Evapotranspiration estimation in the Yellow River Basin, China using integrated NDVI data

Abstract

It is important to estimate land surface evapotranspiration (ET) for water resources evaluation, drought monitoring and crop production simulation. In this paper, a relationship between annual ET, integrated Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Relative Moisture Index (RMI) was established. Based on this relationship, the spatial distribution and dynamic change of annual ET were estimated for the Yellow River Basin, China from 1982 to 2000. Our analyses involved the use of integrated NDVI data, monthly mean air temperature, and precipitation. Our results showed that the integrated AVHRR NDVI can be used to effectively estimate annual ET in the Yellow River Basin, with an accuracy over 90% for the whole basin.

Acknowledgments

This study was funded by the Chinese National Key Research Program of Basic Science (G1999043601, G20000779). The authors thank the anonymous reviewers for their professional and insightful comments. Data were made available through the Earth Observing System Data and Information System, Distributed Active Archive Center at Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA.