Mapping energy balance fluxes and root zone soil moisture in the White Volta Basin using optical imagery

Mapping energy balance fluxes and root zone soil moisture in the White Volta Basin using optical imagery

Hendrickx, J.M.H.
Hong, S.
Friesen, J.
Compaore, H.
Van de Giesen, N.C.
Rodgers, C.
Vlek, P.L.G.

Civil Engineering and Geosciences

Water Resources Section

2006-05-03

Accurate information on the distribution of sensible and latent heat fluxes as well as soil moisture is critical for evaluation of background characteristics. Since these fluxes are subject to rapid changes in time and space, it is nearly impossible to determine their spatial and temporal distributions over large areas from ground measurements alone. Therefore, prediction from remote sensing images is very attractive as it enables extensive area coverage and a high repetition rate. In this study, the Surface Energy Balance Algorithm for Land as implemented at New Mexico Tech (SEBALNM) is used to estimate sensible and latent heat fluxes in the White Volta Basin of Ghana, West Africa. The objectives are (i) to demonstrate a SEBALNM application in a part of the world were ground measurements are very scarce and (ii) to compare evapotranspiration (ET) maps obtained from Landsat and MODIS imagery, respectively. The results of this study demonstrate that SEBALNM can be applied for mapping sensible and latent heat fluxes as well as soil moisture over areas where few or no ground measurements are available using common satellite products (Landsat and MODIS).

sensible heat flux
latent heat flux
SEBALnm
evapotranspiration

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:33b1df5c-97a6-47d7-bb40-5915d7a9baeb

SPIE

0277-786X

Proceedings of SPIE, 2006 vol. 6239

Institutional Repository

conference paper

(c)2006 Hendrickx, J.M.H., Hong, S., Friesen, J., Compaore, H., Van de Giesen, N.C., Rodgers, C., Vlek, P.L.G.