Abstract

Many remote sensing-based evapotranspiration (RSBET) algorithms have been proposed in the past decades and evaluated using flux tower data, mainly over North America and Europe. Model evaluation across South America has been done locally or using only a single algorithm at a time. Here, we provide the first evaluation of multiple RSBET models, at a daily scale, across a wide variety of biomes, climate zones, and land uses in South America. We used meteorological data from 25 flux towers to force four remote sensing based ET models: Priestley & Taylor Jet Propulsion Laboratory (PT-JPL), Global Land Evaporation Amsterdam Model (GLEAM), Penman-Monteith Mu model (PM-MOD), and Penman-Monteith Nagler model (PM-VI). ET was predicted satisfactorily by all four models, with correlations consistently higher (R²>0.6) for GLEAM and PT-JPL, and PM-MOD and PM-VI presenting overall better responses in terms of PBIAS (-10<PBIAS<10%). As for PM-VI, this outcome is expected, given the model requires calibration with local data. Model skill seems to be unrelated to land-use type but instead presented a certain level of dependency on biome and climate, with the models producing the best results for wet to moderately wet environments. Our findings show the suitability of individual models for a number of combinations of land cover types, biomes, and climates. At the same time, no model outperformed the other for all conditions, and all models presented poor skills for sites in certain conditions, which emphasizes the need of adapting individual algorithms to take into account intrinsic characteristics of climates and ecosystems in South America.

Details

Title
Are remote sensing evapotranspiration models reliable across South American climates and ecosystems?
Author
Davi de Carvalho Diniz Melo  VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Jamil A.A. Anache  VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Wendland, Edson  VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Valéria Peixoto Borges  VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Miralles, Diego G  VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Martens, Brecht; Fisher, Joshua; Nobrega, Rodolfo L B  VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Moreno, Alvaro; Cabral, Osvaldo M R; Thiago Rangel Rodrigues  VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Bezerra, Bergson; Cláudio Moisés Santos e Silva; Antonio Alves Meira Neto  VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Moura, Magna S B; Marques, Thiago Valentim; Campos, Suany  VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; de Souza Nogueira, José; Rosolem, Rafael  VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Souza, Rodolfo; Antonino, Antonio C D; Holl, David  VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Galleguillos, Mauricio  VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Perez-Quezada, Jorge F  VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Verhoef, Anne  VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Kutzbach, Lars; José Romualdo de Sousa Lima  VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Soares de Souza, Eduardo; Gassman, María I  VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Pérez, Claudio F  VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Tonti, Natalia  VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Posse, Gabriela  VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Rains, Dominik  VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Paulo Tarso Sanches Oliveira  VIAFID ORCID Logo 
Section
Hydrology
Publication year
2021
Publication date
May 3, 2021
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
Source type
Working Paper
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2521257220
Copyright
© 2021. This work is licensed under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.