scholarly journals Evaluation of the SPARSE Dual-Source Model for Predicting Water Stress and Evapotranspiration from Thermal Infrared Data over Multiple Crops and Climates

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 1806 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emilie Delogu ◽  
Gilles Boulet ◽  
Albert Olioso ◽  
Sébastien Garrigues ◽  
Aurore Brut ◽  
...  

Using surface temperature as a signature of the surface energy balance is a way to quantify the spatial distribution of evapotranspiration and water stress. In this work, we used the new dual-source model named Soil Plant Atmosphere and Remote Sensing Evapotranspiration (SPARSE) based on the Two Sources Energy Balance (TSEB) model rationale which solves the surface energy balance equations for the soil and the canopy. SPARSE can be used (i) to retrieve soil and vegetation stress levels from known surface temperature and (ii) to predict transpiration, soil evaporation, and surface temperature for given stress levels. The main innovative feature of SPARSE is that it allows to bound each retrieved individual flux component (evaporation and transpiration) by its corresponding potential level deduced from running the model in prescribed potential conditions, i.e., a maximum limit if the surface water availability is not limiting. The main objective of the paper is to assess the SPARSE model predictions of water stress and evapotranspiration components for its two proposed versions (the “patch” and “layer” resistances network) over 20 in situ data sets encompassing distinct vegetation and climate. Over a large range of leaf area index values and for contrasting vegetation stress levels, SPARSE showed good retrieval performances of evapotranspiration and sensible heat fluxes. For cereals, the layer version provided better latent heat flux estimates than the patch version while both models showed similar performances for sparse crops and forest ecosystems. The bounded layer version of SPARSE provided the best estimates of latent heat flux over different sites and climates. Broad tendencies of observed and retrieved stress intensities were well reproduced with a reasonable difference obtained for most of the points located within a confidence interval of 0.2. The synchronous dynamics of observed and retrieved estimates underlined that the SPARSE retrieved water stress estimates from Thermal Infra-Red data were relevant tools for stress detection.

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 895-963 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Chirouze ◽  
G. Boulet ◽  
L. Jarlan ◽  
R. Fieuzal ◽  
J. C. Rodriguez ◽  
...  

Abstract. Remotely sensed surface temperature can provide a good proxy for water stress level and is therefore particularly useful to estimate spatially distributed evapotranspiration. Instantaneous stress levels or instantaneous latent heat flux are deduced from the surface energy balance equation constrained by this equilibrium temperature. Pixel average surface temperature depends on two main factors: stress and vegetation fraction cover. Methods estimating stress vary according to the way they treat each factor. Two families of methods can be defined: the contextual methods, where stress levels are scaled on a given image between hot/dry and cool/wet pixels for a particular vegetation cover, and single-pixel methods which evaluate latent heat as the residual of the surface energy balance for one pixel independently from the others. Four models, two contextual (S-SEBI and a triangle method, inspired by Moran et al., 1994) and two single-pixel (TSEB, SEBS) are applied at seasonal scale over a four by four km irrigated agricultural area in semi-arid northern Mexico. Their performances, both at local and spatial standpoints, are compared relatively to energy balance data acquired at seven locations within the area, as well as a more complex soil-vegetation-atmosphere transfer model forced with true irrigation and rainfall data. Stress levels are not always well retrieved by most models, but S-SEBI as well as TSEB, although slightly biased, show good performances. Drop in model performances is observed when vegetation is senescent, mostly due to a poor partitioning both between turbulent fluxes and between the soil/plant components of the latent heat flux and the available energy. As expected, contextual methods perform well when extreme hydric and vegetation conditions are encountered in the same image (therefore, esp. in spring and early summer) while they tend to exaggerate the spread in water status in more homogeneous conditions (esp. in winter).


Author(s):  
G. Boulet ◽  
E. Delogu ◽  
W. Chebbi ◽  
Z. Rafi ◽  
V. Le Dantec ◽  
...  

<p><strong>Abstract.</strong> Evapotranspiration is an important component of the water cycle. For the agronomic management and ecosystem health monitoring, it is also important to provide an estimate of evapotranspiration components, i.e. transpiration and soil evaporation. To do so, Thermal InfraRed data can be used with dual-source surface energy balance models, because they solve separate energy budgets for the soil and the vegetation. But those models rely on specific assumptions on raw levels of plant water stress to get both components (evaporation and transpiration) out of a single source of information, namely the surface temperature. Additional information from remote sensing data are thus required. This works evaluates the ability of the SPARSE dual-source energy balance model to compute not only total evapotranspiration, but also water stress and transpiration/evaporation components, using either the sole surface temperature as a remote sensing driver, or a combination of surface temperature and soil moisture level derived from microwave data. Flux data at an experimental plot in semi-arid Morocco is used to assess this potentiality and shows the increased robustness of both the total evapotranspiration and partitioning retrieval performances. This work is realized within the frame of the Phase A activities for the TRISHNA CNES/ISRO Thermal Infra-Red satellite mission.</p>


Author(s):  
Gilles Boulet ◽  
Emilie Delogu ◽  
Sameh Saadi ◽  
Wafa Chebbi ◽  
Albert Olioso ◽  
...  

Abstract. EvapoTranspiration (ET) is an important component of the water cycle, especially in semi-arid lands. Its quantification is crucial for a sustainable management of scarce water resources. A way to quantify ET is to exploit the available surface temperature data from remote sensing as a signature of the surface energy balance, including the latent heat flux. Remotely sensed energy balance models enable to estimate stress levels and, in turn, the water status of most continental surfaces. The evaporation and transpiration components of ET are also just as important in agricultural water management and ecosystem health monitoring. Single temperatures can be used with dual source energy balance models but rely on specific assumptions on raw levels of plant water stress to get both components out of a single source of information. Additional information from remote sensing data are thus required, either something specifically related to evaporation (such as surface water content) or transpiration (such as PRI or fluorescence). This works evaluates the SPARSE dual source energy balance model ability to compute not only total ET, but also water stress and transpiration/evaporation components. First, the theoretical limits of the ET component retrieval are assessed through a simulation experiment using both retrieval and prescribed modes of SPARSE with the sole surface temperature. A similar work is performed with an additional constraint, the topsoil surface soil moisture level, showing the significant improvement on the retrieval. Then, a flux dataset acquired over rainfed wheat is used to check the robustness of both stress levels and ET retrievals. In particular, retrieval of the evaporation and transpiration components is assessed in both conditions (forcing by the sole temperature or the combination of temperature and soil moisture). In our example, there is no significant difference in the performance of the total ET retrieval, since the evaporation rate retrieved from the sole surface temperature is already fairly close to the one we can reconstruct from observed surface soil moisture time series, but current work is underway to test it over other plots.


2015 ◽  
Vol 19 (11) ◽  
pp. 4653-4672 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Boulet ◽  
B. Mougenot ◽  
J.-P. Lhomme ◽  
P. Fanise ◽  
Z. Lili-Chabaane ◽  
...  

Abstract. Evapotranspiration is an important component of the water cycle, especially in semi-arid lands. A way to quantify the spatial distribution of evapotranspiration and water stress from remote-sensing data is to exploit the available surface temperature as a signature of the surface energy balance. Remotely sensed energy balance models enable one to estimate stress levels and, in turn, the water status of continental surfaces. Dual-source models are particularly useful since they allow derivation of a rough estimate of the water stress of the vegetation instead of that of a soil–vegetation composite. They either assume that the soil and the vegetation interact almost independently with the atmosphere (patch approach corresponding to a parallel resistance scheme) or are tightly coupled (layer approach corresponding to a series resistance scheme). The water status of both sources is solved simultaneously from a single surface temperature observation based on a realistic underlying assumption which states that, in most cases, the vegetation is unstressed, and that if the vegetation is stressed, evaporation is negligible. In the latter case, if the vegetation stress is not properly accounted for, the resulting evaporation will decrease to unrealistic levels (negative fluxes) in order to maintain the same total surface temperature. This work assesses the retrieval performances of total and component evapotranspiration as well as surface and plant water stress levels by (1) proposing a new dual-source model named Soil Plant Atmosphere and Remote Sensing Evapotranspiration (SPARSE) in two versions (parallel and series resistance networks) based on the TSEB (Two-Source Energy Balance model, Norman et al., 1995) model rationale as well as state-of-the-art formulations of turbulent and radiative exchange, (2) challenging the limits of the underlying hypothesis for those two versions through a synthetic retrieval test and (3) testing the water stress retrievals (vegetation water stress and moisture-limited soil evaporation) against in situ data over contrasted test sites (irrigated and rainfed wheat). We demonstrated with those two data sets that the SPARSE series model is more robust to component stress retrieval for this cover type, that its performance increases by using bounding relationships based on potential conditions (root mean square error lowered by up to 11 W m−2 from values of the order of 50–80 W m−2), and that soil evaporation retrieval is generally consistent with an independent estimate from observed soil moisture evolution.


2014 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 1165-1188 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Chirouze ◽  
G. Boulet ◽  
L. Jarlan ◽  
R. Fieuzal ◽  
J. C. Rodriguez ◽  
...  

Abstract. Instantaneous evapotranspiration rates and surface water stress levels can be deduced from remotely sensed surface temperature data through the surface energy budget. Two families of methods can be defined: the contextual methods, where stress levels are scaled on a given image between hot/dry and cool/wet pixels for a particular vegetation cover, and single-pixel methods, which evaluate latent heat as the residual of the surface energy balance for one pixel independently from the others. Four models, two contextual (S-SEBI and a modified triangle method, named VIT) and two single-pixel (TSEB, SEBS) are applied over one growing season (December–May) for a 4 km × 4 km irrigated agricultural area in the semi-arid northern Mexico. Their performance, both at local and spatial standpoints, are compared relatively to energy balance data acquired at seven locations within the area, as well as an uncalibrated soil–vegetation–atmosphere transfer (SVAT) model forced with local in situ data including observed irrigation and rainfall amounts. Stress levels are not always well retrieved by most models, but S-SEBI as well as TSEB, although slightly biased, show good performance. The drop in model performance is observed for all models when vegetation is senescent, mostly due to a poor partitioning both between turbulent fluxes and between the soil/plant components of the latent heat flux and the available energy. As expected, contextual methods perform well when contrasted soil moisture and vegetation conditions are encountered in the same image (therefore, especially in spring and early summer) while they tend to exaggerate the spread in water status in more homogeneous conditions (especially in winter). Surface energy balance models run with available remotely sensed products prove to be nearly as accurate as the uncalibrated SVAT model forced with in situ data.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivonne Trebs ◽  
Kaniska Mallick ◽  
Nishan Bhattarai ◽  
Mauro Sulis ◽  
James Cleverly ◽  
...  

&lt;p&gt;&amp;#8216;Aerodynamic resistance&amp;#8217; (hereafter r&lt;sub&gt;a&lt;/sub&gt;) is a preeminent variable in the modelling of evapotranspiration (ET), and its accurate quantification plays a critical role in determining the performance and consistency of thermal remote sensing-based surface energy balance (SEB) models for estimating ET at local to regional scales. Atmospheric stability links r&lt;sub&gt;a&lt;/sub&gt; with land surface temperature (LST) and the representation of their interactions in the SEB models determines the accuracy of ET estimates.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The present study investigates the influence of r&lt;sub&gt;a&lt;/sub&gt; and its relation to LST uncertainties on the performance of three structurally different SEB models by combining nine OzFlux eddy covariance datasets from 2011 to 2019 from sites of different aridity in Australia with MODIS Terra and Aqua LST and leaf area index (LAI) products. Simulations of the latent heat flux (LE, energy equivalent of ET in W/m&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;) from the SPARSE (Soil Plant Atmosphere and Remote Sensing Evapotranspiration), SEBS (Surface Energy Balance System) and STIC (Surface Temperature Initiated Closure) models forced with MODIS LST, LAI, and in-situ meteorological datasets were evaluated using observed flux data across water-limited (semi-arid and arid) and radiation-limited (mesic) ecosystems.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Our results revealed that the three models tend to overestimate instantaneous LE in the water-limited shrubland, woodland and grassland ecosystems by up to 60% on average, which was caused by an underestimation of the sensible heat flux (H). LE overestimation was associated with discrepancies in r&lt;sub&gt;a&lt;/sub&gt; retrievals under conditions of high atmospheric instability, during which errors in LST (expressed as the difference between MODIS LST and in-situ LST) apparently played a minor role. On the other hand, a positive bias in LST coincides with low r&lt;sub&gt;a&lt;/sub&gt; and causes slight underestimation of LE at the water-limited sites. The impact of r&lt;sub&gt;a&lt;/sub&gt; on the LE residual error was found to be of the same magnitude as the influence of errors in LST in the semi-arid ecosystems as indicated by variable importance in projection (VIP) coefficients from partial least squares regression above unity. In contrast, our results for mesic forest ecosystems indicated minor dependency on r&lt;sub&gt;a&lt;/sub&gt; for modelling LE (VIP&lt;0.4), which was due to a higher roughness length and lower LST resulting in dominance of mechanically generated turbulence, thereby diminishing the importance of atmospheric stability in the determination of r&lt;sub&gt;a&lt;/sub&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;


2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 7127-7178 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Boulet ◽  
B. Mougenot ◽  
J.-P. Lhomme ◽  
P. Fanise ◽  
Z. Lili-Chabaane ◽  
...  

Abstract. Evapotranspiration is an important component of the water cycle, especially in semi-arid lands. A way to quantify the spatial distribution of evapotranspiration and water stress from remote-sensing data is to exploit the available surface temperature as a signature of the surface energy balance. Remotely sensed energy balance models enable to estimate stress levels and, in turn, the water status of continental surfaces. Dual-source models are particularly useful since they allow deriving a rough estimate of the water stress of the vegetation instead of that of a soil–vegetation composite. They either assume that the soil and the vegetation interact almost independently with the atmosphere (patch approach corresponding to a arallel resistance scheme) or are tightly coupled (layer approach corresponding to a series resistance scheme). The water status of both sources is solved simultaneously from a single surface temperature observation based on a realistic underlying assumption which states that, in most cases, the vegetation is unstressed, and that if the vegetation is stressed, evaporation is negligible. In the latter case, if the vegetation stress is not properly accounted for, the resulting evaporation will decrease to unrealistic levels (negative fluxes) in order to maintain the same total surface temperature. This work assesses the retrieval performances of total and component evapotranspiration as well as surface and plant water stress levels by (1) proposing a new dual-source model named Soil Plant Atmosphere and Remote Sensing Evapotranspiration (SPARSE) in two versions (parallel and series resistance networks) based on the TSEB (Norman et al., 1995) model rationale as well as state of the art formulations of turbulent and radiative exchange, (2) challenging the limits of the underlying hypothesis for those two versions through a synthetic retrieval test and (3) testing the water stress retrievals (vegetation water stress and moisture-limited soil evaporation) against in-situ data over contrasted test sites (irrigated and rainfed wheat). We demonstrated with those two datasets that the series model is more robust to component stress retrieval for this cover type, that its performance increases by using bounding relationships based on potential conditions (root mean square error lowered by up to 11 W m-2 from values of the order of 50–80 W m-2), and that soil evaporation retrieval is globally consistent with an independent estimate from observed soil moisture evolution.


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