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

Abstract

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.