Evaluation of the Surface Energy Balance System (SEBS) applied to ASTER imagery with flux-measurements at the SPARC 2004 site (Barrax, Spain)

Abstract

Accurate quantification of the amount and spatial variation of evapotranspiration is important in a wide range of disciplines. Remote sensing based surface energy balance models have been developed to estimate turbulent surface energy fluxes at different scales. The objective of this study is to evaluate the Surface Energy Balance System (SEBS) model on a landscape scale, using tower-based flux measurements at different land cover units during an overpass of the ASTER sensor over the SPARC 2004 experimental site in Barrax (Spain). Additionally, the effect of replacement of empirical roughness functions in the model by field estimates or literature values is investigated. Modelled fluxes correspond better with flux measurements over uniform land cover compared to cases where different land covers are mixed in the measurement footprint. Furthermore SEBS underestimates sensible heat flux, which is common in one source models.