Assessing the synergistic modulation of evapotranspiration by global impervious surface and vegetation changes

Abstract

The different characteristics of impervious urban surfaces and natural underlying surfaces affect water and heat balances, with consequent impacts on evapotranspiration (ET). The global impervious surface area in 1982 was only 34% of that in 2015, motivating an assessment of the net effect of impervious surface changes on ET under rapid impervious surface expansion. In this study, we incorporated the van Dijk model's interception evaporation (Ei) algorithm into the PT-JPL (Priestley-Taylor Jet Propulsion Laboratory) model, and added an impervious surface evaporation (Eu) module, to enable urban ecosystem simulations. This improved model (named the PT-JPLim model) was validated against annual mean ET calculated by P-Q in 8,205 catchments, and against ET measured at 203 flux towers in natural ecosystems and 11 flux towers in urban ecosystems. Calibration showed that the PT-JPLim model performed well (catchments: R = 0.36; natural ecosystems: R = 0.78, RMSE = 13.17 mm; urban ecosystems: R = 0.79, RMSE = 11.74 mm). Additionally, we examined the reliability of modelled ET and its partitioning, by comparison with observed soil evaporation (Eb), Ei, and satellite-based products. By controlling for the impervious surface fraction in the model, it was concluded that the net increase in Eu due to increased impervious surface changes was 0.23 mm/yr, with larger increases in eastern China, India, Europe and southeastern North America than in other regions. The effects of impervious surface and vegetation changes on ET were then analyzed for global impervious surface, with a ratio of 1/4.1 for the effects of impervious surfaces to vegetated surfaces on ET. The contributions of transpiration (Et), Eu, and Eb changes to ET changes on impervious surfaces were 65%, 27% and 8% respectively. These results indicate that synergistic modulation of ET by impervious surface changes and vegetation changes should not be ignored when studying urban eco-hydrological processes.