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Actual Evapotranspiration for Australia using CMRSET algorithm

Status of Data: on going
Update Frequency: monthly
Security Classification: unclassified
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Description

This dataset provides accurate, high-resolution (30 m) / high-frequency (monthly) / continuous (no gaps due to cloud) actual evapotranspiration (AET) for Australia using the CMRSET algorithm. The CMRSET algorithm uses reflective remotely sensed indices to estimate AET from potential evapotranspiration (PET; calculated using daily gridded meteorological data generated by the Bureau of Meteorology). Blending high-resolution / low-frequency AET estimates (e.g., Landsat and Sentinel-2) with low-resolution / high-frequency AET estimates (e.g., MODIS and VIIRS) results in AET data that are high-resolution / high-frequency / continuous (no gaps due to cloud) and accurate. These are all ideal characteristics when calculating the water balance for a wetland, paddock, river reach, irrigation area, landscape or catchment.

Accurate AET information is important for irrigation, food security and environmental management. Like many other parts of the world, water availability in Australia is limited and AET is the largest consumptive component of the water balance. In Australia 70% of available water is used for crop and pasture irrigation and better monitoring will support improved water use efficiency in this sector, with any water savings available as environmental flows. Additionally, ground-water dependent ecosystems (GDE) occupy a small area yet are "biodiversity hotspots", and knowing their water needs allows for enhanced management of these critical areas in the landscape. Having high-resolution, frequent and accurate AET estimates for all of Australia means this AET data source can be used to model the water balance for any catchment / groundwater system in Australia.

Details of the CMRSET algorithm and its independent validation are provided in Guerschman, J.P., McVicar, T.R., Vleeshouwer, J., Van Niel, T.G., Peña-Arancibia, J.L. and Chen, Y. (2022) Estimating actual evapotranspiration at field-to-continent scales by calibrating the CMRSET algorithm with MODIS, VIIRS, Landsat and Sentinel-2 data. Journal of Hydrology. 605, 127318, doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2021.127318

We strongly recommend users to use the TERN CMRSET AET V2.2. Details of the TERN CMRSET AET V2.2 data product generation are provided in McVicar, T.R., Vleeshouwer, J., Van Niel, T.G., Guerschman, J.P., Peña-Arancibia, J.L. and Stenson, M.P. (2022) Generating a multi-decade gap-free high-resolution monthly actual evapotranspiration dataset for Australia using Landsat, MODIS and VIIRS data in the Google Earth Engine platform: Development and use cases. Journal of Hydrology (In Preparation).


Credit
This work was funded by the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN), an Australian Government NCRIS enabled project, and is supported by the use of TERN infrastructure.

Purpose
To provide accurate, timely, high-resolution, high-frequency and continuous estimates of actual evapotranspiration (AET) data across Australia to support improved water resource management and environmental management.

Temporal coverage

From 2/1/2000

Dates

Date modified

4/1/2022

Citation information

How to cite this collection:

McVicar, T., Vleeshouwer, J., Van Niel, T. & Guerschman, J. (2022): Actual Evapotranspiration for Australia using CMRSET algorithm. Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network. (Dataset). https://doi.org/10.25901/gg27-ck96

Rights and Licensing

CC-BY

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

TERN services are provided on an "as-is" and "as available" basis. Users use any TERN services at their discretion and risk. They will be solely responsible for any damage or loss whatsoever that results from such use including use of any data obtained through TERN and any analysis performed using the TERN infrastructure.
Web links to and from external, third party websites should not be construed as implying any relationships with and/or endorsement of the external site or its content by TERN.

Please advise any work or publications that use this data via the online form at https://www.tern.org.au/research-publications/#reporting
Please cite this dataset as {Author} ({PublicationYear}). {Title}. {Version, as appropriate}. Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network. Dataset. {Identifier}.
Please send citation details of any publications using this data to TERN tern@uq.edu.au

Keywords

Platforms
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GCMD Science
ANZSRC - FOR
Temporal Resolution
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Publications

PublicationsPublications

Data Quality

Data QualityData Quality
  • Data Quality Assessment Scope:
    Guerschman, J.P., McVicar, T.R., Vleeshouwer, J., Van Niel, T.G., Peña-Arancibia, J.L. and Chen, Y. (2022) Estimating actual evapotranspiration at field-to-continent scales by calibrating the CMRSET algorithm with MODIS, VIIRS, Landsat and Sentinel-2 data. Journal of Hydrology. 605, 127318, doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2021.127318
  • Data Quality Assessment Result:
    Calibration and validation have been performed using the 29 eddy covariance towers included in the TERN OzFlux network, with independent hydrological validation performed using streamflow (Q) data from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) for 780 unregulated and unimpaired catchments (i.e. not significantly affected by regulation structures or streamflow extraction). Full results are presented in Guerschman, McVicar et al (2021).

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