Abstract
Evapotranspiration (ET) is a variable of the climatic system and hydrological cycle that plays an important role in biosphere–atmosphere–hydrosphere interactions. In this paper, remote sensing-based ET estimates with the simplified surface energy balance index (S-SEBI) model using Landsat 8 data were compared with in situ lysimeter measurements for different land covers (Grass, Wheat, Barley, and Vineyard) at the Barrax site, Spain, for the period 2014–2018. Daily estimates produced superior performance than hourly estimates in all the land covers, with an average difference of 12% and 15% for daily and hourly ET estimates, respectively. Grass and Vineyard showed the best performance, with an RMSE of 0.10 mm/h and 0.09 mm/h and 1.11 mm/day and 0.63 mm/day, respectively. Thus, the S-SEBI model is able to retrieve ET from Landsat 8 data with an average RMSE for daily ET of 0.86 mm/day. Some model uncertainties were also analyzed, and we concluded that the overpass of the Landsat missions represents neither the maximum daily ET nor the average daily ET, which contributes to an increase in errors in the estimated ET. However, the S-SEBI model can be used to operationally retrieve ET from agriculture sites with good accuracy and sufficient variation between pixels, thus being a suitable option to be adopted into operational ET remote sensing programs for irrigation scheduling or other purposes.
Highlights
Evapotranspiration (ET) represents the loss of water from the Earth’s surface to the atmosphere through the combined process of evaporation and transpiration
We explored the application of the simplified surface energy balance index (S-SEBI) model with
The comparison of the S-SEBI hourly and daily ET against lysimeter data for each land cover type is shown in Figure 3a,b, respectively
Summary
Evapotranspiration (ET) represents the loss of water from the Earth’s surface to the atmosphere through the combined process of evaporation and transpiration. The evaporation process occurs via open water bodies, bare soil, and plant surfaces, whereas the transpiration process occurs through vegetation or any other moisture-containing living surface [1]. Within the land–atmosphere interface, ET regulates the Earth’s energy and water cycles [1,2,3,4,5,6]. Its estimation is critical to the ideal design and management of irrigation systems, efficient irrigation scheduling, and a wide variety of water resource management efforts [7]. It is estimated that 60% of the precipitated water returns to the atmosphere through ET [8]. Because of the complex physical and biological controls on evaporation and transpiration in addition to different land cover properties, ET estimates may diverge substantially [9]
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