Performance evaluation of satellite-based approaches for the estimation of daily air temperature and reference evapotranspiration

Abstract

Different satellite-based radiation (Makkink) and temperature (Hargreaves-Samani, Penman-Monteith temperature, PMT) reference evapotranspiration (ETo) models were compared with the FAO56-PM method over the Cauvery basin, India. Maximum air temperature (Tmax) required in the ETo models was estimated using the temperature–vegetation index (TVX) and an advanced statistical approach (ASA), and evaluated with observed Tmax obtained from automatic weather stations. Minimum air temperature (Tmin) was estimated using ASA. Land surface temperature was employed in the ETo models in place of air temperature (Ta) to check the potency of its applicability. The results suggest that the PMT model with Ta as input performed better than the other ETo models, with correlation coefficient (r), averaged root mean square error (RMSE) and mean bias error (MBE) of 0.77, 0.80 mm d−1 and −0.69 for all land cover classes. The ASA yielded better Tmax and Tmin values (r and RMSE of 0.87 and 2.17°C, and 0.87 and 2.27°C, respectively).