Estimation of land surface heat fluxes from remote sensing data - an uncertainty assessment

Evapotranspiration is an essential component of the water and energy cycle and governs the interactions between the Earth surface and the atmosphere. On a larger spatial scale, reaching from regional to global, especially above the heterogeneous land surface these water and energy fluxes cannot be measured directly. In-situ point measurements are possible and available through FLUXNET, a network of flux tower networks. To estimate evapotranspiration on a global scale models are developed which are driven by all data needed. Satellite remote sensing techniques provide the data necessary to characterize the land surface water cycle.