Skip to main content
ARS Home » Midwest Area » Ames, Iowa » National Laboratory for Agriculture and The Environment » Soil, Water & Air Resources Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #316340

Title: Evapotranspiration: Evolution of methods to increase spatial and temporal resolution

Author
item Hatfield, Jerry
item Prueger, John
item Kustas, William - Bill
item Anderson, Martha
item Alfieri, Joseph

Submitted to: Book Chapter
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/15/2016
Publication Date: 10/14/2016
Citation: Hatfield, J.L., Prueger, J.H., Kustas, W.P., Anderson, M.C., Alfieri, J.G. 2016. Evapotranspiration: Evolution of methods to increase spatial and temporal resolution. In: J. L. Hatfield, D. Fleisher, editors. Improving Modeling Tools to Assess Climate Change Effects on Crop Response. Advances in Agricultural Systems Modeling. Volume 7. Madison, WI: American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America, Inc. p. 159-194. doi: 10.2134/advagricsystmodel7.2015.0076.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Water use by different land surfaces is a necessary component in understanding the hydrologic cycle at a range of spatial and temporal scales. There have been a variety of methods proposed to measure water use or evapotranspiration ranging from direct to indirect methods. The direct methods include measuring the plant water status or soil water balance from either soil water measurements or lysimeters. Indirect methods range from micrometeorological to large scale energy balance derived from satellite observations. Each method has its own unique spatial and temporal resolution and comparison of methods must consider the characteristics of each method. The methods for evapotranspiration continue to evolve and the integration of energy balance models with the detailed spatial and temporal observations provide the capabilities of improving our ability to estimate evapotranspiration at a variety of scales to enhance our understanding of how changes in land management affect the global energy balance.