Abstract This paper compares surface sensible heat flux and soil moisture values derived by inverting two boundary layers models with a surface/vegetation formulation, using surface temperature measurements made from NOAA-7 satellite (the AVHRR) with measured values for a wheat-growing area of the Beauce in France. The vegetation parameterization enables the models to reproduce the dramatic increase in surface sensible heat flux and decrease in soil moisture which occurred over a 5-day period during the field experiment. A bare soil model proved incapable of capturing the increase of the sensible heat flux during the 5-day period even though it yielded similar values of root-zone moisture. The vegetation model responds sensitively to small changes in canopy temperature by producing large changes in surface sensible heat flux due to the parameterization of the foliage resistance and the fact that the foliage is considered a layer of zero thermal inertia. Both the vegetation and bare soil models showed a co...