ESTIMET: Enhanced and Spatial-Temporal Improvement of MODIS EvapoTranspiration algorithm for all sky conditions in tropical biomes

Cinthia M. A. Claudino*, Guillaume F. Bertrand, Rodolfo Nóbrega, Cristiano das N. Almeida, Ana Cláudia V. Gusmão, Suzana M. G. L. Montenegro, Bernardo B. Silva, Eduardo G. Patriota, Filipe C. Lemos, Jaqueline V. Coutinho, José Welton Gonçalo de Sousa, João M. Andrade, Davi C. D. Melo, Diogo Francisco B. Rodrigues, Leidjane M. Oliveira, Yunqing Xuan, Magna S. B. Moura, Abelardo A. A. Montenegro, Luca Brocca, Chiara CorbariYufang Jin, Kosana Suvočarev, Bergson Bezerra, José Romualdo S. de Lima, Eduardo Souza, Jamil A. A. Anache, Victor Hugo R. Coelho*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle (Academic Journal)peer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

We developed an ET model, namely the Enhanced and Spatial-Temporal Improvement of MODIS EvapoTranspiration (ESTIMET), for local-to-regional ET monitoring and applications in the tropics, based on the original MOD16 evapotranspiration (ET) algorithm. The main distinguishing features of ESTIMET are providing a near-real-time product with increased spatial (from 500 to 250 m) and temporal (from 8-day to daily) resolutions, minimising gaps in cloud cover and adjusting specific tropical characteristics of diverse vegetation and microclimate types. We compared the results of ESTIMET with the MOD16A2GF, PML_V2, and GLEAM 4.1a ET products, using eddy covariance (EC) data from 14 sites in Brazil, as well as the water balance-based annual ET in 25 Brazilian catchments. Overall, the ESTIMET estimates captured the daily seasonal variations of the EC data, especially in the Caatinga, Pantanal, and Cerrado biomes, with concordance correlation coefficients (ρc) ranging from 0.45 to 0.80 at eight sites located in these three biomes. The comparisons of the 8-day cumulative ET show that the ESTIMET algorithm exhibits a mean ρc of 0.63, greater than that of MOD16A2GF (ρc = 0.58), GLEAM 4.1a (ρc = 0.47), and PML_V2 (ρc = 0.45). Similarly, for the catchment water balance, ESTIMET exhibits a better representation of annual ET than other ET products in the three major South American biomes, i.e. the Amazon, Atlantic Forest, and Cerrado, which cover over 85 % of the Brazilian territory. Thus, ESTIMET improves remote sensing-based ET estimates in tropical biomes, operating at a finer spatiotemporal scale and latency (i.e. monthly) under all sky conditions.
Original languageEnglish
Article number114771
Number of pages23
JournalRemote Sensing of Environment
Volume325
Early online date26 Apr 2025
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Aug 2025

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