Current Challenges in Evapotranspiration Determination, GEWEX News

Joan Cuxart (1) , Anne Verhoef (2) , Toby R. Marthews (3) , Jason Evans (4)

1 UIB - Universitat de les Illes Balears = Universidad de las Islas Baleares = University of the Balearic Islands
2 Department of Soil Science
3 UKCEH - Centre for Ecology and Hydrology
4 UNSW - University of New South Wales [Sydney]

Evapotranspiration (ET) from soil and vegetation is a key part of the energy and water budgets and, with condensation, a process that links both explicitly. Accurate experimental determination of ET is a requirement, but it is challenging both in situ and remotely, introducing uncertainties for model pa-rameterization development and validation. Furthermore its representation often ignores important processes for specific conditions. We list a number of issues that we consider to deserve further reflection, grouped under four main challenges: i) defining and understanding ET; ii) measuring ET in-situ; iii) parameterizing ET, and iv) estimating ET remotely and at the catchment scale. It is addressed to members of the main scientific communities concerned, namely meteorologists, hydrologists, soil physicists , plant physiologists, agronomists, land-surface modelers and remote-sensing researchers.

Domaines: Physique Atmosphérique et Océanique [physics.ao-ph]; Sciences de l'environnement

Joan Cuxart, Anne Verhoef, Toby R. Marthews, Jason Evans. Current Challenges in Evapotranspiration Determination, GEWEX News. 2019. ⟨hal-02901795⟩