Treatment of anchor pixels in the METRIC model for improved estimation of sensible and latent heat fluxes

Abstract

Reliable estimation of sensible heat flux (H) is important in energy balance models for quantifying evapotranspiration (ET). This study was conducted to evaluate the value of adding the Priestley-Taylor (PT) equation to the METRIC (Mapping Evapotranspiration at high Resolution with Internalized Calibration) model. METRIC was used to estimate energy fluxes for 10 Landsat images from the 2005, 2006 and 2007 crop growing seasons in south-central Nebraska, USA, where each image owing to recent rainfall exhibited high residual moisture content even at the hot pixel. The METRIC model performed satisfactorily for net radiation (Rn ) and soil heat flux (G) estimation with a root mean square error (RMSE) of 52 and 24 W m-2, respectively. A RMSE of 122 W m-2 for H indicated the limitation of the METRIC model in estimating H for high residual moisture content of the hot pixel (Alfalfa reference ET fraction, ET r F > 0.15). The modified METRIC model (wet METRIC or wMETRIC) incorporating the PT equation was applied to calculate H at the anchor pixels (hot and cold) for high residual moisture content of the hot pixel. The α coefficient of the PT equation was locally calibrated using hourly meteorological data from an automatic weather station and Rn and G data from a Bowen ratio flux tower. The mean α coefficient value was 1.14. The wMETRIC model reduced the RMSE of H from 122 to 64 W m-2 and that of latent heat flux, LE, from 163 to 106 W m-2. The RMSE of daily ET decreased from 1.7 to 1.1 mm d-1 with wMETRIC. The results indicate that treatment of anchor pixels for high residual moisture content with the PT approach gives improved estimation of H, LE and daily ET. It is recommended that the wMETRIC model be used for estimating ET if the hot pixel has high residual moisture (i.e. reference ET fraction > 0.15). Citation Singh, R. K. & Irmak, A. (2011) Treatment of anchor pixels in the METRIC model for improved estimation of sensible and latent heat fluxes. Hydrol. Sci. J. 56(5), 895–906.