Evapotranspiration Estimation Using Surface Energy Balance System Model: A Case Study in the Nagqu River Basin

Abstract

Calculation of actual evapotranspiration (AET) is of vital importance for the study of climate change, ecosystem carbon cycling, flooding, drought, and agricultural water demand. It is one of the more important components in the hydrological cycle and surface energy balance (SEB). How to accurately estimate AET especially for the Tibetan Plateau (TP) with complex terrain remains a challenge for the scientific community. Using multi-sensor remote sensing data, meteorological forcing data, and field observations, AET was derived for the Nagqu river basin of the Northern Tibetan Plateau from a surface energy balance system (SEBS) model. As inputs for SEBS, improved algorithms and datasets for land surface albedo and a cloud-free normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) were also constructed. The model-estimated AET were compared with results by using the combinatory method (CM). The validation indicated that the model estimates of AET agreed well with the correlation coefficient, the root mean square error, and the mean percentage error of 0.972, 0.052 mm/h, and −10.4%, respectively. The comparison between SEBS estimation and CM results also proved the feasibility of parameterization schemes for land surface parameters and AET.