Operational Global Actual Evapotranspiration: Development, Evaluation, and Dissemination
1
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center, North Central Climate Adaptation Science Center, Boulder, CO 80303, USA
2
ASRC Federal Data Solutions LLC, Contractor to the U.S. Geological Survey EROS Center, Sioux Falls, SD 57198, USA
3
International Water Management Institute—Colombo, 127, Sunil Mawatha, Battaramulla 10120, Colombo, Sri Lanka
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Sensors 2020, 20(7), 1915; https://doi.org/10.3390/s20071915
Received: 4 February 2020 / Revised: 20 March 2020 / Accepted: 24 March 2020 / Published: 30 March 2020
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Remote Sensors for Earth Observation and Modeling of Earth Processes)
Satellite-based actual evapotranspiration (ETa) is becoming increasingly reliable and available for various water management and agricultural applications from water budget studies to crop performance monitoring. The Operational Simplified Surface Energy Balance (SSEBop) model is currently used by the US Geological Survey (USGS) Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS NET) to routinely produce and post multitemporal ETa and ETa anomalies online for drought monitoring and early warning purposes. Implementation of the global SSEBop using the Aqua satellite’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) land surface temperature and global gridded weather datasets is presented. Evaluation of the SSEBop ETa data using 12 eddy covariance (EC) flux tower sites over six continents indicated reasonable performance in capturing seasonality with a correlation coefficient up to 0.87. However, the modeled ETa seemed to show regional biases whose natures and magnitudes require a comprehensive investigation using complete water budgets and more quality-controlled EC station datasets. While the absolute magnitude of SSEBop ETa would require a one-time bias correction for use in water budget studies to address local or regional conditions, the ETa anomalies can be used without further modifications for drought monitoring. All ETa products are freely available for download from the USGS FEWS NET website.
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Keywords:
actual evapotranspiration; global; SSEBop model; MODIS; remote sensing; drought monitoring
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MDPI and ACS Style
Senay, G.B.; Kagone, S.; Velpuri, N.M. Operational Global Actual Evapotranspiration: Development, Evaluation, and Dissemination. Sensors 2020, 20, 1915. https://doi.org/10.3390/s20071915
AMA Style
Senay GB, Kagone S, Velpuri NM. Operational Global Actual Evapotranspiration: Development, Evaluation, and Dissemination. Sensors. 2020; 20(7):1915. https://doi.org/10.3390/s20071915
Chicago/Turabian StyleSenay, Gabriel B.; Kagone, Stefanie; Velpuri, Naga M. 2020. "Operational Global Actual Evapotranspiration: Development, Evaluation, and Dissemination" Sensors 20, no. 7: 1915. https://doi.org/10.3390/s20071915
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