Actual evapotranspiration modeling using the operational Simplified Surface Energy Balance (SSEBop) approach

Evapotranspiration (ET) is an element of the water balance that defies easy direct measurement and is therefore difficult to quantify at field scale. The need of the National Water Census (NWC) for quantification of crop ET over broad areas (river basins or states) compounds the difficulty. In the face of this challenge, the last fifteen years have seen much progress in the use of satellite imagery to produce estimates of landscape ET and crop water use. Such estimates are in good agreement with observations at well-instrumented sites having lysimeter or flux tower measurements. This project supports the NWC with 1-km estimates of actual ET (ETa) over the full landscape, and 30 meter scale estimates from Landsat for crop lands to estimate agricultural water use.

• National Water Census

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