A Modified Trapezoidal Framework Model for Partitioning Regional
Evapotranspiration
Abstract
While evapotranspiration (ET) is normally measured as one hydrologic
component, evaporation (E) and transpiration (T) result from different
physical-biological processes. In the two-source model, a trapezoidal
framework has been widely applied in recent years. The key to applying
the trapezoidal framework is the determination of the dry/wet boundaries
of the land surface temperature-vegetation coverage trapezoid (LST-fc).
Although algorithms have been developed to characterize the two
boundaries, , there still, however, exists a significant uncertainty
near the wet boundary which scatters in a discrete and uneven manner. It
thus is difficult to precisely locate the wet boundary. To tackle the
problem, a Wet Boundary Algorithm (WBA) was developed in this study and
the algorithm was applied in the region of Huang-Huai-Hai plain of China
by using Pixel Component Arranging and Comparing Algorithm (PCACA) to
retrieve ET from MODIS Data. The latent heat flux (LE) observed by eddy
covariance (EC) measurements from China FLUXNET was used to verify the
modified model where the coefficient of determination (R2) was found to
0.81 and the root-mean-square-error (RMSE) was 22.8 W/m2. The ratio of
transpiration to evapotranspiration (T/ET) varied between 0.5-0.75 over
the region of Huang-Huai-Hai plain. The spatial and temporal
distribution of ET revealed that agriculture practices had a great
influence on the hydrological cycle.