Integration of remote sensing evapotranspiration (ET) model and hydrologic model for mapping daily ET time series at river basin scale

Hydrological models and remote sensing evapotranspiration (ET) models usually are used to estimate regional ET. This study aims to integrate the advantages of both the models to simulate the daily ET processes. A compromise between these two methodologies is represented by improving the optimization of the hydrological model on the basis of a new probability optimal ET series, which is produced by a data assimilation scheme combining sparse remote estimates and continuous modeling of regional ETs. The distributed time-variant gain hydrological model (DTVGM) and a two-layer remote sensing ET model are chosen. First, the DTVGM is optimized by maximizing the Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency of daily streamflow in the Shahe River basin, and simulates the daily hydrological processes of 1999–2007. For improving the accuracy of continuous ET simulation, the DTVGM is further optimized by dual objective functions composed of the assimilated ETs and observed outlet discharge. The results show that the accuracy of the DTVGM-based daily ETs is improved after the dual optimization, and the mean absolute percentage error between the DTVGM-based ETs and the measured ETs in the study area is reduced by 5.84%. The integrated method is proved better, and improves the hydrology modeling accuracy.