Assessing the multi-resolution information content of remotely sensed variables and elevation for evapotranspiration in a tall-grass prairie environment

Understanding the spatial scaling behavior of evapotranspiration and its relation to controlling factors on the land surface is necessary to accurately estimate regional water cycling. We propose a method for ascertaining this scaling behavior via a combination of wavelet multi-resolution analysis and information theory metrics. Using a physically-based modeling framework, we are able to compute spatially distributed latent heat fluxes over the tall-grass prairie in North-central Kansas for August 8, 2005. Comparison with three eddy-covariance stations and a large aperture scintillometer demonstrates good agreement, and thus give confidence in the modeled fluxes. Results indicate that the spatial variability in radiometric temperature (a proxy for soil moisture) most closely controls the spatial variability in evapotranspiration. Small scale variability in the water flux can be ascribed to the small scale spatial variance in the fractional vegetation. In addition, correlation analysis indicates general scale invariance and that low spatial resolution data may be adequate for accurately determining water cycling in prairie ecosystems.

[1]  D. Jupp,et al.  Using covariates to spatially interpolate moisture availability in the Murray–Darling Basin: A novel use of remotely sensed data , 2002 .

[2]  T. Carlson An Overview of the “Triangle Method” for Estimating Surface Evapotranspiration and Soil Moisture from Satellite Imagery , 2007, Sensors (Basel, Switzerland).

[3]  Jing Chen,et al.  Spatial scaling of evapotranspiration as affected by heterogeneities in vegetation, topography, and soil texture , 2006 .

[4]  T. Carlson,et al.  Thermal remote sensing of surface soil water content with partial vegetation cover for incorporation into climate models , 1995 .

[5]  J. Heilman,et al.  Experimental Test of Density and Energy‐Balance Corrections on Carbon Dioxide Flux as Measured Using Open‐Path Eddy Covariance , 2003 .

[6]  A. Knapp,et al.  Fluxes of CO2, water vapor, and energy from a prairie ecosystem during the seasonal transition from carbon sink to carbon source , 1998 .

[7]  T. Meyers,et al.  Measuring Biosphere‐Atmosphere Exchanges of Biologically Related Gases with Micrometeorological Methods , 1988 .

[8]  Martha C. Anderson,et al.  Upscaling and Downscaling—A Regional View of the Soil–Plant–Atmosphere Continuum , 2003 .

[9]  D. Bremer,et al.  Evapotranspiration in a Prairie Ecosystem: Effects of Grazing by Cattle , 2001 .

[10]  S. M. Glenn,et al.  Fine-scale spatial organization of tallgrass prairie vegetation along a topographic gradient , 1995, Folia Geobotanica.

[11]  T. Carlson,et al.  On the relation between NDVI, fractional vegetation cover, and leaf area index , 1997 .

[12]  J. I. MacPherson,et al.  Effects of spatial variability in topography, vegetation cover and soil moisture on area-averaged surface fluxes: A case study using the FIFE 1989 data , 1995 .

[13]  Claude E. Shannon,et al.  The mathematical theory of communication , 1950 .

[14]  D. Bremer,et al.  Effect of spring burning on the surface energy balance in a tallgrass prairie , 1999 .

[15]  Ronald L. Elliott,et al.  Scaling effects on modeled surface energy-balance components using the NOAH-OSU land surface model , 2003 .

[16]  R. Oren,et al.  Carbon dioxide and water vapor exchange in a warm temperate grassland , 2003, Oecologia.

[17]  Nathaniel A. Brunsell,et al.  Characterization of land-surface precipitation feedback regimes with remote sensing , 2006 .

[18]  Moon,et al.  Estimation of mutual information using kernel density estimators. , 1995, Physical review. E, Statistical physics, plasmas, fluids, and related interdisciplinary topics.

[19]  Ernst Linder,et al.  Estimating diurnal to annual ecosystem parameters by synthesis of a carbon flux model with eddy covariance net ecosystem exchange observations , 2005 .

[20]  R. Dickinson,et al.  A numerical approach to calculating soil wetness and evapotranspiration over large grid areas , 2007 .

[21]  J. Finnigan,et al.  Scale issues in boundary-layer meteorology: Surface energy balances in heterogeneous terrain , 1995 .

[22]  Robert R. Gillies,et al.  A new look at the simplified method for remote sensing of daily evapotranspiration , 1995 .

[23]  William P. Kustas,et al.  Effect of remote sensing spatial resolution on interpreting tower-based flux observations , 2006 .

[24]  F. Samson,et al.  Prairie conservation in North America , 1994 .

[25]  Steven W. Running,et al.  Applying Improved Estimates of MODIS Productivity to Characterize Grassland Vegetation Dynamics , 2006 .

[26]  C. E. SHANNON,et al.  A mathematical theory of communication , 1948, MOCO.

[27]  I. Sandholt,et al.  A simple interpretation of the surface temperature/vegetation index space for assessment of surface moisture status , 2002 .

[28]  Dale A. Quattrochi,et al.  Thermal Remote Sensing in Land Surface Processing , 2004 .

[29]  John M. Norman,et al.  The effects of aggregated land cover data on estimating NPP in northern Wisconsin , 2005 .

[30]  W. Lucht,et al.  Terrestrial vegetation and water balance-hydrological evaluation of a dynamic global vegetation model , 2004 .

[31]  I. Rodríguez‐Iturbe,et al.  Tree‐grass competition in space and time: Insights from a simple cellular automata model based on ecohydrological dynamics , 2002 .

[32]  W. Cohen,et al.  Site‐level evaluation of satellite‐based global terrestrial gross primary production and net primary production monitoring , 2005 .

[33]  Praveen Kumar,et al.  A multicomponent decomposition of spatial rainfall fields: 1. Segregation of large‐ and small‐scale features using wavelet transforms , 1993 .

[34]  Jay M. Ham,et al.  Fluxes of CO2 and water vapor from a prairie ecosystem exposed to ambient and elevated atmospheric CO2 , 1995 .

[35]  P. Juhász-Nagy,et al.  Information theory methods for the study of spatial processes and succession , 1983, Vegetatio.

[36]  Nathaniel A. Brunsell,et al.  Length Scale Analysis of Surface Energy Fluxes Derived from Remote Sensing , 2003 .

[37]  Changsheng Li,et al.  An integrated model of soil, hydrology, and vegetation for carbon dynamics in wetland ecosystems , 2002 .

[38]  Toby N. Carlson,et al.  Decoupling of surface and near‐surface soil water content: A remote sensing perspective , 1997 .

[39]  D. Bremer,et al.  MEASUREMENT AND MODELING OF SOIL CO2 FLUX IN A TEMPERATE GRASSLAND UNDER MOWED AND BURNED REGIMES , 2002 .

[40]  Lawrence B. Flanagan,et al.  Seasonal and interannual variation in carbon dioxide exchange and carbon balance in a northern temperate grassland , 2002 .

[41]  Andrew E. Suyker,et al.  Year‐round observations of the net ecosystem exchange of carbon dioxide in a native tallgrass prairie , 2001 .

[42]  Kelly K. Caylor,et al.  On the ecohydrology of structurally heterogeneous semiarid landscapes , 2006 .

[43]  Reginald J. Hill,et al.  Algorithms for Obtaining Atmospheric Surface-Layer Fluxes from Scintillation Measurements , 1997 .

[44]  Dale A. Quattrochi,et al.  Coupling thermal infrared and visible satellite measurements to infer biophysical variables at the land surface. , 2003 .

[45]  W. Kustas,et al.  A verification of the 'triangle' method for obtaining surface soil water content and energy fluxes from remote measurements of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and surface e , 1997 .

[46]  John S. Kimball,et al.  Sensitivity of boreal forest regional water flux and net primary production simulations to sub‐grid‐scale land cover complexity , 1999 .

[47]  R. Koster,et al.  Modeling the land surface boundary in climate models as a composite of independent vegetation stands , 1992 .

[48]  D. Vidal-Madjar,et al.  Evaluation of a Surface/Vegetation Parameterization Using Satellite Measurements of Surface Temperature , 1986 .

[49]  S. Vicente‐Serrano,et al.  Mapping soil moisture in the central Ebro river valley (northeast Spain) with Landsat and NOAA satellite imagery: a comparison with meteorological data , 2004 .

[50]  H. Kondo,et al.  Carbon exchange of grass in Hungary , 2003 .

[51]  Hans Peter Schmid,et al.  Footprint modeling for vegetation atmosphere exchange studies: a review and perspective , 2002 .

[52]  Gérard Dedieu,et al.  Calibrating a Coupled SVAT–Vegetation Growth Model with Remotely Sensed Reflectance and Surface Temperature—A Case Study for the HAPEX-Sahel Grassland Sites , 2000 .

[53]  Praveen Kumar,et al.  A multicomponent decomposition of spatial rainfall fields: 2. Self‐similarity in fluctuations , 1993 .

[54]  E. Rastetter,et al.  Using Mechanistic Models to Scale Ecological Processes across Space and Time , 2003 .

[55]  S. Trumbore Carbon respired by terrestrial ecosystems – recent progress and challenges , 2006 .

[56]  Thomas J. Jackson,et al.  Effects of remote sensing pixel resolution on modeled energy flux variability of croplands in Iowa , 2004 .

[57]  Nathaniel A. Brunsell,et al.  Scale issues in land-atmosphere interactions: implications for remote sensing of the surface energy balance , 2003 .

[58]  E. Foufoula‐Georgiou,et al.  Wavelet analysis for geophysical applications , 1997 .

[59]  Todd M. Scanlon,et al.  Positive feedbacks promote power-law clustering of Kalahari vegetation , 2007, Nature.

[60]  Toby N. Carlson,et al.  A stomatal resistance model illustrating plant vs. external control of transpiration , 1990 .

[61]  T. Carlson,et al.  Rapid soil drying and its implications for remote sensing of soil moisture and the surface energy fluxes. , 2003 .

[62]  Matthew F. McCabe,et al.  Spatial and temporal patterns of land surface fluxes from remotely sensed surface temperatures within an uncertainty modelling framework , 2005 .

[63]  C. Owensby,et al.  Fluxes of CO2 From Grazed and Ungrazed Tallgrass Prairie , 2006 .

[64]  R. J. Olson,et al.  Estimating net primary productivity from grassland biomass dynamics measurements , 2002 .

[65]  W. Oechel,et al.  FLUXNET: A New Tool to Study the Temporal and Spatial Variability of Ecosystem-Scale Carbon Dioxide, Water Vapor, and Energy Flux Densities , 2001 .

[66]  D. Baldocchi Assessing the eddy covariance technique for evaluating carbon dioxide exchange rates of ecosystems: past, present and future , 2003 .

[67]  E. Falge,et al.  Comparison of surface energy exchange models with eddy flux data in forest and grassland ecosystems of Germany , 2005 .

[68]  V. Arora MODELING VEGETATION AS A DYNAMIC COMPONENT IN SOIL‐VEGETATION‐ATMOSPHERE TRANSFER SCHEMES AND HYDROLOGICAL MODELS , 2002 .

[69]  I. Daubechies Ten Lectures on Wavelets , 1992 .

[70]  C. Tucker,et al.  Satellite remote sensing of rangelands in Botswana II. NOAA AVHRR and herbaceous vegetation , 1986 .

[71]  Monique Y. Leclerc,et al.  “Wet/dry Daisyworld”: a conceptual tool for quantifying the spatial scaling of heterogeneous landscapes and its impact on the subgrid variability of energy fluxes , 2005 .