Satellite-based near-real-time global daily terrestrial evapotranspiration estimates

Abstract

Accurate and timely global evapotranspiration (ET) data are crucial for agriculture, water resource management, and drought forecasting. Although numerous satellite-based ET products are available, few offer near-real-time data. For instance, products like NASA’s ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment mounted on the International Space Station (ECOSTRESS) and MOD16 face challenges such as uneven coverage and delays exceeding 1 week in data availability. In this study, we refined the Variation of the Standard Evapotranspiration Algorithm (VISEA) by fully integrating satellite-based data, e.g., European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts ERA5-Land shortwave radiation (which includes satellite remote sensing data within its assimilation system) and MODIS land surface data (which include surface reflectance, temperature and/or emissivity, land cover, vegetation indices, and albedo as inputs). This enables VISEA to provide near-real-time global daily ET estimates with a maximum delay of 1 week at a resolution of 0.05°. Its accuracy was assessed globally using observation data from 149 flux towers across 12 land cover types and comparing them with five other satellite-based ET products and Global Precipitation Climatology Centre (GPCC) data. The results indicate that VISEA provides accurate ET estimates that are comparable to existing products, achieving a mean correlation coefficient (R) of about 0.6 and an RMSE of 1.4 mm d−1. Furthermore, we demonstrated VISEA’s utility in drought monitoring during a drought event in the Yangtze River basin in 2022 in which ET changes correlated with precipitation. The near-real-time capability of VISEA is, thus, especially valuable in meteorological and hydrological applications for coordinating drought relief efforts. The VISEA ET dataset is available at https://doi.org/10.11888/Terre.tpdc.300782 (Huang, 2023a).