The MOD16 terrestrial evapotranspiration algorithm calculates three surface fluxes of latent heat (water vapor):
- Evaporation from bare soil surfaces
- Evaporation from wet canopy surfaces
- Transpiration from terrestrial vegetation
This Python implementation can be used to:
- Calibrate MOD16 on observed latent heat fluxes, such as from eddy covariance flux towers
- Run MOD16 for arbitrary spatial domains (arrays) over arbitrary time steps
- Calculate the sensitivity of the model to its parameters, based on observed latent heat fluxes
The version of MOD16 in this Python implementation is a draft release of the algorithm that will be used in MODIS Collection 7 and in VIIRS Collection 2. There are substantial changes from MODIS MOD16 Collection 6.1, which are detailed in the module documentation (under "NOTES").
It's recommended that you install the package in "editable" mode using pip
. From the root of the repository:
pip install -e .
If you want to install additional libraries needed for calibrating MOD16:
pip install -e .[calibration]
Tests can be run by:
python tests/tests.py
The MOD16 library depends on the MOD17 library.
You can read the online module documentation here. Below, an overview of the MOD16 algorithm is provided.
As described by K. Arthur Endsley, September 2023
For a large, homogeneous surface, net radiation intercepted by the earth's surface,
In this expression, positive values of
Latent heat, or heat that has been used to vaporize water, is the quantity of interest in the MOD16 algorithm and it can generally be described in terms:
The individual terms are described in the sections below, but the general idea is that the latent heat flux:
- Increases with the air's capacity to store water vapor,
$e_{\text{sat}} - e$ - Increases with the heat storage capacity of air,
$\rho\times C_p$ - Decreases with increasing aerodynamic and surface resistances,
$r_A$ +$r_S$
The flux of latent heat is also termed evapotranspiration (ET) because it includes both evaporated water and transpired water vapor fluxes. Most discussions of modeling ET begin with a version of the equation above, which gets complicated quickly when we try to calculate ET over large areas using weather data. As such, our description of the MOD16 ET model is instead procedural, to aid implementation.
The evaporation of water is like a commercial transaction in which a wet surface sells water vapour to its environment in exchange for heat...The environment can supply heat by solar radiation, by turbulent transfer from the atmosphere, or by conduction from the soil.
- From Monteith (1965).
MOD16 is based on the Penman-Monteith (PM) approach to calculating evapotranspiration (ET). The central idea of the PM approach is that it combines energy conservation and the saturation vapor pressure of the air to determine: 1) How much energy is available to vaporize water; and 2) When to stop vaporizing water (when the air is saturated).
Evapotranspiration (ET) is the sum of three components (three sources of latent heat): transpiration, evaporation from wet canopy surfaces, and evaporation from bare soil surfaces. The MOD16 algorithm calculates separate daytime (i.e., sun in the sky) and nighttime quantities for each of these components. We can understand the MOD16 algorithm as a series of steps to calculate each component wherein the input drivers are partitioned into daytime and nighttime values, starting with the calculation of the net radiation received by a surface.
Throughout, unless otherwise specified: temperature is given in degrees Kelvin; pressure is given in Pascals (Pa); resistance is given in seconds per meter.
The net radiation available to vaporize water,
Where
The three components of ET imply there are two surface sources of water vapor: the vegetation canopy (leaf surfaces) and bare soil. Therefore, the next step is to calculate the net radiation received by each of these surfaces. The net radiation received by the soil is a balance between incoming radiation,
Ground heat flux is calculated based on the surface energy balance and a pre-determined (calibrated) minimum temperature constraint,
Otherwise, ground heat flux is zero. When non-zero (as above), we additionally constrain
Again,
There are a number of quantities used in calculating all three components that must be calculated separately for daytime and nighttime inputs.
The saturation vapor pressure (SVP) is calculated based on the August-Roche-Magnus equation, also used by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) (Equation 13):
Where
Vapor pressure deficit (VPD) can be calculated a variety of ways but is always defined as the difference between SVP and the actual vapor pressure (AVP); hence, MOD16 calculates VPD by first calculating the AVP, after Gates (1980):
Where QV10M is the water vapor mixing ratio at 10-meter height (units: kg kg$^{-1}$) and P is the surface pressure (units: Pa). Whereas surface pressure elsewhere in the MOD16 algorithm is calculated based on elevation, in the AVP calculation, above,
Finally, VPD is the difference between SVP and AVP:
Relative humidity (RH) can then be calculated as the difference between VPD and SVP, normalized by the SVP:
After Fisher et al. (2008), we calculate the fraction of the land surface that is saturated,
-
$F_{\text{wet}} = 0$ iff RH < 70% - Otherwise,
$F_{\text{wet}} = (\text{RH}/100)^4$
The latent heat of vaporization,
The psychrometric constant, which relates the vapor pressure of air to its temperature, is calculated:
This is the approach used by the FAO but it is also described by Maidment (1969).
The slope of the saturation vapor pressure curve,
Note that this formula comes from the MOD16 source code and cannot be further attributed. An alternative would be the FAO formula (Equation 13).
Air density must also be calculated; we use the NIST simplified air density formula with buoyancy correction (NPL 2021):
Where
In MODIS Collection 6.1, MOD16 used air pressure as given by the surface meteorology dataset used (e.g., as a field in the re-analysis dataset). Going forward, MOD16 will instead calculate air pressure as a function of elevation:
Where
Evaporation from wet canopy occurs when a portion of the surface area under investigation is saturated with water; it consists of precipitated water intercepted by the leaves of trees and other plants. As with all the components of ET, it is calculated separately for daytime and nighttime inputs. First, net radiation to the canopy is calculated as:
The movement of water vapor from the surface to the atmosphere is analogized to an electrical circuit (Zhang et al. 2016). Therefore, the next step involves calculating the resistances to the flow of water vapor. The resistance to radiative heat transfer through the air,
Where
The resistance of wet canopy to sensible heat is given in terms of the leaf area index (LAI),
Similarly, the resistance of leaf surfaces in wet canopy to evaporated water,
And, finally, the aerodynamic resistance to evaporated water on the wet canopy surface,
We now have all the quantities necessary to calculate the wet canopy evaporation flux:
Again 0.622 is the ratio of molecular weights, water vapor to dry air. Note that if
Calculating evaporation from bare soil surfaces requires calculating both potential evaporation (PET) from the unsaturated soil surface and actual evaporation from the saturated soil surface. As with evaporation from wet canopy, we begin with calculating the resistances to water vapor fluxes.
The total aerodynamic resistance to water vapor,
-
$r_{\text{BL,max}}$ , the maximum boundary-layer resistance; -
$r_{\text{BL,min}}$ , the minimum boundary-layer resistance; -
$\text{VPD}^{\text{close}}$ , the vapor pressure deficit (VPD) at which stomata are almost completely closed due to water stress; -
$\text{VPD}^{\text{open}}$ , the VPD at which stomata are almost completely open, i.e., experiencing no water stress.
The calculation of
- iff VPD
$\le \text{VPD}^{\text{open}}$ :$r_{\text{total}} = r_{\text{corr}} r_{\text{BL,min}}$
- iff VPD
$\ge \text{VPD}^{\text{close}}$ :$r_{\text{total}} = r_{\text{corr}} r_{\text{BL,max}}$
- And if and only if VPD is between these values:
The form of
As the conductance of water vapor through the air varies with the air's temperature and pressure, and because prescribed values are assumed to be representative of standard temperature (293.15 deg K) and pressure (101300 Pa) conditions, a correction factor,
Aerodynamic resistance at the soil surface,
Potential evaporation from the soil consists of the same, core PM equation:
But actual evaporation from the saturated soil surface is calculated:
While the actual evaporation of the unsaturated soil surface is calculated by scaling the potential evaporation by an empirical soil moisture constraint:
Where VPD is the vapor pressure deficit and
Finally, actual evaporation from bare soil surfaces is given as the sum of the evaporation from saturated and unsaturated fractions:
Transpiration from plants depends on a key parameter, the canopy conductance, which is derived from the mean stomatal and cuticular conductances of the various leaf elements that make up the canopy. Specifically, canopy conductance to transpired water vapor per unit LAI (
Where
The surface conductance is a proxy for the bulk conductance of water vapor from plant stomata, throughout the canopy. It is approximated using linear functions of VPD and daily minimum temperature (
Where
- iff
$T_{\text{min}} \ge T_{\text{min,open}}$ :$f(T_{\text{min}}) = 1$ - iff
$T_{\text{min}} \le T_{\text{min,close}}$ :$f(T_{\text{min}}) = 0$ - And if and only if
$T_{\text{min}}$ is in between these values:
- iff
$\text{VPD} \le \text{VPD}^{\text{open}}$ :$f(\text{VPD}) = 1$ - iff
$\text{VPD} \ge \text{VPD}^{\text{close}}$ :$f(\text{VPD}) = 0$ - And if and only if VPD is in between these values:
Although the stomata of many plant species do not entirely close at night, in MOD16, it is assumed that
Leaf boundary layer conductance (
Where
Cuticular conductance is calculated based on the free parameter
The last term in our plant transpiration calculation is the aerodynamic resistance of the dry canopy,
Finally, we compute plant transpiration as:
Note that, at nighttime,
Total daily evapotranspiration (ET) is the sum of the three components, canopy evaporation (
Daily potential ET (PET) is also calculated in MOD16; it is the sum of wet canopy evaporation, evaporation from saturated soil (
Where potential transpiration is given by the Priestly-Taylor equation:
Where
Note that all of the ET values are given in energy units, [W m-2]. If you wish to obtain a water vapor mass flux (units: kg per square meter per second), then divide by the latent heat of vaporization (
Parameter | Description |
---|---|
Temperature at which stomata almost completely closed (C) | |
Temperature at which stomata almost fully opened (C) | |
VPD at which stomata are almost completely closed (Pa) | |
VPD at which stomata are almost completely opened (Pa) | |
Leaf conductance to sensible heat per unit LAI (m s-1 LAI-1) | |
Leaf cond. to evaporated water per unit LAI (m s-1 LAI-1) | |
Leaf cuticular conductance (m s-1) | |
Mean potential stomatal cond. per unit leaf area (m s-1) | |
Minimum atmospheric boundary layer resistance (s m-1) | |
Maximum atmospheric boundary layer resistance (s m-1) | |
Soil moisture constraint on potential soil evaporation |
This software was developed under a grant from NASA (80NSSC22K0198).
- Fisher, J. B., Tu, K., and Baldocchi, D. D. 2008. Global estimates of the land atmosphere water flux based on monthly AVHRR and ISLSCP-II data, validated at FLUXNET sites. Remote Sensing of Environment. 112(3):901−919.
- Gates, D. M. 1980. Biophysical Ecology. Springer Advanced Texts in Life Sciences. Springer New York, NY.
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- Maidment, D. 1969. Handbook of Hydrology.
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- National Physical Laboratory. 2021. "Buoyancy Correction and Air Density Measurement." http://resource.npl.co.uk/docs/science_technology/mass_force_pressure/clubs_groups/instmc_weighing_panel/buoycornote.pdf Accessed: September 3, 2023.
- Zhang, K., J. S. Kimball, and S. W. Running. 2016. A review of remote sensing based actual evapotranspiration estimation. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Water 3 (6):834–853.