapotranspiration in the Sacramento San Joaquin Delta using simulated ECOSTRESS Thermal Data: Validation and Inter-comparison

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wong, A.; Jin, Y.; He, R.; Hulley, G.; Fisher, J.; Lee, C. M.; Rivera, G.; Hook, S. J.; Medellin-Azuara, J.; Kent, E. R.; Paw U, K. T.; Gao, F.; Lund, J. R.

    2017-12-01

    Irrigation accounts for 80% of human freshwater consumption, and most of it return to the atmosphere through evapotranspiration (ET). In California, where our water resources are limited and heavily utilized, the need for a cost-effective, timely, and consistent spatial estimate of crop ET, from the farm to watershed level, is becoming increasingly important. The ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS), to be launched in mid-2018, will provide the most detailed and accurate temperature measurements ever acquired from space and thus unique opportunities for estimating ET at the farm scale. We simulated the ECOSTRESS thermal data at a 70 m resolution using VIIRS thermal observations and ASTER emissivity data in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta region for the 2016 water year. Three remote sensing based ET methods were then applied to estimate ET using simulated ECOSTRESS data and optical data from Landsat and VIIRS, including Priestley-Taylor approaches developed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (PT-JPL) and by UC Davis (PT-UCD), and the Mapping Evapotranspiration at high Resolution with Internalized Calibration (METRIC) model. We compared these three sets of ET estimates with field measurements at sixteen sites over five crop types (Alfalfa, Corn, Pasture, Tomato, and Beardless Wheat). Good agreement was found between satellite-based estimates and field measurements. Our results demonstrate that thermal data from the upcoming ECOSTRESS mission will reduce the uncertainty in ET estimates. A continuous monitoring of the dynamics and spatial heterogeneity of consumptive water use at a field scale will help prepare and inform to adaptively manage water, canopy, and planting density to maximize yield with least amount of water.

  5. Effects of daily precipitation and evapotranspiration patterns on flow and VOC transport to groundwater along a watershed flow path

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Johnson, Richard L.; Thoms, R.B.; Zogorski, J.S.

    2003-01-01

    MTBE and other volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are widely observed in shallow groundwater in the United States, especially in urban areas. Previous studies suggest that the atmosphere and/or nonpoint surficial sources could be responsible for some of those VOCs, especially in areas where there is net recharge to groundwater. However, in semi-arid locations where annual potential evapotranspiration can exceed annual precipitation, VOC detections in groundwater can be frequent. VOC transport to groundwater under net discharge conditions has not previously been examined. A numerical model is used here to demonstrate that daily precipitation and evapotranspiration (ET) patterns can have a significant effect on recharge to groundwater, water table elevations, and VOC transport. Ten-year precipitation/ET scenarios from six sites in the United States are examined using both actual daily observed values and “average” pulsed precipitation. MTBE and tetrachloroethylene transport, including gas-phase diffusion, are considered. The effects of the precipitation/ET scenarios on net recharge and groundwater flow are significant and complicated, especially under low-precipitation conditions when pulsed precipitation can significantly underestimate transport to groundwater. In addition to precipitation and evapotranspiration effects, location of VOC entry into the subsurface within the watershed is important for transport in groundwater. This is caused by groundwater hydraulics at the watershed scale as well as variations in ET within the watershed. The model results indicate that it is important to consider both daily precipitation/ET patterns and location within the watershed in order to interpret VOC occurrence in groundwater, especially in low-precipitation settings.

  6. Evapotranspiration, biomass production and water productivity acquired from Landsat 8 images in the northwestern side of the São Paulo state, Brazil

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    de C. Teixeira, Antônio H.; Leivas, Janice F.; T. Hernandez, Fernando B.; Franco, Renato A. M.; Nuñez, Daniel N. C.

    2016-10-01

    In the northwestern side of the São Paulo state, Brazil, irrigated areas are expanding, because rainfall is not enough to supply the crop water requirements. Under the actual climate and land-use change scenarios, large-scale evapotranspiration (ET) and biomass production (BIO) acquirements are relevant. Eleven Landsat 8 images, from May 2013 to October 2014, were used together with a net of eight agrometeorological stations for modelling these water productivity (WP) parameters in the main agricultural growing irrigated areas inside three hydrological basins in this region. Some of these areas inside of each basin were highlighted for more in-depth WP analyses. The SAFER algorithm estimated the ratio of actual (ET) to reference (ET0) evapotranspiration and this ratio was used for both, to calculate ET and to include the soil moisture effects in the Monteith's Radiation Use Efficiency (RUE) model. The highlighted agricultural growing regions were Paranapuã, Populina and Santa Rita d'Oeste in the Turvo/Grande basin; Rubinéia, Santa Fé do Sul, Suzanópolis and Ilha Solteira, in the São José dos Dourados basin; and Pereira Barreto and Sud Mennucci, in the Baixo Tietê basin. The highest averages of both ET (1.7 +/- 0.9 mm d-1) and BIO (47 +/- 31 kg ha-1 d-1) were for Ilha Solteira, while the lowest ones happened in Sud Mennucci (1.3 +/- 0.7 mm d-1 and 40 +/- 27). These ET and BIO ranges returned WP values varying from 2.2 +/- 0.6 to 2.6 +/- 0.8 kg m-3, with the higher end of this range happening in the Turvo/Grande hydrological basin. Considering the annual time-scale, crops will consume around 770, 828 and 786 mm yr-1 with the corresponding BIO values of 27, 26 and 25 t ha-1 yr-1, respectively in Turvo/Grande, São José do Dourados and Baixo Tietê. It was concluded that increments in agricultural irrigated areas should be stimulated in the northwestern side of the state, mainly in the first basin, to retrieve good yield with less water use.

  7. Realizing actual feedback control of complex network

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tu, Chengyi; Cheng, Yuhua

    2014-06-01

    In this paper, we present the concept of feedbackability and how to identify the Minimum Feedbackability Set of an arbitrary complex directed network. Furthermore, we design an estimator and a feedback controller accessing one MFS to realize actual feedback control, i.e. control the system to our desired state according to the estimated system internal state from the output of estimator. Last but not least, we perform numerical simulations of a small linear time-invariant dynamics network and a real simple food network to verify the theoretical results. The framework presented here could make an arbitrary complex directed network realize actual feedback control and deepen our understanding of complex systems.

  8. Investigation on the Reference Evapotranspiration Distribution at Regional Scale By Alternative Methods to Compute the FAO Penman-Monteith Equation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Snyder, R. L.; Mancosu, N.; Spano, D.

    2014-12-01

    This study derived the summer (June-August) reference evapotranspiration distribution map for Sardinia (Italy) based on weather station data and use of the geographic information system (GIS). A modified daily Penman-Monteith equation from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (UN-FAO) and the American Society of Civil Engineers Environmental and Water Resources Institute (ASCE-EWRI) was used to calculate the Standardized Reference Evapotranspiration (ETos) for all weather stations having a "full" set of required data for the calculations. For stations having only temperature data (partial stations), the Hargreaves-Samani equation was used to estimate the reference evapotranspiration for a grass surface (ETo). The ETos and ETo results were different depending on the local climate, so two methods to estimate ETos from the ETo were tested. Substitution of missing solar radiation, wind speed, and humidity data from a nearby station within a similar microclimate was found to give better results than using a calibration factor that related ETos and ETo. Therefore, the substitution method was used to estimate ETos at "partial" stations having only temperature data. The combination of 63 full and partial stations was sufficient to use GIS to map ETos for Sardinia. Three interpolation methods were studied, and the ordinary kriging model fitted the observed data better than a radial basis function or the inverse distance weighting method. Using station data points to create a regional map simplified the zonation of ETos when large scale computations were needed. Making a distinction based on ETos classes allows the simulation of crop water requirements for large areas and it can potentially lead to improved irrigation management and water savings. It also provides a baseline to investigate possible impact of climate change.

  9. Projecting the potential evapotranspiration by coupling different formulations and input data reliabilities: The possible uncertainty source for climate change impacts on hydrological regime

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Weiguang; Li, Changni; Xing, Wanqiu; Fu, Jianyu

    2017-12-01

    Representing atmospheric evaporating capability for a hypothetical reference surface, potential evapotranspiration (PET) determines the upper limit of actual evapotranspiration and is an important input to hydrological models. Due that present climate models do not give direct estimates of PET when simulating the hydrological response to future climate change, the PET must be estimated first and is subject to the uncertainty on account of many existing formulae and different input data reliabilities. Using four different PET estimation approaches, i.e., the more physically Penman (PN) equation with less reliable input variables, more empirical radiation-based Priestley-Taylor (PT) equation with relatively dependable downscaled data, the most simply temperature-based Hamon (HM) equation with the most reliable downscaled variable, and downscaling PET directly by the statistical downscaling model, this paper investigated the differences of runoff projection caused by the alternative PET methods by a well calibrated abcd monthly hydrological model. Three catchments, i.e., the Luanhe River Basin, the Source Region of the Yellow River and the Ganjiang River Basin, representing a large climatic diversity were chosen as examples to illustrate this issue. The results indicated that although similar monthly patterns of PET over the period 2021-2050 for each catchment were provided by the four methods, the magnitudes of PET were still slightly different, especially for spring and summer months in the Luanhe River Basin and the Source Region of the Yellow River with relatively dry climate feature. The apparent discrepancy in magnitude of change in future runoff and even the diverse change direction for summer months in the Luanhe River Basin and spring months in the Source Region of the Yellow River indicated that the PET method related uncertainty occurred, especially in the Luanhe River Basin and the Source Region of the Yellow River with smaller aridity index. Moreover, the

  10. A shallow lake remediation regime with Phragmites australis: Incorporating nutrient removal and water evapotranspiration.

    PubMed

    Zhao, Ying; Yang, Zhifeng; Xia, Xinghui; Wang, Fei

    2012-11-01

    Shallow lake eutrophication has been an important issue of global water environment. Based on the simulation and field sampling experiments in Baiyangdian Lake, the largest shallow lake in North China, this study proposed a shallow lake remediation regime with Phragmites australis (reed) incorporating its opposite effects of nutrient removal and water evapotranspiration on water quality. The results of simulation experiments showed that both total nitrogen (TN) and phosphorus (TP) removal efficiencies increased with the increasing reed coverage. The TN removal efficiencies by reed aboveground uptake and rhizosphere denitrification were 11.2%, 13.8%, 22.6%, 28.4%, and 29.6% for the reed coverage of 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, and 100%, respectively. Correspondingly, TP removal efficiencies by aboveground reed uptake were 1.4%, 2.5%, 4.4%, 7.4% and 7.9%, respectively. However, the water quality was best when the reed coverage was 60% (72 plants m(-2)). This was due to the fact that the concentration effect of reed evapotranspiration on nutrient increased with reed coverage. When the reed coverage was 100% (120 plants m(-2)), the evapotranspiration was approximately twice that without reeds. The field sampling results showed that the highest aboveground nutrient storages occurred in September. Thus, the proposed remediation regime for Baiyangdian Lake was that the reed coverage should be adjusted to 60%, and the aboveground biomass of reeds should be harvested in each September. With this remediation regime, TN and TP removal in Baiyangdian Lake were 117.8 and 4.0 g m(-2), respectively, and the corresponding removal efficiencies were estimated to be 49% and 8.5% after six years. This study suggests that reed is an effective plant for the remediation of shallow lake eutrophication, and its contrasting effects of nutrient removal and evapotranspiration on water quality should be considered for establishing the remediation regime in the future. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier

  11. [Effects of marshland reclamation on evapotranspiration in the Sanjiang Plain].

    PubMed

    Jia, Zhi-jun; Zhang, Wen; Huang, Yao; Zhao, Xiao-song; Song, Chang-chun

    2010-04-01

    Extensive reclamation of marshland into cropland has had tremendous effects on the ecological environment in the Sanjiang Plain. Observations over marshland, rice paddy and soybean field were made with eddy covariance measuring systems from May to October in 2005, 2006 and 2007. The objective of this study was to identify the effects of the conversion of marshland to cropland on evapotranspiration in the Sanjiang Plain. The results showed that the diurnal variation curves of latent heat flux were single peaked in marshland, rice paddy and soybean field. The daily maximum latent heat flux increased by 14%-130% in rice paddy in the three measuring years, however, in soybean field, it increased by 3%-77% in 2006 but decreased by 25%-40% in 2005 and 2007 by comparison with that in marshland. This difference was due to the change of leaf area index when marshland was reclaimed into cropland. Seasonal change of latent heat flux was identical for the three land use types. Daily averaged latent heat flux of rice paddy, from May to October, showed 38%-53% increase compared with that of marshland, which resulted from the increase in net radiation and leaf area index. When marshland was reclaimed into soybean field, the variation of daily averaged latent heat flux depended primarily on precipitation. Precipitation was the main factor that controlled evapotranspiration over soybean field which was usually in condition of soil water deficit. Drought caused 11%-17% decrease of daily averaged latent heat flux over soybean field in 2005 and 2007, while sufficient precipitation caused 22% increase in 2006, comparing to marshland. Similarly, during the growing season from June to September, total evapotranspiration of rice paddy increased by 24%-51% compared with that of marshland, and the total evapotranspiration of soybean field decreased by 19%-23% in 2005 and 2007 and increased by 19% in 2006. It is concluded that the evapotranspiration changes significantly when the marshland

  12. Estimating the Uncertain Mathematical Structure of Hydrological Model via Bayesian Data Assimilation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bulygina, N.; Gupta, H.; O'Donell, G.; Wheater, H.

    2008-12-01

    The structure of hydrological model at macro scale (e.g. watershed) is inherently uncertain due to many factors, including the lack of a robust hydrological theory at the macro scale. In this work, we assume that a suitable conceptual model for the hydrologic system has already been determined - i.e., the system boundaries have been specified, the important state variables and input and output fluxes to be included have been selected, and the major hydrological processes and geometries of their interconnections have been identified. The structural identification problem then is to specify the mathematical form of the relationships between the inputs, state variables and outputs, so that a computational model can be constructed for making simulations and/or predictions of system input-state-output behaviour. We show how Bayesian data assimilation can be used to merge both prior beliefs in the form of pre-assumed model equations with information derived from the data to construct a posterior model. The approach, entitled Bayesian Estimation of Structure (BESt), is used to estimate a hydrological model for a small basin in England, at hourly time scales, conditioned on the assumption of 3-dimensional state - soil moisture storage, fast and slow flow stores - conceptual model structure. Inputs to the system are precipitation and potential evapotranspiration, and outputs are actual evapotranspiration and streamflow discharge. Results show the difference between prior and posterior mathematical structures, as well as provide prediction confidence intervals that reflect three types of uncertainty: due to initial conditions, due to input and due to mathematical structure.

  13. Effect of elevation resolution on evapotranspiration simulations using MODFLOW.

    PubMed

    Kambhammettu, B V N P; Schmid, Wolfgang; King, James P; Creel, Bobby J

    2012-01-01

    Surface elevations represented in MODFLOW head-dependent packages are usually derived from digital elevation models (DEMs) that are available at much high resolution. Conventional grid refinement techniques to simulate the model at DEM resolution increases computational time, input file size, and in many cases are not feasible for regional applications. This research aims at utilizing the increasingly available high resolution DEMs for effective simulation of evapotranspiration (ET) in MODFLOW as an alternative to grid refinement techniques. The source code of the evapotranspiration package is modified by considering for a fixed MODFLOW grid resolution and for different DEM resolutions, the effect of variability in elevation data on ET estimates. Piezometric head at each DEM cell location is corrected by considering the gradient along row and column directions. Applicability of the research is tested for the lower Rio Grande (LRG) Basin in southern New Mexico. The DEM at 10 m resolution is aggregated to resampled DEM grid resolutions which are integer multiples of MODFLOW grid resolution. Cumulative outflows and ET rates are compared at different coarse resolution grids. Results of the analysis conclude that variability in depth-to-groundwater within the MODFLOW cell is a major contributing parameter to ET outflows in shallow groundwater regions. DEM aggregation methods for the LRG Basin have resulted in decreased volumetric outflow due to the formation of a smoothing error, which lowered the position of water table to a level below the extinction depth. © 2011, The Author(s). Ground Water © 2011, National Ground Water Association.

  14. Sub-canopy evapotranspiration from floating vegetation and open water in a swamp forest

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Among previous studies, there are large discrepancies in the difference between evapotranspiration from wetland vegetation and evaporation from open water. In this study, we investigate evapotranspiration differences between water and vegetation in a scenario that has otherwise not been extensively ...

  15. Field demonstration of the combined effects of absorption and evapotranspiration on septic system drainfield capacity.

    PubMed

    Rainwater, Ken; Jackson, Andrew; Ingram, Wesley; Lee, Chang Yong; Thompson, David; Mollhagen, Tony; Ramsey, Heyward; Urban, Lloyd

    2005-01-01

    Drainfields for disposal of septic tank effluents are typically designed by considering the loss of water by either upward evapotranspiration into the atmosphere or lateral and downward absorption into the adjacent soil. While this approach is appropriate for evapotranspiration systems, absorption systems allow water loss by both mechanisms. It was proposed that, in areas where high evapotranspiration rates coincide with permeable soils, drainfield sizes could be substantially reduced by accounting for both mechanisms. A two-year field demonstration was conducted to determine appropriate design criteria for areas typical of the Texas High Plains. The study consisted of evaluating the long-term acceptance rates for three different drainfield configurations: evapotranspiration only, absorption only, and combined conditions. A second field demonstration repeated the experiments for additional observation of the combined evapotranspiration and absorption and achieved similar results as the first study. The field tests indicated that the current design loading criteria may be increased by at least a factor of two for the Texas High Plains region and other Texas areas with similar soil composition and evapotranspiration rates, while still retaining a factor of safety of two.

  16. Understanding land surface evapotranspiration with satellite multispectral measurements

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Menenti, M.

    1993-01-01

    Quantitative use of remote multispectral measurements to study and map land surface evapotranspiration has been a challenging issue for the past 20 years. Past work is reviewed against process physics. A simple two-layer combination-type model is used which is applicable to both vegetation and bare soil. The theoretic analysis is done to show which land surface properties are implicitly defined by such evaporation models and to assess whether they are measurable as a matter of principle. Conceptual implications of the spatial correlation of land surface properties, as observed by means of remote multispectral measurements, are illustrated with results of work done in arid zones. A normalization of spatial variability of land surface evaporation is proposed by defining a location-dependent potential evaporation and surface temperature range. Examples of the application of remote based estimates of evaporation to hydrological modeling studies in Egypt and Argentina are presented.

  17. Evaluation of simple model for net radiation estimates above various vegetation covers

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hlavinka, P.; Trnka, M.; Fischer, M.; Kucera, J.; Mozny, M.; Zalud, Z.

    2010-09-01

    The main objective of submitted study was to calibrate and verify the simple model for net radiation (Rn) estimates during the growing periods of selected agricultural crops. In the same time the soil heat flux (G) measurements were analysed. The model needs incoming solar radiation, air temperature, vapor pressure measurements and information about albedo as input. The net radiation is determined as difference between the incoming net shortwave radiation (Rns) and the outgoing net longwave radiation (Rnl). The Rns is estimated from incoming solar radiation using albedo. The Rnl is estimated from daily maximum and minimum temperature, vapour pressure, incoming solar radiation and derived clear-sky radiation. The accuracy of the model was assessed on the basis of radiation balance measurements (by Net radiometer Schenk 8110) at two experimental stations in the Czech Republic (i.e. Polkovice 49°23´ (N), 17°17´ (E), 205 m a.s.l.; Domanínek 49°32´ (N), 16°15´ (E), 544 m a.s.l.) during the years 2009 and 2010. The parameter G was measured by Hukseflux Thermal Sensor HFP01. For the purpose of mentioned analyses the measurements were conducted during the growing season of spring barley, winter wheat, winter rape, grass, poplars and above field after harvest of cereals (after/without tillage). These covers are very common type of surface within agricultural landscape in Central Europe. The enhanced method of Rn and G estimation were then used for the SoilClim model runs. The present version of SoilClim uses very simple algorithm for radiation balance and should be modified to be closer to reality. Namely the estimates of reference evapotranspiration (ETo), actual evapotranspiration (ETa) and soil water content could be substantially improved by this way. Acknowledgement: We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic (no. 521/09/P479) and Research plan No. MSM6215648905 "Biological and technological aspects of sustainability of

  18. Modeling seasonal water balance based on catchments' hedging strategy on evapotranspiration for climate seasonality

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wu, S.; Zhao, J.; Wang, H.

    2017-12-01

    This paper develops a seasonal water balance model based on the hypothesis that natural catchments utilize hedging strategy on evapotranspiration for climate seasonality. According to the monthly aridity index, one year is split into wet season and dry season. A seasonal water balance model is developed by analogy to a two-stage reservoir operation model, in which seasonal rainfall infiltration, evapotranspiration and saturation-excess runoff is corresponding to the inflow, release and surplus of the catchment system. Then the optimal hedging between wet season and dry season evapotranspiration is analytically derived with marginal benefit principle. Water budget data sets of 320 catchments in the United States covering the period from 1980 to 2010 are used to evaluate the performance of this model. The Nash-Sutcliffe Efficiency coefficient for evapotranspiration is higher than 0.5 in 84% of the study catchments; while the runoff is 87%. This paper validates catchments' hedging strategy on evapotranspiration for climate seasonality and shows its potential application for seasonal water balance, which is valuable for water resources planning and management.

  19. Evapotranspiration modelled from stands of three broad-leaved tropical trees in Costa Rica

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bigelow, Seth

    2001-10-01

    To examine the impact of tree species on the water cycle in a wet tropical region, annual evapotranspiration (ET) was estimated in Costa Rican plantations of three native, broad-leaved tree species that contrasted strongly in leaf size, leaf area and phenology. Evapotranspiration was estimated using the Penman-Monteith equation for transpiration from the dry canopy, the equilibrium equation for evaporation from the understory and a modified Rutter model of interception for evaporation of water from the canopy when wetted by rainfall. Canopy conductance was estimated from stomatal conductance, leaf area and leaf boundary-layer conductance; canopy storage capacity and filling rate were estimated from throughfall measurements. Micrometeorological instruments were mounted on a scaffolding tower.Mean stomatal conductance, which ranged from 0·1 to 0·7 mol m-2 s-1, was similar to boundary-layer conductance, 0·1 to 0·5 mol m-2 s-1, indicating decoupling of stomata from atmospheric conditions. Mean canopy conductance varied from 0·6 to 0·7 mol m-2 s-1 in the 1994 wet season then dropped to 0·3-0·4 mol m-2 s-1 in stands of the two deciduous species, Cordia and Cedrela, as a result of reduced leaf area during the dry season. Despite increased understory evaporation, dry-season ET from these stands was only 78-81% of ET in stands of the evergreen species, Hyeronima. Maximum canopy water depth varied from 0·2 to 2·2 mm, causing modelled interception to vary from 6% to 25% of annual ET. Higher dry-season transpiration rates along with high rates of evaporation of intercepted rainfall in all seasons led to 14% higher annual ET in Hyeronima stands (1509 mm) than in stands of the species with lowest ET,

  20. Stream Discharge and Evapotranspiration Responses to Climate Change and Their Associated Uncertainties in a Large Semi-Arid Basin

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bassam, S.; Ren, J.

    2017-12-01

    Predicting future water availability in watersheds is very important for proper water resources management, especially in semi-arid regions with scarce water resources. Hydrological models have been considered as powerful tools in predicting future hydrological conditions in watershed systems in the past two decades. Streamflow and evapotranspiration are the two important components in watershed water balance estimation as the former is the most commonly-used indicator of the overall water budget estimation, and the latter is the second biggest component of water budget (biggest outflow from the system). One of the main concerns in watershed scale hydrological modeling is the uncertainties associated with model prediction, which could arise from errors in model parameters and input meteorological data, or errors in model representation of the physics of hydrological processes. Understanding and quantifying these uncertainties are vital to water resources managers for proper decision making based on model predictions. In this study, we evaluated the impacts of different climate change scenarios on the future stream discharge and evapotranspiration, and their associated uncertainties, throughout a large semi-arid basin using a stochastically-calibrated, physically-based, semi-distributed hydrological model. The results of this study could provide valuable insights in applying hydrological models in large scale watersheds, understanding the associated sensitivity and uncertainties in model parameters, and estimating the corresponding impacts on interested hydrological process variables under different climate change scenarios.

  1. Estimation of crop water requirements using remote sensing for operational water resources management

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Vasiliades, Lampros; Spiliotopoulos, Marios; Tzabiras, John; Loukas, Athanasios; Mylopoulos, Nikitas

    2015-06-01

    An integrated modeling system, developed in the framework of "Hydromentor" research project, is applied to evaluate crop water requirements for operational water resources management at Lake Karla watershed, Greece. The framework includes coupled components for operation of hydrotechnical projects (reservoir operation and irrigation works) and estimation of agricultural water demands at several spatial scales using remote sensing. The study area was sub-divided into irrigation zones based on land use maps derived from Landsat 5 TM images for the year 2007. Satellite-based energy balance for mapping evapotranspiration with internalized calibration (METRIC) was used to derive actual evapotranspiration (ET) and crop coefficient (ETrF) values from Landsat TM imagery. Agricultural water needs were estimated using the FAO method for each zone and each control node of the system for a number of water resources management strategies. Two operational strategies of hydro-technical project development (present situation without operation of the reservoir and future situation with the operation of the reservoir) are coupled with three water demand strategies. In total, eight (8) water management strategies are evaluated and compared. The results show that, under the existing operational water resources management strategies, the crop water requirements are quite large. However, the operation of the proposed hydro-technical projects in Lake Karla watershed coupled with water demand management measures, like improvement of existing water distribution systems, change of irrigation methods, and changes of crop cultivation could alleviate the problem and lead to sustainable and ecological use of water resources in the study area.

  2. Looking for a relevant potential evapotranspiration model at the watershed scale

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Oudin, L.; Hervieu, F.; Michel, C.; Perrin, C.; Anctil, F.; Andréassian, V.

    2003-04-01

    In this paper, we try to identify the most relevant approach to calculate Potential Evapotranspiration (PET) for use in a daily watershed model, to try to bring an answer to the following question: "how can we use commonly available atmospheric parameters to represent the evaporative demand at the catchment scale?". Hydrologists generally see the Penman model as the ideal model regarding to its good adequacy with lysimeter measurements and its physically-based formulation. However, in real-world engineering situations, where meteorological stations are scarce, hydrologists are often constrained to use other PET formulae with less data requirements or/and long-term average of PET values (the rationale being that PET is an inherently conservative variable). We chose to test 28 commonly used PET models coupled with 4 different daily watershed models. For each test, we compare both PET input options: actual data and long-term average data. The comparison is made in terms of streamflow simulation efficiency, over a large sample of 308 watersheds. The watersheds are located in France, Australia and the United States of America and represent varied climates. Strikingly, we find no systematic improvements of the watershed model efficiencies when using actual PET series instead of long-term averages. This suggests either that watershed models may not conveniently use the climatic information contained in PET values or that formulae are only awkward indicators of the real PET which watershed models need.

  3. Evaluating ET estimates from the Simplified Surface Energy Balance (SSEB) model using METRIC model output

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Senay, G. B.; Budde, M. E.; Allen, R. G.; Verdin, J. P.

    2008-12-01

    Evapotranspiration (ET) is an important component of the hydrologic budget because it expresses the exchange of mass and energy between the soil-water-vegetation system and the atmosphere. Since direct measurement of ET is difficult, various modeling methods are used to estimate actual ET (ETa). Generally, the choice of method for ET estimation depends on the objective of the study and is further limited by the availability of data and desired accuracy of the ET estimate. Operational monitoring of crop performance requires processing large data sets and a quick response time. A Simplified Surface Energy Balance (SSEB) model was developed by the U.S. Geological Survey's Famine Early Warning Systems Network to estimate irrigation water use in remote places of the world. In this study, we evaluated the performance of the SSEB model with the METRIC (Mapping Evapotranspiration at high Resolution and with Internalized Calibration) model that has been evaluated by several researchers using the Lysimeter data. The METRIC model has been proven to provide reliable ET estimates in different regions of the world. Reference ET fractions of both models (ETrF of METRIC vs. ETf of SSEB) were generated and compared using individual Landsat thermal images collected from 2000 though 2005 in Idaho, New Mexico, and California. In addition, the models were compared using monthly and seasonal total ETa estimates. The SSEB model reproduced both the spatial and temporal variability exhibited by METRIC on land surfaces, explaining up to 80 percent of the spatial variability. However, the ETa estimates over water bodies were systematically higher in the SSEB output, which could be improved by using a correction coefficient to take into account the absorption of solar energy by deeper water layers that has little contribution to the ET process. This study demonstrated the usefulness of the SSEB method for large-scale agro-hydrologic applications for operational monitoring and assessing of

  4. Sensitivity of potential evapotranspiration estimation to the Thornthwaite and Penman-Monteith methods in the study of global drylands

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yang, Qing; Ma, Zhuguo; Zheng, Ziyan; Duan, Yawen

    2017-12-01

    Drylands are among those regions most sensitive to climate and environmental changes and human-induced perturbations. The most widely accepted definition of the term dryland is a ratio, called the Surface Wetness Index (SWI), of annual precipitation to potential evapotranspiration (PET) being below 0.65. PET is commonly estimated using the Thornthwaite (PET Th) and Penman-Monteith equations (PET PM). The present study compared spatiotemporal characteristics of global drylands based on the SWI with PET Th and PET PM. Results showed vast differences between PET Th and PET PM; however, the SWI derived from the two kinds of PET showed broadly similar characteristics in the interdecadal variability of global and continental drylands, except in North America, with high correlation coefficients ranging from 0.58 to 0.89. It was found that, during 1901-2014, global hyper-arid and semi-arid regions expanded, arid and dry sub-humid regions contracted, and drylands underwent interdecadal fluctuation. This was because precipitation variations made major contributions, whereas PET changes contributed to a much lesser degree. However, distinct differences in the interdecadal variability of semi-arid and dry sub-humid regions were found. This indicated that the influence of PET changes was comparable to that of precipitation variations in the global dry-wet transition zone. Additionally, the contribution of PET changes to the variations in global and continental drylands gradually enhanced with global warming, and the Thornthwaite method was found to be increasingly less applicable under climate change.

  5. Downscaling Coarse Actual ET Data Using Land Surface Resistance

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Shen, T.

    2017-12-01

    This study proposed a new approach of downscaling ETWATCH 1km actual evapotranspiration (ET) product to a spatial resolution of 30m using land surface resistance that simulated mainly from monthly Landsat8 data and Jarvis method, which combined the benefits of both high temporal resolution of ETWATCH product and fine spatial resolution of Landsat8. The driving factor, surface resistance (Rs), was chosen for the reason that could reflect the transfer ability of vapor flow over canopy. Combined resistance Rs both upon canopy conditions, atmospheric factors and available water content of soil, which remains stable inside one ETWATCH pixel (1km). In this research, we used ETWATCH 1km ten-day actual ET product from April to October in a total of twenty-one images and monthly 30 meters cloud-free NDVI of 2013 (two images from HJ as a substitute due to cloud contamination) combined meteorological indicators for downscaling. A good agreement and correlation were obtained between the downscaled data and three flux sites observation in the middle reach of Heihe basin. The downscaling results show good consistency with the original ETWATCH 1km data both temporal and spatial scale over different land cover types with R2 ranged from 0.8 to 0.98. Besides, downscaled result captured the progression of vegetation transpiration well. This study proved the practicability of new downscaling method in the water resource management.

  6. Combining eddy-covariance measurements and Penman-Monteith type models to estimate evapotranspiration of flooded and aerobic rice

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Facchi, Arianna; Masseroni, Daniele; Gharsallah, Olfa; Gandolfi, Claudio

    2014-05-01

    Rice is of great importance both from a food supply point of view, since it represents the main food in the diet of over half the world's population, and from a water resources point of view, since it consumes almost 40% of the water amount used for irrigation. About 90% of global production takes place in Asia, while European production is quantitatively modest (about 3 million tons). However, Italy is the Europe's leading producer, with over half of total production, almost totally concentrated in a large traditional paddy rice area between the Lombardy and Piedmont regions, in the north-western part of the country. In this area, irrigation of rice is traditionally carried out by continuous flooding. The high water requirement of this irrigation regime encourages the introduction of water saving irrigation practices, as flood irrigation after sowing in dry soil and intermittent irrigation (aerobic rice). In the agricultural season 2013 an intense monitoring activity was conducted on three experimental fields located in the Padana plain (northern Italy) and characterized by different irrigation regimes (traditional flood irrigation, flood irrigation after sowing in dry soil, intermittent irrigation), with the aim of comparing the water balance terms for the three irrigation treatments. Actual evapotranspiration (ET) is one of the terms, but, unlike others water balance components, its field monitoring requires expensive instrumentation. This work explores the possibility of using only one eddy covariance system and Penman-Monteith (PM) type models for the determination of ET fluxes for the three irrigation regimes. An eddy covariance station was installed on the levee between the traditional flooded and the aerobic rice fields, to contemporaneously monitor the ET fluxes from this two treatments as a function of the wind direction. A detailed footprint analysis was conducted - through the application of three different analytical models - to determine the position

  7. Daily reference crop evapotranspiration in the humid environments of Azores islands using reduced data sets: accuracy of FAO-PM temperature and Hargreaves-Samani methods

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Paredes, P.; Fontes, J. C.; Azevedo, E. B.; Pereira, L. S.

    2017-11-01

    Reference crop evapotranspiration (ETo) estimations using the FAO Penman-Monteith equation (PM-ETo) require several weather variables that are often not available. Then, ETo may be computed with procedures proposed in FAO56, either using the PM-ETo equation with temperature estimates of actual vapor pressure (e a) and solar radiation (R s), and default wind speed values (u 2), the PMT method, or using the Hargreaves-Samani equation (HS). The accuracy of estimates of daily e a, R s, and u 2 is provided in a companion paper (Paredes et al. 2017) applied to data of 20 locations distributed through eight islands of Azores, thus focusing on humid environments. Both estimation procedures using the PMT method (ETo PMT) and the HS equation (ETo HS) were assessed by statistically comparing their results with those obtained for the PM-ETo with data of the same 20 locations. Results show that both approaches provide for accurate ETo estimations, with RMSE for PMT ranging 0.48-0.73 mm day-1 and for HS varying 0.47-0.86 mm day-1. It was observed that ETo PMT is linearly related with PM-ETo, while non-linearity was observed for ETo HS in weather stations located at high elevation. Impacts of wind were not important for HS but required proper adjustments in the case of PMT. Results show that the PMT approach is more accurate than HS. Moreover, PMT allows the use of observed variables together with estimators of the missing ones, which improves the accuracy of the PMT approach. The preference for the PMT method, fully based upon the PM-ETo equation, is therefore obvious.

  8. Airborne and ground-based remote sensing for the estimation of evapotranspiration and yield of bean, potato, and sugar beet crops

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jayanthi, Harikishan

    The focus of this research was two-fold: (1) extend the reflectance-based crop coefficient approach to non-grain (potato and sugar beet), and vegetable crops (bean), and (2) develop vegetation index (VI)-yield statistical models for potato and sugar beet crops using high-resolution aerial multispectral imagery. Extensive crop biophysical sampling (leaf area index and aboveground dry biomass sampling) and canopy reflectance measurements formed the backbone of developing of canopy reflectance-based crop coefficients for bean, potato, and sugar beet crops in this study. Reflectance-based crop coefficient equations were developed for the study crops cultivated in Kimberly, Idaho, and subsequently used in water availability simulations in the plant root zone during 1998 and 1999 seasons. The simulated soil water profiles were compared with independent measurements of actual soil water profiles in the crop root zone in selected fields. It is concluded that the canopy reflectance-based crop coefficient technique can be successfully extended to non-grain crops as well. While the traditional basal crop coefficients generally expect uniform growth in a region the reflectance-based crop coefficients represent the actual crop growth pattern (in less than ideal water availability conditions) in individual fields. Literature on crop canopy interactions with sunlight states that there is a definite correspondence between leaf area index progression in the season and the final yield. In case of crops like potato and sugar beet, the yield is influenced not only on how early and how quickly the crop establishes its canopy but also on how long the plant stands on the ground in a healthy state. The integrated area under the crop growth curve has shown excellent correlations with hand-dug samples of potato and sugar beet crops in this research. Soil adjusted vegetation index-yield models were developed, and validated using multispectral aerial imagery. Estimated yield images were

  9. A scaling approach to Budyko's framework and the complementary relationship of evapotranspiration in humid environments: case study of the Amazon River basin

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Carmona, A. M.; Poveda, G.; Sivapalan, M.; Vallejo-Bernal, S. M.; Bustamante, E.

    2016-02-01

    This paper studies a 3-D state space representation of Budyko's framework designed to capture the mutual interdependence among long-term mean actual evapotranspiration (E), potential evapotranspiration (Ep) and precipitation (P). For this purpose we use three dimensionless and dependent quantities: Ψ = E ⁄ P, Φ = Ep ⁄ P and Ω = E ⁄ Ep. This 3-D space and its 2-D projections provide an interesting setting to test the physical soundness of Budyko's hypothesis. We demonstrate analytically that Budyko-type equations are unable to capture the physical limit of the relation between Ω and Φ in humid environments, owing to the unfeasibility of Ep ⁄ P = 0 when E ⁄ Ep → 1. Using data from 146 sub-catchments in the Amazon River basin we overcome this inconsistency by proposing a physically consistent power law: Ψ = kΦe, with k = 0.66, and e = 0.83 (R2 = 0.93). This power law is compared with two other Budyko-type equations. Taking into account the goodness of fits and the ability to comply with the physical limits of the 3-D space, our results show that the power law is better suited to model the coupled water and energy balances within the Amazon River basin. Moreover, k is found to be related to the partitioning of energy via evapotranspiration in terms of Ω. This suggests that our power law implicitly incorporates the complementary relationship of evapotranspiration into the Budyko curve, which is a consequence of the dependent nature of the studied variables within our 3-D space. This scaling approach is also consistent with the asymmetrical nature of the complementary relationship of evapotranspiration. Looking for a physical explanation for the parameters k and e, the inter-annual variability of individual catchments is studied. Evidence of space-time symmetry in Amazonia emerges, since both between-catchment and between-year variability follow the same Budyko curves. Finally, signs of co-evolution of catchments are explored by

  10. A scaling approach to Budyko's framework and the complementary relationship of evapotranspiration in humid environments: case study of the Amazon River basin

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Carmona, A. M.; Poveda, G.; Sivapalan, M.; Vallejo-Bernal, S. M.; Bustamante, E.

    2015-10-01

    This paper studies a 3-D generalization of Budyko's framework designed to capture the mutual interdependence among long-term mean actual evapotranspiration (E), potential evapotranspiration (Ep) and precipitation (P). For this purpose we use three dimensionless and dependent quantities: Ψ = E/P, Φ = Ep/P and Ω = E/Ep. This 3-D space and its 2-D projections provide an interesting setting to test the physical soundness of Budyko's hypothesis. We demonstrate analytically that Budyko-type equations are unable to capture the physical limit of the relation between Ω and Φ in humid environments, owing to the unfeasibility of Ep/P → 0 at E/Ep = 1. Using data from 146 sub-catchments in the Amazon River basin we overcome this inconsistency by proposing a physically consistent power law: Ψ = k Φe, with k = 0.66, and e = 0.83 (R2 = 0.93). This power law is compared with two other Budyko-type equations. Taking into account the goodness of fits and the ability to comply with the physical limits of the 3-D space, our results show that the power law is better suited to model the coupled water and energy balances within the Amazon River basin. Moreover, k is found to be related to the partitioning of energy via evapotranspiration in terms of Ω. This suggests that our power law implicitly incorporates the complementary relationship of evapotranspiration into the Budyko curve, which is a consequence of the dependent nature of the studied variables within our 3-D space. This scaling approach is also consistent with the asymmetrical nature of the complementary relationship of evapotranspiration. Looking for a physical explanation for the parameters k and e, the inter-annual variability of individual catchments is studied. Evidence of space-time symmetry in Amazonia emerges, since both between-catchment and between-year variability follow the same Budyko curves. Finally, signs of co-evolution of catchments are explored by linking spatial patterns of the power law parameters

  11. Technique of estimation of actual strength of a gas pipeline section at its deformation in landslide action zone

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Tcherni, V.P.

    1996-12-31

    The technique is given which permits determination of stress and strain state (SSS) and estimation of actual strength of a section of a buried main gas pipeline (GP) in the case of its deformation in a landslide action zone. The technique is based on the use of three-dimensional coordinates of axial points of the deformed GP section. These coordinates are received by a full-scale survey. The deformed axis of the surveyed GP section is described by the polynomial. The unknown coefficients of the polynomial can be determined from the boundary conditions at points of connection with contiguous undeformed sections asmore » well as by use of minimization methods in mathematical processing of full-scale survey results. The resulting form of GP section`s axis allows one to determine curvatures and, accordingly, bending moments along all the length of the considered section. The influence of soil resistance to longitudinal displacements of a pipeline is used to determine longitudinal forces. Resulting values of bending moments and axial forces as well as the known value of internal pressure are used to analyze all necessary components of an actual SSS of pipeline section and to estimate its strength by elastic analysis.« less

  12. The role of remotely-sensed evapotranspiration data in watershed water resources management

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Shuster, W.; Carroll, M.; Zhang, Y.

    2006-12-01

    Evapotranspiration (ET) is an important component of the watershed hydrologic cycle and a key factor to consider in water resource planning. Partly due to the loss of evaporation pans from the national network in the 1980s because of budget cuts, ET values are not available in many locations in the US and practitioners often have to rely on the climatically averaged regional estimates instead. Several new approaches have been developed for estimating ET via remote sensing. In this study we employ one established approach that allows us to derive ET estimates on 1 km2 resolution on the basis of AVHRR brightness temperature. By applying this method to southwestern Ohio we obtain ET estimates for a 2 km2 partially suburban watershed near Cincinnati, OH. Along with precipitation and surface discharge measurements, these remotely-sensed ET estimates form the basis for determining both long and short term water budgets for this watershed. These ET estimates are next compared with regional climatic values on a seasonal basis to examine the potential differences that can be introduced to our conceptualization of the watershed processes by considering area- specific ET values. We then discuss implications of this work for more widespread application to watershed management imperatives (e.g., stream ecological health).

  13. Retrieving air humidity, global solar radiation, and reference evapotranspiration from daily temperatures: development and validation of new methods for Mexico. Part III: reference evapotranspiration

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lobit, P.; Gómez Tagle, A.; Bautista, F.; Lhomme, J. P.

    2017-07-01

    We evaluated two methods to estimate evapotranspiration (ETo) from minimal weather records (daily maximum and minimum temperatures) in Mexico: a modified reduced set FAO-Penman-Monteith method (Allen et al. 1998, Rome, Italy) and the Hargreaves and Samani (Appl Eng Agric 1(2): 96-99, 1985) method. In the reduced set method, the FAO-Penman-Monteith equation was applied with vapor pressure and radiation estimated from temperature data using two new models (see first and second articles in this series): mean temperature as the average of maximum and minimum temperature corrected for a constant bias and constant wind speed. The Hargreaves-Samani method combines two empirical relationships: one between diurnal temperature range ΔT and shortwave radiation Rs, and another one between average temperature and the ratio ETo/Rs: both relationships were evaluated and calibrated for Mexico. After performing a sensitivity analysis to evaluate the impact of different approximations on the estimation of Rs and ETo, several model combinations were tested to predict ETo from daily maximum and minimum temperature alone. The quality of fit of these models was evaluated on 786 weather stations covering most of the territory of Mexico. The best method was found to be a combination of the FAO-Penman-Monteith reduced set equation with the new radiation estimation and vapor pressure model. As an alternative, a recalibration of the Hargreaves-Samani equation is proposed.

  14. Influence of land-surface evapotranspiration on the earth's climate

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Shukla, J.; Mintz, Y.

    1982-01-01

    Land-surface evapotranspiration is shown to strongly influence global fields of rainfall, temperature and motion by calculations using a numerical model of the atmosphere, confirming the general belief in the importance of evapotranspiration-producing surface vegetation for the earth's climate. The current version of the Goddard Laboratory atmospheric general circulation model is used in the present experiment, in which conservation equations for mass, momentum, moisture and energy are expressed in finite-difference form for a spherical grid to calculate (1) surface pressure field evolution, and (2) the wind, temperature, and water vapor fields at nine levels between the surface and a 20 km height.

  15. Spatially Distributed Assimilation of Remotely Sensed Leaf Area Index and Potential Evapotranspiration for Hydrologic Modeling in Wetland Landscapes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rajib, A.; Evenson, G. R.; Golden, H. E.; Lane, C.

    2017-12-01

    Evapotranspiration (ET), a highly dynamic flux in wetland landscapes, regulates the accuracy of surface/sub-surface runoff simulation in a hydrologic model. Accordingly, considerable uncertainty in simulating ET-related processes remains, including our limited ability to incorporate realistic ground conditions, particularly those involved with complex land-atmosphere feedbacks, vegetation growth, and energy balances. Uncertainty persists despite using high resolution topography and/or detailed land use data. Thus, a good hydrologic model can produce right answers for wrong reasons. In this study, we develop an efficient approach for multi-variable assimilation of remotely sensed earth observations (EOs) into a hydrologic model and apply it in the 1700 km2 Pipestem Creek watershed in the Prairie Pothole Region of North Dakota, USA. Our goal is to employ EOs, specifically Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Potential Evapotranspiration (PET), as surrogates for the aforementioned processes without overruling the model's built-in physical/semi-empirical process conceptualizations. To do this, we modified the source code of an already-improved version of the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) for wetland hydrology (Evenson et al. 2016 HP 30(22):4168) to directly assimilate remotely-sensed LAI and PET (obtained from the 500 m and 1 km Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) gridded products, respectively) into each model Hydrologic Response Unit (HRU). Two configurations of the model, one with and one without EO assimilation, are calibrated against streamflow observations at the watershed outlet. Spatio-temporal changes in the HRU-level water balance, based on calibrated outputs, are evaluated using MODIS Actual Evapotranspiration (AET) as a reference. It is expected that the model configuration having remotely sensed LAI and PET, will simulate more realistic land-atmosphere feedbacks, vegetation growth and energy balance. As a result, this will decrease simulated

  16. NASA GLDAS Evapotranspiration Data and Climatology

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Rui, Hualan; Beaudoing, Hiroko Kato; Teng, William L.; Vollmer, Bruce; Rodell, Matthew

    2012-01-01

    Evapotranspiration (ET) is the water lost to the atmosphere by evaporation and transpiration. ET is a shared component in the energy and water budget, therefore, a critical variable for global energy and water cycle and climate change studies. However, direct ET measurements and data acquisition are difficult and expensive, especially at the global level. Therefore, modeling is one common alternative for estimating ET. With the goal to generate optimal fields of land surface states and fluxes, the Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) has been generating quality-controlled, spatially and temporally consistent, terrestrial hydrologic data, including ET and other variables that affect evaporation and transpiration, such as temperature, precipitation, humidity, wind, soil moisture, heat flux, and solar radiation. This poster presents the long-term ET climatology (mean and monthly), derived from the 61-year GLDAS-2 monthly 1.0 deg x 1.0 deg. NOAH model Experiment-1 data, and describes the basic characteristics of spatial and seasonal variations of the climatology. The time series of GLDAS-2 precipitation and radiation, and ET are also discussed to show the improvement of GLDAS-2 forcing data and model output over those from GLDAS-1.

  17. Measuring forest evapotranspiration--theory and problems

    Treesearch

    Anthony C. Federer; Anthony C. Federer

    1970-01-01

    A satisfactory general method of measuring forest evapotranspiration has yet to be developed. Many procedures have been tried, but only the soil-water budget method and the micrometeorological methods offer any degree of success. This paper is a discussion of these procedures and the problems that arise in applying them. It is designed as a reference for scientists and...

  18. On the coupled use of eddy covariance, sap flow sensors and remote sensing information for Evapotranspiration estimates in a typical heterogeneous Mediterranean ecosystem.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Corona, R.; Montaldo, N.

    2017-12-01

    Mediterranean ecosystems are typically heterogeneous, with contrasting plant functional types (PFT, woody vegetation and grass) that compete for water use. Due to the complexity of these ecosystems there is still uncertainty on the estimate of the evapotranspiration (ET). Micrometerological measurements (e.g. eddy covariance method based, EC ) are widely used for ET estimate, but in heterogeneous systems one of the main assumption (surface homogeneity) is not preserved and the method may become less robust. In this sense, the coupled use of sap flow sensors for tree transpiration estimate, surface temperature sensors, remote sensing information for land surface characterization allow to estimate the ET components and the energy balances of the three main land surface components (woody vegetation, grass and bare soil), overtaking the EC method uncertainties. The experimental site of Orroli, in Sardinia (Italy), is a typical Mediterranean heterogeneous ecosystem, monitored from the University of Cagliari since 2003. With the intent to perform an intensive field campaign for the ET estimation, we verified the potentiality of coupling eddy covariance (EC) method, infrared sensors and thermal dissipation methods (i.e. sap flow technique) for tree transpiration estimate. As a first step 3 commercial sap flux sensors were installed in a wild olive clump where the skin temperature of one tree in the clump was monitored with an infrared transducer. Then, other 54 handmade sensors were installed in 14 clumps in the EC footprint. Measurements of diameter were recorded in all the clumps and the sapwood depth was derived from measurements in several trees. The field ET estimation from the 4 commercial sensors was obtained assuming 4 different relationship between the monitored sap flux and the diameter of the species in the footprint. Instead for the 54 handmade sensors a scaling procedure was applied based on the allometric relationships between sapwood area, diameter and

  19. Satellite-derived potential evapotranspiration for distributed hydrologic runoff modeling

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Spies, R. R.; Franz, K. J.; Bowman, A.; Hogue, T. S.; Kim, J.

    2012-12-01

    Distributed models have the ability of incorporating spatially variable data, especially high resolution forcing inputs such as precipitation, temperature and evapotranspiration in hydrologic modeling. Use of distributed hydrologic models for operational streamflow prediction has been partially hindered by a lack of readily available, spatially explicit input observations. Potential evapotranspiration (PET), for example, is currently accounted for through PET input grids that are based on monthly climatological values. The goal of this study is to assess the use of satellite-based PET estimates that represent the temporal and spatial variability, as input to the National Weather Service (NWS) Hydrology Laboratory Research Distributed Hydrologic Model (HL-RDHM). Daily PET grids are generated for six watersheds in the upper Mississippi River basin using a method that applies only MODIS satellite-based observations and the Priestly Taylor formula (MODIS-PET). The use of MODIS-PET grids will be tested against the use of the current climatological PET grids for simulating basin discharge. Gridded surface temperature forcing data are derived by applying the inverse distance weighting spatial prediction method to point-based station observations from the Automated Surface Observing System (ASOS) and Automated Weather Observing System (AWOS). Precipitation data are obtained from the Climate Prediction Center's (CPC) Climatology-Calibrated Precipitation Analysis (CCPA). A-priori gridded parameters for the Sacramento Soil Moisture Accounting Model (SAC-SMA), Snow-17 model, and routing model are initially obtained from the Office of Hydrologic Development and further calibrated using an automated approach. The potential of the MODIS-PET to be used in an operational distributed modeling system will be assessed with the long-term goal of promoting research to operations transfers and advancing the science of hydrologic forecasting.

  20. A review of approaches for evapotranspiration partitioning

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Partitioning of evapotranspiration (ET) into evaporation from the soil surface (E) and transpiration (T) is challenging but important in order to assess biomass production and the allocation of increasingly scarce water resources. Generally T is the desired component with the water being used to enh...

  1. Calculation of evapotranspiration: Recursive and explicit methods

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Crop yield is proportional to crop evapotranspiration (ETc) and it is important to calculate ETc correctly. Methods to calculate ETc have combined empirical and theoretical approaches. The combination method was used to calculate potential ETp. It is a combination method because it combined the ener...

  2. Estimated winter wheat yield from crop growth predicted by LANDSAT

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Kanemasu, E. T.

    1977-01-01

    An evapotranspiration and growth model for winter wheat is reported. The inputs are daily solar radiation, maximum temperature, minimum temperature, precipitation/irrigation and leaf area index. The meteorological data were obtained from National Weather Service while LAI was obtained from LANDSAT multispectral scanner. The output provides daily estimates of potential evapotranspiration, transpiration, evaporation, soil moisture (50 cm depth), percentage depletion, net photosynthesis and dry matter production. Winter wheat yields are correlated with transpiration and dry matter accumulation.

  3. Disentangling climatic and anthropogenic controls on global terrestrial evapotranspiration trends

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Mao, Jiafu; Shi, Xiaoying; Ricciuto, Daniel M.

    Here, we examined natural and anthropogenic controls on terrestrial evapotranspiration (ET) changes from 1982-2010 using multiple estimates from remote sensing-based datasets and process-oriented land surface models. A significant increased trend of ET in each hemisphere was consistently revealed by observationally-constrained data and multi-model ensembles that considered historic natural and anthropogenic drivers. The climate impacts were simulated to determine the spatiotemporal variations in ET. Globally, rising CO 2 ranked second in these models after the predominant climatic influences, and yielded a decreasing trend in canopy transpiration and ET, especially for tropical forests and high-latitude shrub land. Increased nitrogen deposition slightly amplifiedmore » global ET via enhanced plant growth. Land-use-induced ET responses, albeit with substantial uncertainties across the factorial analysis, were minor globally, but pronounced locally, particularly over regions with intensive land-cover changes. Our study highlights the importance of employing multi-stream ET and ET-component estimates to quantify the strengthening anthropogenic fingerprint in the global hydrologic cycle.« less

  4. Disentangling climatic and anthropogenic controls on global terrestrial evapotranspiration trends

    DOE PAGES

    Mao, Jiafu; Shi, Xiaoying; Ricciuto, Daniel M.; ...

    2015-09-08

    Here, we examined natural and anthropogenic controls on terrestrial evapotranspiration (ET) changes from 1982-2010 using multiple estimates from remote sensing-based datasets and process-oriented land surface models. A significant increased trend of ET in each hemisphere was consistently revealed by observationally-constrained data and multi-model ensembles that considered historic natural and anthropogenic drivers. The climate impacts were simulated to determine the spatiotemporal variations in ET. Globally, rising CO 2 ranked second in these models after the predominant climatic influences, and yielded a decreasing trend in canopy transpiration and ET, especially for tropical forests and high-latitude shrub land. Increased nitrogen deposition slightly amplifiedmore » global ET via enhanced plant growth. Land-use-induced ET responses, albeit with substantial uncertainties across the factorial analysis, were minor globally, but pronounced locally, particularly over regions with intensive land-cover changes. Our study highlights the importance of employing multi-stream ET and ET-component estimates to quantify the strengthening anthropogenic fingerprint in the global hydrologic cycle.« less

  5. Variability in understory evapotranspiration with overstory density in Siberian larch forests

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tobio, A.; Loranty, M. M.; Kropp, H.; Pena, H., III; Alexander, H. D.; Natali, S.; Kholodov, A. L.

    2016-12-01

    Arctic ecosystems are changing rapidly in response to amplified rates of climate change. Increased vegetation productivity, altered ecosystem carbon and hydrologic cycling, and increased wildfire severity are among the key responses to changing permafrost and climate conditions. Boreal larch forests in northeastern Siberia are a critical but understudied ecosystem affected by these modifications. Understory vegetation in these ecosystems, which typically have low canopy cover, may account for half of all water fluxes. Despite the potential importance of the understory for ecosystem water exchange, there has been relatively little research examining variability in understory evapotranspiration in boreal larch forests. In particular, the water balance of understory shrubs and mosses is largely undefined and could provide insight on how understory vegetation and our changing climate interact. This is especially important because both observed increases in vegetation productivity and wildfire severity could lead to increases in forests density, altering the proportional contributions of over- and understory vegetation to whole ecosystem evapotranspiration. In order to better understand variability in understory evapotranspiration we measured in larch forests with differing overstory density and permafrost conditions that likely vary as a consequence of fire severity. We used the static chamber technique to measure fluxes across a range of understory vegetation types and environmental conditions. In general, we found that the understory vegetation in low density stands transpires more than that in high density stands. This tends to be correlated with a larger amount of aboveground biomass in the low density stands, and an increase in solar radiation, due to less shading by overstory trees. These results will help us to better understand water balances, evapotranspiration variability, and productivity changes associated with climate on understory vegetation. Additionally

  6. Global fields of soil moisture and land surface evapotranspiration derived from observed precipitation and surface air temperature

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Mintz, Y.; Walker, G. K.

    1993-01-01

    The global fields of normal monthly soil moisture and land surface evapotranspiration are derived with a simple water budget model that has precipitation and potential evapotranspiration as inputs. The precipitation is observed and the potential evapotranspiration is derived from the observed surface air temperature with the empirical regression equation of Thornthwaite (1954). It is shown that at locations where the net surface radiation flux has been measured, the potential evapotranspiration given by the Thornthwaite equation is in good agreement with those obtained with the radiation-based formulations of Priestley and Taylor (1972), Penman (1948), and Budyko (1956-1974), and this provides the justification for the use of the Thornthwaite equation. After deriving the global fields of soil moisture and evapotranspiration, the assumption is made that the potential evapotranspiration given by the Thornthwaite equation and by the Priestley-Taylor equation will everywhere be about the same; the inverse of the Priestley-Taylor equation is used to obtain the normal monthly global fields of net surface radiation flux minus ground heat storage. This and the derived evapotranspiration are then used in the equation for energy conservation at the surface of the earth to obtain the global fields of normal monthly sensible heat flux from the land surface to the atmosphere.

  7. Can the complementary relationship between actual and potential evaporation be used to quantify heatwaves?

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Aminzadeh, Milad; Or, Dani

    2017-04-01

    Extreme climate events such as heatwaves with prolonged periods of high air temperatures have large environmental, social, and economic impacts ranging from crop failure to health and desiccation damages. Periods of low precipitation with high temperatures decrease soil moisture storage and thus affect surface energy partitioning. The heuristic concepts in the basis of the Complementary Relationship (CR) suggest that a fraction of radiative energy not used for evaporation contributes to increased sensible heat flux thus heats near-surface atmosphere. We have recently generalized the CR framework for spatially heterogeneous landscapes thereby enable prediction of actual evapotranspiration (ET) from routine atmospheric measurements. Capitalizing on the coupling between moisture availability, actual ET and sensible heat flux we propose using the CR to predict conditions conducive to rapid increase in regional sensible heat flux associated with the onset of extreme heatwaves. The proposed framework is evaluated using satellite surface temperature and FLUXNET data with newly derived metrics for the onset of heatwaves. The concepts could be extended to obtain new insights into the dynamics of more persistent climate extremes such as regional droughts.

  8. Investigating the Gap Between Estimated and Actual Energy Efficiency and Conservation Savings for Public Buildings Projects & Programs in United States

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Qaddus, Muhammad Kamil

    The gap between estimated and actual savings in energy efficiency and conservation (EE&C) projects or programs forms the problem statement for the scope of public and government buildings. This gap has been analyzed first on impact and then on process-level. On the impact-level, the methodology leads to categorization of the gap as 'Realization Gap'. It then views the categorization of gap within the context of past and current narratives linked to realization gap. On process-level, the methodology leads to further analysis of realization gap on process evaluation basis. The process evaluation criterion, a product of this basis is then applied to two different programs (DESEU and NYC ACE) linked to the scope of this thesis. Utilizing the synergies of impact and process level analysis, it offers proposals on program development and its structure using our process evaluation criterion. Innovative financing and benefits distribution structure is thus developed and will remain part of the proposal. Restricted Stakeholder Crowd Financing and Risk-Free Incentivized return are the products of proposed financing and benefit distribution structure respectively. These products are then complimented by proposing an alternative approach in estimating EE&C savings. The approach advocates estimation based on range-allocation rather than currently utilized unique estimated savings approach. The Way Ahead section thus explores synergy between financial and engineering ranges of energy savings as a multi-discipline approach for future research. Moreover, it provides the proposed program structure with risk aversion and incentive allocation while dealing with uncertainty. This set of new approaches are believed to better fill the realization gap between estimated and actual energy efficiency savings.

  9. Mothers' and Teachers' Estimations of First Graders' Literacy Level and Their Relation to the Children's Actual Performance in Different SES Groups

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Korat, Ofra

    2011-01-01

    The relationship between mothers' and teachers' estimations of 60 children's literacy level and their actual performance were investigated in two different socio-economic status (SES) groups: low (LSES) and high (HSES). The children's reading (fluency, accuracy and comprehension) and spelling levels were measured. The mothers evaluated their own…

  10. Amazon river basin evapotranspiration and its influence on the rainfall in southern Brazil

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Folegatti, M. V.; Wolff, W.

    2017-12-01

    Amazon river basin (ARB) presents a positive water balance, i.e. the precipitation is higher than evapotranspiration. Regarding the regional circulation, ARB evapotranspiration represents an important source of humidity for the South of Brazil. Thus, the aim of this work is to answer the question: how much is the correlation between ARB evapotranspiration and rainfall in South of Brazil? The shapefiles data of ARB and countries/states boundary were obtained through the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE), respectively. According to rasters data, the precipitation was obtained from study of Numerical Terradynamic Simulation Group (NTSG) for images of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), under code MOD16A2, whereas rasters data for evapotranspiration were obtained from National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) by Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission Multi-Satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA), under code 3B43_V7. The products MOD16A2 and 3B43_V7 have a respective spatial resolution of 0.5º and 0.25º, and a monthly temporal resolution from January/2000 to December/2014. For ARB and South region of Brazil was calculated the mean evapotranspiration and mean precipitation through the pixels within of the respective polygons. To answer the question of this work was performed the cross-correlation analysis between these time series. We observed the highest value for the lag that corresponds the begin of spring (October), being 0.3 approximately. As a result, the mean precipitation on South region of Brazil during spring and summer was in the order of 15% to 30 %, explained by ARB evapotranspiration. For this reason, the maintenance of ARB is extremely important for water resource grant in South of Brazil.

  11. Multi-scales and multi-satellites estimates of evapotranspiration with a residual energy balance model in the Muzza agricultural district in Northern Italy

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Corbari, C.; Bissolati, M.; Mancini, M.

    2015-05-01

    Evapotranspiration estimates were performed with a residual energy balance model (REB) over an agricultural area using remote sensing data. REB uses land surface temperature (LST) as main input parameter so that energy fluxes were computed instantaneously at the time of data acquisition. Data from MODIS and SEVIRI sensors were used and downscaling techniques were implemented to improve their spatial resolutions. Energy fluxes at the original spatial resolutions (1000 m for MODIS and 5000 m for SEVIRI) as well as at the downscaled resolutions (250 m for MODIS and 1000 m for SEVIRI) were calculated with the REB model. Ground eddy covariance data and remote sensing information from the Muzza agricultural irrigation district in Italy from 2010 to 2012 gave the opportunity to validate and compare spatially distributed energy fluxes. The model outputs matched quite well ground observations when ground LST data were used, while differences increased when MODIS and SEVIRI LST were used. The spatial analysis revealed significant differences between the two sensors both in term of LST (around 2.8 °C) and of latent heat fluxes with values (around 100 W m-2).

  12. Contrasting patterns of groundwater evapotranspiration in grass and tree dominated riparian zones of a temperate agricultural catchment

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Satchithanantham, Sanjayan; Wilson, Henry F.; Glenn, Aaron J.

    2017-06-01

    Consumptive use of shallow groundwater by phreatophytic vegetation is a significant part of the water budget in many regions, particularly in riparian areas. The influence of vegetation type on groundwater level fluctuations and evapotranspiration has rarely been quantified for contrasting plant communities concurrently although it has implications for downstream water yield and quality. Hourly groundwater evapotranspiration (ETG) rates were estimated for grass and tree riparian vegetation in southwestern Manitoba, Canada using two modified White methods. Groundwater table depth was monitored in four 21 m transects of five 3 m deep monitoring wells in the riparian zone of a stream reach including tree (Acer negundo; boxelder) and grass (Bromus inermis; smooth brome) dominated segments. The average depths to the groundwater table from the surface were 1.4 m and 1 m for the tree and grass segments, respectively, over the two-year study. During rain free periods of the growing season ETG was estimated for a total of 70 days in 2014 and 79 days in 2015 when diurnal fluctuations were present in groundwater level. Diurnal groundwater level fluctuations were observed during dry periods under both segments, however, ETG was significantly higher (p < 0.001) under trees compared to grass cover in 2014 (a wet year with 72% higher than normal growing season precipitation) and 2015 (a drier year with 15% higher than normal growing season precipitation). The two methods used to estimate ETG produced similar daily and seasonal values for the two segments. In 2014, total ETG was approximately 50% (148 mm) and 100% (282-285 mm) of reference evapotranspiration (ETref, 281 mm) for the grass and tree segments, respectively. In 2015, total ETG was approximately 40% (106-127 mm) and 120% (369-374 mm) of ETref (307 mm) for the grass and tree segments, respectively. Results from the study show the tree dominated portions of the stream reach consumed approximately 2.4 ML ha-1 yr-1 more

  13. [Energy balance and evapotranspiration in broad-leaved Korean pine forest in Changbai Mountains].

    PubMed

    Zhang, Xin-jian; Yuan, Feng-hui; Chen, Ni-na; Deng, Jun-li; Yu, Xiao-zhou; Sheng, Xue-jiao

    2011-03-01

    Based on the continuous measurements of an open-path eddy covariance system, this paper analyzed the characteristics of energy balance components and evapotranspiration in a broad-leaved Korean pine forest in Changbai Mountains in 2008, as well as the differences of energy balance components and evapotranspiration between growth season and dormant season. For the test forest, the year-round energy balance closure was 72%, being at a medium level, compared to the other studies in the Fluxnet community. The energy balance components had significant differences in their diurnal and seasonal variations. In growth season, turbulent energy exchange was dominated by upward latent heat flux, accounting for 66% of available energy; while in dormant season, the turbulent energy exchange was dominated by upward sensible heat flux, accounting for 63% of available energy. The accumulated annual evapotranspiration in the study site in 2008 was 484.7 mm, occupying 87% of the precipitation at the same time period (558.9 mm), which demonstrated that evapotranspiration was the main water loss item in temperate forests of northern China.

  14. Ground-water discharge by evapotranspiration in a desert environment of southern Nevada, 1987

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Johnson, M.J.

    1994-01-01

    Evapotranspiration (ET) data were collected at two sites where microclimates are typical of the Mojave Desert in southern Nevada-one site with and one without ground-water contributions to ET--under extremely arid desert conditions. By comparing the rate of evapotranspiration at the two sites, the amount of ground-water ET can be inferred. This method may be useful for quantifying ground-water discharge by ET around basin playas or the summer carbonate-aquifer springs, ET rates are greatest in early spring, but are less than 0.6 millimeter per day (mm/d). As the summer progresses and soil moisture is depleted, ET drops below 0.1 mm/d and vegetation wilts. In areas'with a ground-water contribution, under similar climatic conditions, ET rates increase with increasing solar radiation and plant growth from 1 mm/d in winter to an average of 1.5 to 3.0 mm/d in spring. The highest average is about 5.0 mm/d, in June, July, and August, with fluctuations generally between 3.0 and 7.0 mm/d; the rate then decreases from 3.0 to less than 1.0 mm/d by late autumn. A comparison of monthly ET totals based on average daily rates at the two sites indicates that about 520 millimeters of ground water was lost to ET at Ash Meadows during the 6 months of record, April through September 1987. This is in general agreement with the range of values estimated for areas with native vegetation in the Amargosa Desert where the depth to water was between 0.0 and 1.5 meters. Estimated rates ranged from 320 to 760 millimeters per year.

  15. Comparison of the evapotranspiration and its components before and after thinning in Japanese cedar and Japanese cypress forest

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tateishi, Makiko; Xiang, Yang; Matsuda, Hiroki; Saito, Takami; Sun, Haotian; Otsuki, Kyoichi; Kasahara, Tamao; Onda, Yuichi

    2014-05-01

    Water source area of Japan is often covered by forest, and 40 % of forest cover is coniferous plantation. Thinning has become a major tool in the management of plantation in recent years, but its effects on water cycle and its components are yet to be evaluated well. In this study, we investigated the changes in evapotranspiration and its components, including stand transpiration and canopy interception loss, after thinning in 50 years old Japanese cedar and Japanese cypress plantation at Yayama experimental catchment in Fukuoka, Japan. We established study plot in each Japanese cedar and Japanese cypress stand. Sap flow measurement was conducted for evaluating stand transpiration in each plot. Through fall and stem flow were also monitored to estimate canopy interception loss. The experiments were conducted over two years. During the measurements, 50 % of trees were thinned randomly in entire catchment, which has an area of 2.98 ha. Stem density was changed from 3945 to 1977 trees per ha after thinning. The reduction of daily stand transpiration in the studied Japanese cedar and cypress stands after thinning were 31.6 % and 48.2 % under the same condition of microclimate, respectively. These values were comparable to the changes in total sapwood area, 34.2 % and 44.5 %, and sap flow density did not change after thinning. It implies that sapwood area is a primary determinant of stand transpiration. Canopy interception ratios were 27 % and 26 % for Japanese cedar and cypress before thinning, and the ratios decreased to 24 % and 21 % after thinning, respectively. Thus, we obtained the changes in annual evapotranspiration and its components at catchment scale by using observation and models. The changes in partitioning of evapotranspiration is also discussed. The evapotranspiration before and after thinning were also compared to water balance data in this study site.

  16. FIELD EVALUATION OF EVAPO-TRANSPIRATION (ET) CAPS

    EPA Science Inventory

    A field study was conducted to assess the ability of landfill covers to control percolation into the waste. Performance of one conventional cover was compared to that of two evapotranspiration (ET) tree covers, using large (7 x 14 m) lined lysimeters at the Leon County Solid W...

  17. Calculating Soil Wetness, Evapotranspiration and Carbon Cycle Processes Over Large Grid Areas Using a New Scaling Technique

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Sellers, Piers

    2012-01-01

    Soil wetness typically shows great spatial variability over the length scales of general circulation model (GCM) grid areas (approx 100 km ), and the functions relating evapotranspiration and photosynthetic rate to local-scale (approx 1 m) soil wetness are highly non-linear. Soil respiration is also highly dependent on very small-scale variations in soil wetness. We therefore expect significant inaccuracies whenever we insert a single grid area-average soil wetness value into a function to calculate any of these rates for the grid area. For the particular case of evapotranspiration., this method - use of a grid-averaged soil wetness value - can also provoke severe oscillations in the evapotranspiration rate and soil wetness under some conditions. A method is presented whereby the probability distribution timction(pdf) for soil wetness within a grid area is represented by binning. and numerical integration of the binned pdf is performed to provide a spatially-integrated wetness stress term for the whole grid area, which then permits calculation of grid area fluxes in a single operation. The method is very accurate when 10 or more bins are used, can deal realistically with spatially variable precipitation, conserves moisture exactly and allows for precise modification of the soil wetness pdf after every time step. The method could also be applied to other ecological problems where small-scale processes must be area-integrated, or upscaled, to estimate fluxes over large areas, for example in treatments of the terrestrial carbon budget or trace gas generation.

  18. Partitioning Evapotranspiration into Green and Blue Water Sources: Understanding Temporal Dynamics (2001-2015) and Spatial Variability in the Conterminous United States

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Velpuri, N. M.; Senay, G. B.

    2017-12-01

    Information on how much of direct rain water (green water) and/or non-rain water (blue water) are being productively used by the crops/vegetation is critical for efficient water resources management. In this study, we developed a simple but robust methodology to partition actual evapotranspiration (ET) into green (rainfall-based) and blue (surface water/groundwater) sources. We combined two 1 km MODIS-based actual evapotranspiration datasets, one obtained from a root zone water balance model and another from an energy balance model, to partition annual ET into green water ET (GWET) and blue water ET (BWET). Time series maps of GWET and BWET were produced for the conterminous United States (CONUS) over 2001-2015 and spatial variability and dynamics of blue and green water ET were analyzed. Our results indicate that average green and blue water sources for all land cover types in CONUS account for nearly 70% and 30% of the total ET, respectively. The ET in the eastern US arises mostly from green water, and in the western US, it is mostly from blue water sources. Analysis of the BWET in the 16 selected irrigated areas in CONUS revealed interesting results. While the magnitude of the BWET showed a gradual decline from west to east, the increase in coefficient of variation from west to east confirmed greater use of supplemental irrigation in the central and eastern US. We also established relationships between hydro-climatic regions and their blue water requirements. This study provides insights into the relative contributions and the spatiotemporal dynamics of GWET and BWET, which could lead to improved water resources management.

  19. Determining suitability of Large Aperture Scintillometer for validating remote sensing based evapotranspiration maps

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Paul, G.; Gowda, P. H.; Howell, T. A.; Basu, S.; Colaizzi, P. D.; Marek, T.

    2013-12-01

    Scintillation method is a relatively new technique for measuring the sensible heat and water fluxes over land surfaces. Path integrating capabilities of scintillometer over heterogeneous landscapes make it a potential tool for comparing the energy fluxes derived from remote sensing based energy balance algorithms. For this reason, scintillometer-derived evapotranspiration (ET) fluxes are being used to evaluate remote sensing based energy balance algorithms for their ability to estimate ET fluxes. However, LAS' (Large Aperture Scintillometer) ability to derive ET fluxes is not thoroughly tested. The objective of this study was to evaluate LAS- and Surface Energy Balance System (SEBS)-derived fluxes against lysimetric data to determine LAS' suitability for validating remote sensing based evapotranspiration (ET) maps. The study was conducted during the Bushland Evapotranspiration and Agricultural Remote sensing EXperiment - 2008 (BEAREX-08) at the USDA-ARS Conservation and Production Research Laboratory (CPRL), Bushland, Texas. SEBS was coded in a GIS environment to retrieve ET fluxes from the high resolution imageries acquired using airborne multispectral sensors. The CPRL has four large weighing lysimeters (3 m long x 3 m wide x 2.4 m deep), each located in the middle of approximately 5 ha fields, arranged in a block pattern. The two lysimeter fields located on the east (NE and SE) were managed under irrigated conditions, and the other two lysimeters on the west (NW and SW) were under dryland management. Each lysimeter field was equipped with an automated weather station that provided measurements for net radiation (Rn), Ts, soil heat flux (Go), Ta, relative humidity, and wind speed. During BEAREX08, the NE and SE fields were planted to cotton on May 21, and the NW and SW dryland lysimeters fields were planted to cotton on June 5. One LAS each was deployed across two large dryland lysimeter fields (NW and SW) and two large irrigated lysimeter fields (NE and SE). The

  20. Earth observation based assessment of the water production and water consumption of Nile Basin agro-ecosystems

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Bastiaanssen, Wim G.M.; Karimi, Poolad; Rebelo, Lisa-Maria; Duan, Zheng; Senay, Gabriel; Muthuwatte, Lal; Smakhtin, Vladimir

    2014-01-01

    The increasing competition for water resources requires a better understanding of flows, fluxes, stocks, and the services and benefits related to water consumption. This paper explains how public domain Earth Observation data based on Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), Second Generation Meteosat (MSG), Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM) and various altimeter measurements can be used to estimate net water production (rainfall (P) > evapotranspiration (ET)) and net water consumption (ET > P) of Nile Basin agro-ecosystems. Rainfall data from TRMM and the Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS-NET) RainFall Estimates (RFE) products were used in conjunction with actual evapotranspiration from the Operational Simplified Surface Energy Balance (SSEBop) and ETLook models. Water flows laterally between net water production and net water consumption areas as a result of runoff and withdrawals. This lateral flow between the 15 sub-basins of the Nile was estimated, and partitioned into stream flow and non-stream flow using the discharge data. A series of essential water metrics necessary for successful integrated water management are explained and computed. Net water withdrawal estimates (natural and humanly instigated) were assumed to be the difference between net rainfall (Pnet) and actual evapotranspiration (ET) and some first estimates of withdrawals—without flow meters—are provided. Groundwater-dependent ecosystems withdraw large volumes of groundwater, which exceed water withdrawals for the irrigation sector. There is a strong need for the development of more open-access Earth Observation databases, especially for information related to actual ET. The fluxes, flows and storage changes presented form the basis for a global framework to describe monthly and annual water accounts in ungauged river basins.

  1. Comparative assessment of several post-processing methods for correcting evapotranspiration forecasts derived from TIGGE datasets.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tian, D.; Medina, H.

    2017-12-01

    Post-processing of medium range reference evapotranspiration (ETo) forecasts based on numerical weather prediction (NWP) models has the potential of improving the quality and utility of these forecasts. This work compares the performance of several post-processing methods for correcting ETo forecasts over the continental U.S. generated from The Observing System Research and Predictability Experiment (THORPEX) Interactive Grand Global Ensemble (TIGGE) database using data from Europe (EC), the United Kingdom (MO), and the United States (NCEP). The pondered post-processing techniques are: simple bias correction, the use of multimodels, the Ensemble Model Output Statistics (EMOS, Gneitting et al., 2005) and the Bayesian Model Averaging (BMA, Raftery et al., 2005). ETo estimates based on quality-controlled U.S. Regional Climate Reference Network measurements, and computed with the FAO 56 Penman Monteith equation, are adopted as baseline. EMOS and BMA are generally the most efficient post-processing techniques of the ETo forecasts. Nevertheless, the simple bias correction of the best model is commonly much more rewarding than using multimodel raw forecasts. Our results demonstrate the potential of different forecasting and post-processing frameworks in operational evapotranspiration and irrigation advisory systems at national scale.

  2. A coupled stochastic rainfall-evapotranspiration model for hydrological impact analysis

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pham, Minh Tu; Vernieuwe, Hilde; De Baets, Bernard; Verhoest, Niko E. C.

    2018-02-01

    A hydrological impact analysis concerns the study of the consequences of certain scenarios on one or more variables or fluxes in the hydrological cycle. In such an exercise, discharge is often considered, as floods originating from extremely high discharges often cause damage. Investigating the impact of extreme discharges generally requires long time series of precipitation and evapotranspiration to be used to force a rainfall-runoff model. However, such kinds of data may not be available and one should resort to stochastically generated time series, even though the impact of using such data on the overall discharge, and especially on the extreme discharge events, is not well studied. In this paper, stochastically generated rainfall and corresponding evapotranspiration time series, generated by means of vine copulas, are used to force a simple conceptual hydrological model. The results obtained are comparable to the modelled discharge using observed forcing data. Yet, uncertainties in the modelled discharge increase with an increasing number of stochastically generated time series used. Notwithstanding this finding, it can be concluded that using a coupled stochastic rainfall-evapotranspiration model has great potential for hydrological impact analysis.

  3. Partitioning evapotranspiration using long-term carbon dioxide and water vapor fluxes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Scott, Russell L.; Biederman, Joel A.

    2017-07-01

    The separate components of evapotranspiration (ET) elucidate the pathways and time scales over which water is returned to the atmosphere, but ecosystem-scale measurements of transpiration (T) and evaporation (E) remain elusive. We propose a novel determination of E and T using multiyear eddy covariance estimates of ET and gross ecosystem photosynthesis (GEP). The method is applicable at water-limited sites over time periods during which a linear regression between GEP (abscissa) and ET (ordinate) yields a positive ET axis intercept, an estimate of E. At four summer-rainfall semiarid sites, T/ET increases to a peak coincident with maximum GEP and remains elevated as the growing season progresses, consistent with previous, direct measurements. The seasonal course of T/ET is related to increasing leaf area index and declining frequency of rainy days—an index of the wet surface conditions that promote E—suggesting both surface and climatic controls on ET partitioning.

  4. Monitoring drought occurrences using MODIS evapotranspiration data: Direct impacts on agricultural productivity in Southern Brazil

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ruhoff, Anderson

    2014-05-01

    Evapotranspiration (ET), including water loss from plant transpiration and land evaporation, is of vital importance for understanding hydrological processes and climate dynamics and remote sensing is considered as the most important tool for estimate ET over large areas. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) offers an interesting opportunity to evaluate ET with spatial resolution of 1 km. The MODIS global evapotranspiration algorithm (MOD16) considers both surface energy fluxes and climatic constraints on ET (water or temperature stress) to predict plant transpiration and soil evaporation based on Penman-Monteith equation. The algorithm is driven by remotely sensed and reanalysis meteorological data. In this study, MOD16 algorithm was applied to Southern Brazil to evaluate drought occurrences and its impacts over the agricultural production. Drought is a chronic potential natural disaster characterized by an extended period of time in which less water is available than expected, typically classified as meteorological, agricultural, hydrological and socioeconomic. With human-induced climate change, increases in the frequency, duration and severity of droughts are expected, leading to negative impacts in several sectors, such as agriculture, energy, transportation, urban water supply, among others. The current drought indicators are primarily based on precipitation, however only a few indicators incorporate ET and soil moisture components. ET and soil moisture play an important role in the assessment of drought severity as sensitive indicators of land drought status. To evaluate the drought occurrences in Southern Brazil from 2000 to 2012, we used the Evaporative Stress Index (ESI). The ESI, defined as 1 (one) minus the ratio of actual ET to potential ET, is one of the most important indices denoting ET and soil moisture responses to surface dryness with effects over natural ecosystems and agricultural areas. Results showed that ESI captured major

  5. Exploring the Potential of PROBA-V for Evapotranspiration Monitoring in Wetlands

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Barrios, Jose Miguel; Ghilain, Nicolas; Arboleda, Alirio; Gellens-Meulenberghs, Francoise

    2016-08-01

    This study aims at deriving daily evapotranspiration (ET) estimates at a convenient spatial resolution for ecosystem monitoring. The methodological approach was based on the computation of the energy balance over the study sites. The study explored the potential of integrating remote sensing (RS) products derived from the Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) satellite -in virtue of their high temporal resolution- and Proba-V data, supplying moderate spatial resolution data. This strategy was tested for the year 2014 on three wetlands sites located in Europe where eddy covariance measurements were available for validation. The modelled results correlated well with the validation data and showed the added value of combining the strengths of different satellite missions. The results open interesting perspectives for refining this approach with the upcoming Sentinel-3 datasets.

  6. The role of evapotranspiration in the groundwater hydrochemistry of an arid coastal wetland (Península Valdés, Argentina).

    PubMed

    Alvarez, María Del Pilar; Carol, Eleonora; Dapeña, Cristina

    2015-02-15

    Coastal wetlands are complex hydrogeological systems, in which saline groundwater usually occurs. Salinity can be attributed to many origins, such as dissolution of minerals in the sediments, marine contribution and evapotranspiration, among others. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the processes that condition the hydrochemistry of an arid marsh, Playa Fracasso, located in Patagonia, Argentina. A study of the dynamics and geochemistry of the groundwater was carried out in each hydrogeomorphological unit, using major ion and isotope ((18)O and (2)H) data, soil profiles descriptions and measurements, and recording of water tables in relation to the tidal flow. Water balances and analytical models based on isotope data were used to quantify the evaporation processes and to define the role of evaporation in the chemical composition of water. The results obtained show that the groundwater salinity of the marsh comes mainly from the tidal inflow, to which the halite and gypsum dissolution is added. These mineral facies are the result of the total evaporation of the marine water flooding that occurs mostly at the spring high tides. The isotope relationships in the fan and bajada samples show the occurrence of evaporation processes. Such processes, however, are not mainly responsible for the saline content of groundwater, which is actually generated by the dissolution of the typical evaporite facies of the arid environment sediments. It is concluded that the evapotranspiration processes condition groundwater quality. This is not only due to the saline enrichment caused by the evapotranspiration of shallow water, but also because such processes are the main drivers of the formation of soluble salts, which are then incorporated into the water by groundwater or tidal flow. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  7. Drought analysis and water resource availability using standardised precipitation evapotranspiration index

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hui-Mean, Foo; Yusop, Zulkifli; Yusof, Fadhilah

    2018-03-01

    Trend analysis for potential evapotranspiration (PET) and climatic water balance (CWB) is critical in identifying the wetness or dryness episodes with respect to the water surplus or deficit. The PET is computed based on the monthly average temperature for the entire Peninsular Malaysia using Thornthwaite parameterization. The trends and slope's magnitude for the PET and CWB were then investigated using Mann-Kendall, Spearman's rho tests and Thiel-Sen estimator. The 1-, 3-, 6- and 12-month standardised precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI) is applied to determine the drought episodes and the average recurrence interval are calculated based on the SPEI. The results indicate that most of the stations show an upward trend in annual and monthly PET while majority of the regions show an upward trend in annual CWB except for the Pahang state. The increasing trends detected in the CWB describe water is in excess especially during the northeast monsoons while the decreasing trends imply water insufficiency. The excess water is observed mostly in January especially in the west coast, east coast and southwest regions that suggest more water is available for crop requirement. The average recurrence interval for drought episodes is almost the same for the smaller severity with various time scale of SPEI and high probability of drought occurrence is observed for some regions. The findings are useful for policymakers and practitioners to improve water resources planning and management, in particular to minimise drought effects in the future. Future research shall address the influence of topography on drought behaviour using more meteorological stations and to include east Malaysia in the analysis.

  8. High-Elevation Evapotranspiration Estimates During Drought: Using Streamflow and NASA Airborne Snow Observatory SWE Observations to Close the Upper Tuolumne River Basin Water Balance

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Henn, Brian; Painter, Thomas H.; Bormann, Kat J.; McGurk, Bruce; Flint, Alan L.; Flint, Lorraine E.; White, Vince; Lundquist, Jessica D.

    2018-02-01

    Hydrologic variables such as evapotranspiration (ET) and soil water storage are difficult to observe across spatial scales in complex terrain. Streamflow and lidar-derived snow observations provide information about distributed hydrologic processes such as snowmelt, infiltration, and storage. We use a distributed streamflow data set across eight basins in the upper Tuolumne River region of Yosemite National Park in the Sierra Nevada mountain range, and the NASA Airborne Snow Observatory (ASO) lidar-derived snow data set over 3 years (2013-2015) during a prolonged drought in California, to estimate basin-scale water balance components. We compare snowmelt and cumulative precipitation over periods from the ASO flight to the end of the water year against cumulative streamflow observations. The basin water balance residual term (snow melt plus precipitation minus streamflow) is calculated for each basin and year. Using soil moisture observations and hydrologic model simulations, we show that the residual term represents short-term changes in basin water storage over the snowmelt season, but that over the period from peak snow water equivalent (SWE) to the end of summer, it represents cumulative basin-mean ET. Warm-season ET estimated from this approach is 168 (85-252 at 95% confidence), 162 (0-326) and 191 (48-334) mm averaged across the basins in 2013, 2014, and 2015, respectively. These values are lower than previous full-year and point ET estimates in the Sierra Nevada, potentially reflecting reduced ET during drought, the effects of spatial variability, and the part-year time period. Using streamflow and ASO snow observations, we quantify spatially-distributed hydrologic processes otherwise difficult to observe.

  9. Drought monitoring over the Horn of Africa using remotely sensed evapotranspiration, soil moisture and vegetation parameters

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Timmermans, J.; Gokmen, M.; Eden, U.; Abou Ali, M.; Vekerdy, Z.; Su, Z.

    2012-04-01

    Index (ETDI) and the Soil Moisture Deficit Index (SMDI), have been proposed to investigate this. The ETDI considers the stress ratio caused by the difference between potential and actual evapotranspiration, while SMDI considers the variation in soil moisture availability to the plant. As there is not a single unique accepted definition of drought, investigation into the impact of drought should not be confined to a single drought index; instead several indices need to be used for this purpose. The objective of this research is to investigate the drought in the Horn of Africa using several remote sensing drought indices and vegetation parameters. In this research the drought will be investigated using SPI, ETDI, SMDI, NDVI and SPI. For this purpose ETDI and SMDI will be estimated from remote sensing products for the period from 2002 till 2011that are created in framework of the WACMOS project. The research involves the comparison of the different drought indices and the research into possible synergies to enhance drought monitoring.

  10. Evaluating Soil Health Using Remotely Sensed Evapotranspiration on the Benchmark Barnes Soils of North Dakota

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bohn, Meyer; Hopkins, David; Steele, Dean; Tuscherer, Sheldon

    2017-04-01

    The benchmark Barnes soil series is an extensive upland Hapludoll of the northern Great Plains that is both economically and ecologically vital to the region. Effects of tillage erosion coupled with wind and water erosion have degraded Barnes soil quality, but with unknown extent, distribution, or severity. Evidence of soil degradation documented for a half century warrants that the assumption of productivity be tested. Soil resilience is linked to several dynamic soil properties and National Cooperative Soil Survey initiatives are now focused on identifying those properties for benchmark soils. Quantification of soil degradation is dependent on a reliable method for broad-scale evaluation. The soil survey community is currently developing rapid and widespread soil property assessment technologies. Improvements in satellite based remote-sensing and image analysis software have stimulated the application of broad-scale resource assessment. Furthermore, these technologies have fostered refinement of land-based surface energy balance algorithms, i.e. Mapping Evapotranspiration at High Resolution with Internalized Calibration (METRIC) algorithm for evapotranspiration (ET) mapping. The hypothesis of this study is that ET mapping technology can differentiate soil function on extensive landscapes and identify degraded areas. A recent soil change study in eastern North Dakota resampled legacy Barnes pedons sampled prior to 1960 and found significant decreases in organic carbon. An ancillary study showed that evapotranspiration (ET) estimates from METRIC decreased with Barnes erosion class severity. An ET raster map has been developed for three eastern North Dakota counties using METRIC and Landsat 5 imagery. ET pixel candidates on major Barnes soil map units were stratified into tertiles and classified as ranked ET subdivisions. A sampling population of randomly selected points stratified by ET class and county proportion was established. Morphologic and chemical data will

  11. Application of a MODIS Soil Moisture-Evapotranspiration (MOD-SMET) Model to Evaluate Landscape and Hydrologic Recovery after the High Park Fire in Colorado, USA

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Blount, W. K.; Hogue, T. S.; Franz, K.; Knipper, K. R.

    2017-12-01

    Accurate estimation of evapotranspiration (ET) is critical for the management of water resources, especially in water-stressed regions. ET accounts for approximately 60% of terrestrial precipitation globally and approaches 100% of annual rainfall in arid ecosystems, where transpiration becomes the dominant term. ET is difficult to measure due to its spatiotemporal variation, which requires adequate data coverage. While new remote sensing-based ET products are available at a 1 km spatial resolution, including the Operational Simplified Surface Energy Balance model (SSEBop) and the MODIS Global Evapotranspiration Project (MOD16), these products are available at monthly and 8-day temporal resolutions, respectively. To better understand the changing dynamics of hydrologic fluxes and the partitioning of water after land cover disturbances and to identify statically significant trends, more frequent observations are necessary. Utilizing the recently developed MODIS Soil Moisture-Evapotranspiration (MOD-SMET) model, daily temporal resolution is achieved. This presentation outlines the methodology of the MOD-SMET model and compares SSEBop, MOD16, and MOD-SMET ET estimates over the High Park Fire burn scar in Colorado, USA. MOD-SMET estimates are used to identify changes in fluxes and partitioning of the water cycle after a wildfire and during recovery in the High Park Fire near Fort Collins, Colorado. Initial results indicate greenness and ET from all three models decrease post-fire, with higher statistical confidence in high burn areas and spatial patterns that closely align with burn severity. MOD-SMET improves the ability to resolve statistically significant changes in ET following wildfires and better understand changes in the post-fire water budget. Utilizing this knowledge, water resource managers can better plan for, and mitigate, the short- and long-term impacts of wildfire on regional water supplies.

  12. Gaussian process models for reference ET estimation from alternative meteorological data sources

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Accurate estimates of daily crop evapotranspiration (ET) are needed for efficient irrigation management, especially in arid and semi-arid regions where crop water demand exceeds rainfall. Daily grass or alfalfa reference ET values and crop coefficients are widely used to estimate crop water demand. ...

  13. Lower responsiveness of canopy evapotranspiration rate than of leaf stomatal conductance to open-air CO2 elevation in rice.

    PubMed

    Shimono, Hiroyuki; Nakamura, Hirofumi; Hasegawa, Toshihiro; Okada, Masumi

    2013-08-01

    An elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration ([CO2 ]) can reduce stomatal conductance of leaves for most plant species, including rice (Oryza sativa L.). However, few studies have quantified seasonal changes in the effects of elevated [CO2 ] on canopy evapotranspiration, which integrates the response of stomatal conductance of individual leaves with other responses, such as leaf area expansion, changes in leaf surface temperature, and changes in developmental stages, in field conditions. We conducted a field experiment to measure seasonal changes in stomatal conductance of the uppermost leaves and in the evapotranspiration, transpiration, and evaporation rates using a lysimeter method. The study was conducted for flooded rice under open-air CO2 elevation. Stomatal conductance decreased by 27% under elevated [CO2 ], averaged throughout the growing season, and evapotranspiration decreased by an average of 5% during the same period. The decrease in daily evapotranspiration caused by elevated [CO2 ] was more significantly correlated with air temperature and leaf area index (LAI) rather than with other parameters of solar radiation, days after transplanting, vapor-pressure deficit and FAO reference evapotranspiration. This indicates that higher air temperatures, within the range from 16 to 27 °C, and a larger LAI, within the range from 0 to 4 m(2)  m(-2) , can increase the magnitude of the decrease in evapotranspiration rate caused by elevated [CO2 ]. The crop coefficient (i.e. the evapotranspiration rate divided by the FAO reference evapotranspiration rate) was 1.24 at ambient [CO2 ] and 1.17 at elevated [CO2 ]. This study provides the first direct measurement of the effects of elevated [CO2 ] on rice canopy evapotranspiration under open-air conditions using the lysimeter method, and the results will improve future predictions of water use in rice fields. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  14. Fact Sheet on Evapotranspiration Cover Systems for Waste Containment

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    This Fact Sheet updates the 2003 Fact Sheet on Evapotranspiration Covers and provides information on the regulatory setting for ET covers, general considerations in their design, performance, and monitoring, and status at the time of writing (2011).

  15. Verification of Emmert's law in actual and virtual environments.

    PubMed

    Nakamizo, Sachio; Imamura, Mariko

    2004-11-01

    We examined Emmert's law by measuring the perceived size of an afterimage and the perceived distance of the surface on which the afterimage was projected in actual and virtual environments. The actual environment consisted of a corridor with ample cues as to distance and depth. The virtual environment was made from the CAVE of a virtual reality system. The afterimage, disc-shaped and one degree in diameter, was produced by flashing with an electric photoflash. The observers were asked to estimate the perceived distance to surfaces located at various physical distances (1 to 24 m) by the magnitude estimation method and to estimate the perceived size of the afterimage projected on the surfaces by a matching method. The results show that the perceived size of the afterimage was directly proportional to the perceived distance in both environments; thus, Emmert's law holds in virtual as well as actual environments. We suggest that Emmert's law is a specific case of a functional principle of distance scaling by the visual system.

  16. Regional potential evapotranspiration in arid climates based on temperature, topography and calculated solar radiation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Shevenell, Lisa

    1999-03-01

    Values of evapotranspiration are required for a variety of water planning activities in arid and semi-arid climates, yet data requirements are often large, and it is costly to obtain this information. This work presents a method where a few, readily available data (temperature, elevation) are required to estimate potential evapotranspiration (PET). A method using measured temperature and the calculated ratio of total to vertical radiation (after the work of Behnke and Maxey, 1969) to estimate monthly PET was applied for the months of April-October and compared with pan evaporation measurements. The test area used in this work was in Nevada, which has 124 weather stations that record sufficient amounts of temperature data. The calculated PET values were found to be well correlated (R2=0·940-0·983, slopes near 1·0) with mean monthly pan evaporation measurements at eight weather stations.In order to extrapolate these calculated PET values to areas without temperature measurements and to sites at differing elevations, the state was divided into five regions based on latitude, and linear regressions of PET versus elevation were calculated for each of these regions. These extrapolated PET values generally compare well with the pan evaporation measurements (R2=0·926-0·988, slopes near 1·0). The estimated values are generally somewhat lower than the pan measurements, in part because the effects of wind are not explicitly considered in the calculations, and near-freezing temperatures result in a calculated PET of zero at higher elevations in the spring months. The calculated PET values for April-October are 84-100% of the measured pan evaporation values. Using digital elevation models in a geographical information system, calculated values were adjusted for slope and aspect, and the data were used to construct a series of maps of monthly PET. The resultant maps show a realistic distribution of regional variations in PET throughout Nevada which inversely mimics

  17. Identification of trend in long term precipitation and reference evapotranspiration over Narmada river basin (India)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pandey, Brij Kishor; Khare, Deepak

    2018-02-01

    Precipitation and reference evapotranspiration are key parameters in hydro-meteorological studies and used for agricultural planning, irrigation system design and management. Precipitation and evaporative demand are expected to be alter under climate change and affect the sustainable development. In this article, spatial variability and temporal trend of precipitation and reference evapotranspiration (ETo) were investigated over Narmada river basin (India), a humid tropical climatic region. In the present study, 12 and 28 observatory stations were selected for precipitation and ETo, respectively of 102-years period (1901-2002). A rigorous analysis for trend detection was carried out using non parametric tests such as Mann-Kendall (MK) and Spearman Rho (SR). Sen's slope estimator was used to analyze the rate of change in long term series. Moreover, all the stations of basin exhibit positive trend for annual ETo, while 8% stations indicate significant negative trend for mean annual precipitation, respectively. Change points of annual precipitation were identified around the year 1962 applying Buishand's and Pettit's test. Annual mean precipitation reduced by 9% in upper part while increased maximum by 5% in lower part of the basin due temporal changes. Although annual mean ETo increase by 4-12% in most of the region. Moreover, results of the study are very helpful in planning and development of agricultural water resources.

  18. Decadal changes of reference crop evapotranspiration attribution: Spatial and temporal variability over China 1960-2011

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fan, Ze-Xin; Thomas, Axel

    2018-05-01

    Atmospheric evaporative demand can be used as a measure of the hydrological cycle and the global energy balance. Its long-term variation and the role of driving climatic factors have received increasingly attention in climate change studies. FAO-Penman-Monteith reference crop evapotranspiration rates were estimated for 644 meteorological stations over China for the period 1960-2011 to analyze spatial and temporal attribution variability. Attribution of climatic variables to reference crop evapotranspiration rates was not stable over the study period. While for all of China the contribution of sunshine duration remained relatively stable, the importance of relative humidity increased considerably during the last two decades, particularly in winter. Spatially distributed attribution analysis shows that the position of the center of maximum contribution of sunshine duration has shifted from Southeast to Northeast China while in West China the contribution of wind speed has decreased dramatically. In contrast relative humidity has become an important factor in most parts of China. Changes in the Asian Monsoon circulation may be responsible for altered patterns of cloudiness and a general decrease of wind speeds over China. The continuously low importance of temperature confirms that global warming does not necessarily lead to rising atmospheric evaporative demand.

  19. Regional estimation of base recharge to ground water using water balance and a base-flow index.

    PubMed

    Szilagyi, Jozsef; Harvey, F Edwin; Ayers, Jerry F

    2003-01-01

    Naturally occurring long-term mean annual base recharge to ground water in Nebraska was estimated with the help of a water-balance approach and an objective automated technique for base-flow separation involving minimal parameter-optimization requirements. Base recharge is equal to total recharge minus the amount of evapotranspiration coming directly from ground water. The estimation of evapotranspiration in the water-balance equation avoids the need to specify a contributing drainage area for ground water, which in certain cases may be considerably different from the drainage area for surface runoff. Evapotranspiration was calculated by the WREVAP model at the Solar and Meteorological Surface Observation Network (SAMSON) sites. Long-term mean annual base recharge was derived by determining the product of estimated long-term mean annual runoff (the difference between precipitation and evapotranspiration) and the base-flow index (BFI). The BFI was calculated from discharge data obtained from the U.S. Geological Survey's gauging stations in Nebraska. Mapping was achieved by using geographic information systems (GIS) and geostatistics. This approach is best suited for regional-scale applications. It does not require complex hydrogeologic modeling nor detailed knowledge of soil characteristics, vegetation cover, or land-use practices. Long-term mean annual base recharge rates in excess of 110 mm/year resulted in the extreme eastern part of Nebraska. The western portion of the state expressed rates of only 15 to 20 mm annually, while the Sandhills region of north-central Nebraska was estimated to receive twice as much base recharge (40 to 50 mm/year) as areas south of it.

  20. Uncertainty Quantification of Evapotranspiration and Infiltration from Modeling and Historic Time Series at the Savannah River F-Area

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Faybishenko, B.; Flach, G. P.

    2012-12-01

    The objectives of this presentation are: (a) to illustrate the application of Monte Carlo and fuzzy-probabilistic approaches for uncertainty quantification (UQ) in predictions of potential evapotranspiration (PET), actual evapotranspiration (ET), and infiltration (I), using uncertain hydrological or meteorological time series data, and (b) to compare the results of these calculations with those from field measurements at the U.S. Department of Energy Savannah River Site (SRS), near Aiken, South Carolina, USA. The UQ calculations include the evaluation of aleatory (parameter uncertainty) and epistemic (model) uncertainties. The effect of aleatory uncertainty is expressed by assigning the probability distributions of input parameters, using historical monthly averaged data from the meteorological station at the SRS. The combined effect of aleatory and epistemic uncertainties on the UQ of PET, ET, and Iis then expressed by aggregating the results of calculations from multiple models using a p-box and fuzzy numbers. The uncertainty in PETis calculated using the Bair-Robertson, Blaney-Criddle, Caprio, Hargreaves-Samani, Hamon, Jensen-Haise, Linacre, Makkink, Priestly-Taylor, Penman, Penman-Monteith, Thornthwaite, and Turc models. Then, ET is calculated from the modified Budyko model, followed by calculations of I from the water balance equation. We show that probabilistic and fuzzy-probabilistic calculations using multiple models generate the PET, ET, and Idistributions, which are well within the range of field measurements. We also show that a selection of a subset of models can be used to constrain the uncertainty quantification of PET, ET, and I.