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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #313428
Title: Daily high spatial resolution evapotranspiration estimation using multi-satellite data fusion over a managed pine plantation in North Carolina, USA

Author
item Yang, Yun
item Anderson, Martha
item Semmens, Kathryn
item Gao, Feng
item Kustas, William - Bill
item HAIN, C. - University Of Maryland
item Schull, Mitchell
item NOORMETS, A. - North Carolina State University
item WYNNE, R.H. - Virginia State University
item THOMAS, V.A. - Virginia State University

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/22/2015
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Evapotranspiration (ET) is a major part of the water balance and connects hydrologic and biologic processes. High spatial and temporal resolution ET mapping using satellite remote sensing can provide detailed information about daily vegetation water use and soil moisture status at scales of land-use and land-cover variability, and can be useful for water management and vegetation condition monitoring. Although ET is an important environmental variable, current mapping approaches still have large uncertainty. This research employs a multi-scale ET modeling system using multi-satellite data fusion approach and applies this system over a managed pine plantation in North Carolina, USA. The estimated daily high resolution ET reasonably reproduces the observed ET from flux towers for both the NC2 and NC3 sites. Note that for the clear-cut site (NC3) the ALEXI output at 5 km significantly overestimates tower ET, which is only sampling the clear-cut area, and that by appropriate disaggregation via DisALEXI with the data fusion scheme is the model output of ET representative of the site. Differences in ET between the two sites are lower during the peak growing season and higher during the non-growing season. This is consistent with early research at the same location but with a different clear cut site. Cumulative seasonal water use is highly heterogeneous over the study domain. This heterogeneity arises primarily from ET differences during the non-growing season and /or dry season. Woody wetlands persistently exhibit highest ET among all the land cover types sampled. Natural forest also has higher ET compared with the evergreen forest class, especially during the non-growing and/or dry season.