Analyzing the Suitability of Remotely Sensed ET for Calibrating a Watershed Model of a Mediterranean Montane Forest

Steven M Jepsen,Thomas C Harmon,Bin Guan

doi:10.3390/rs13071258

Steven M Jepsen, Thomas C Harmon + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13071258

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Abstract

The ability to spatially characterize runoff generation and forest health depends partly on the accuracy and resolution of evapotranspiration (ET) simulated by numerical models. A possible strategy to increase the accuracy and resolution of numerically modeled ET is the use of remotely sensed ET products as an observational basis for parameter estimation (model calibration) of those numerical models. However, the extent to which that calibration strategy leads to a realistic representation of ET, relative to ground conditions, is not well understood. We examined this by comparing the spatiotemporal accuracy of ET from a remote sensing product, MODIS MOD16A2, to that from a watershed model (SWAT) calibrated to flow measured at an outlet streamgage. We examined this in the upper Kings River watershed (3999 km2) of California’s Sierra Nevada, a snow-influenced watershed in a Mediterranean climate. We assessed ET accuracies against observations from three eddy-covariance flux towers at elevations of 1160–2700 m. The accuracy of ET from the stream-calibrated watershed model surpassed that of MODIS in terms of Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency (+0.36 versus −0.43) and error in elevational trend (+7.7% versus +81%). These results indicate that for this particular experiment, an outlet streamgage would provide a more effective observational basis than remotely sensed ET product for watershed-model parameter estimation. Based on analysis of ET-weather relationships, the relatively large errors we found in MODIS ET may be related to weather-based corrections to water limitation not representative of the hydrology of this snow-influenced, Mediterranean-climate area.

Highlights

Accurate knowledge of evapotranspiration (ET) is needed for detailed mapping and characterization of water losses from terrestrial runoff [1,2] and impacts of drought and climate variability on forest health [3,4,5]
We did this by comparing the ET accuracy of two models: (1) MODerate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) MOD16, (2) Soil & Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) calibrated to streamgage
If ETrs is more accurate than ETwm, it follows that calibrating the watershed model to that remote-sensing ET product could potentially improve the watershed model’s ET

Summary

Introduction

Accurate knowledge of evapotranspiration (ET) is needed for detailed mapping and characterization of water losses from terrestrial runoff [1,2] and impacts of drought and climate variability on forest health [3,4,5]. Advances in the ability to predict/characterize ET with ever increasing resolution (e.g., smaller spatial scale) will likely be made through the integration of remote sensing products with hydrologic modeling tools. Remote sensing products provide spatiotemporal estimates of ET based on satellite-measured light reflectance, meteorological data, and underlying mathematical models that are physical [6,7,8,9]. ETrs products such as these offer a potential source of observational data against which watershed numerical models can be calibrated, a process needed for the estimation of model parameters. ETrs products are currently available at a much finer spatial resolution than the effective spatial resolution of most streamgages, the alternative and prevalent source of calibration data. The effective spatial resolution of a streamgage, which scales as the square root of the upstream contributing area unique to that gage, is typically orders of magnitude coarser than the spatial resolution of ETrs products such as MODIS MOD16 or Landsat based provisional product [16,17]

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