Evapotranspiration
|
Evapotranspiration (ET) is the combined process of water evaporation from soil and surface water bodies, and transpiration through plant stomata. ET plays a key role in the Earth system, linking the water and carbon cycles with the surface energy budget. ET is important for understanding the water cycle, which impacts water security and vegetation health. I am building and validating ET products that can help with conservation, fire risk assessment, water management, and agricultural practices (among other things).
As part of the science team for NASA's ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on the Space Station (ECOSTRESS) mission, the PIE lab is at the forefront of mapping ET from space. ECOSTRESS provides a new avenue for mapping and evaluating diurnal changes in ET by leveraging high-resolution (70 m) thermal infrared (TIR) data at various times throughout the day. |
Summertime average evapotranspiration across California in 2023. Data from OpenET.
|
Water use efficiency
|
The relationship between ecosystem carbon gain (gross primary production; GPP) and water loss (evapotranspiration; ET), also known as water use efficiency (WUE), is a key variable that can help us better understand and constrain the response of ecosystems to changes in climate. Remote sensing of solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) and thermal infrared radiation (TIR) has potential to constrain the highly dynamic nature of WUE across space and time and yield critical insights into global carbon and water cycles. We explore the connections between remotely sensed SIF and TIR and WUE across scales.
|
Coincident data from the International Space Station capable of mapping diurnal changes in water use efficiency.
|
Related Publications
Pierrat, Z. A., Purdy, A. J., Halverson, G., Fisher, J. B., Mallick, K., Pascolini-Campbell, M., Ryu, Y., Anderson, M. C., Villanueva-Weeks, C., Johnson, M. C., Hatch, B., Davis, E., Yang, Y., & Cawse-Nicholson, K., 2025. Evaluation of ECOSTRESS Collection 2 Evapotranspiration Products: Strengths and Uncertainties for Evapotranspiration Modeling. Water Resources Research, 61(6), e2024WR039404. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024WR039404
Original preprint available at: https://doi.org/10.22541/essoar.173193420.03623709/v1
Pierrat, Z. A., Gustine, R.N., Boser, A., Ruehr, S., Lee, C.M., Reager, J.T., Cawse-Nicholson, K., 2026. Human contributions to evapotranspiration mitigate swings in dry-to-wet year transitions. Communications Sustainability. 1, 8. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44458-025-00002-w
Original preprint available at: https://doi.org/10.22541/essoar.173193420.03623709/v1
Pierrat, Z. A., Gustine, R.N., Boser, A., Ruehr, S., Lee, C.M., Reager, J.T., Cawse-Nicholson, K., 2026. Human contributions to evapotranspiration mitigate swings in dry-to-wet year transitions. Communications Sustainability. 1, 8. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44458-025-00002-w
Related Datasets
Thomas P. Kurosu, Abhishek Chatterjee, Kerry Cawse-Nicholson, Zoe A. Pierrat, Simon J. Hook (2025), ECOSTRESS/OCO-3 Co-Located Observations V1.0, Greenbelt, MD, USA, Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC), Accessed: [Data Access Date], 10.5067/JY21I1T22RCA