MODIS-Based Potential Evapotranspiration Demand Curves for the Sacramento Soil Moisture Accounting Model
Publication: Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 21, Issue 1
Abstract
A satellite-based potential evapotranspiration (PET) product for streamflow simulations is tested for 15 forecast basins in the Upper Mississippi and Red River watersheds under the forecasting responsibility of the National Weather Service (NWS) North Central River Forecast Center (NCRFC). PET demand curves, which are long-term average estimates of daily PET, are derived using the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer sensor (MODIS) on board the Terra and Aqua earth observation satellites. The PET demand curves (referred to as M-PET) are then used as input to the NWS Sacramento soil moisture accounting model (SACSMA) and simulated discharge and evapotranspiration (ET) are evaluated. Simulations using M-PET input are compared to simulations produced using the demand curves of the NCRFC (referred to as NC-PET). The M-PET data correlate better with PET estimated using tower data from three sites located within the study region compared to the NC-PET. The M-PET overall has low positive bias, averaging approximately while the NC-PET has larger, negative bias, averaging almost . The M-PET discharge simulations have acceptable performance (i.e., ) for eight of the 15 basins. The simulated ET produced by the M-PET matches the range of observed ET better than the NC-PET when compared to data from the three flux sites. Overall results indicate there is potential for using the M-PET as input into the SACSMA though further work is needed to assess potential data bias.
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Acknowledgments
Financial support for this work is provided by a NASA New Investigator Program (Grant #NNX10AQ77G). The authors would like to thank NASA personnel for assistance during data acquisition. Special thanks to Jongyoun Kim for initial development of the PET algorithm as well as to Mike DeWeese and Pedro Restrepo at the NCRFC for their assistance throughout this project. The authors would also thank the Ameriflux Research Network Principal Investigators (PIs) who provided observation data used in this analysis.
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Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 21 • Issue 1 • January 2016
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© 2015 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Dec 13, 2013
Accepted: May 13, 2015
Published online: Jul 14, 2015
Discussion open until: Dec 14, 2015
Published in print: Jan 1, 2016
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