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Shifting from homogeneous to heterogeneous surfaces in estimating terrestrial evapotranspiration: Review and perspectives

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Abstract

Terrestrial evapotranspiration (ET) is a crucial link between Earth’s water cycle and the surface energy budget. Accurate measurement and estimation remain a major challenge in geophysical, biological, and environmental studies. Pioneering work, represented by Dalton and Penman, and the development of theories and experiments on turbulent exchange in the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL), laid the foundation for mainstream methodologies in ET estimation. Since the 1990s, eddy covariance (EC) systems and satellite remote sensing have been widely applied from cold to tropical and from arid to humid regions. They cover water surfaces, wetlands, forests, croplands, grasslands, barelands, and urban areas, offering an exceptional number of reports on diverse ET processes. Surface nocturnal ET, hysteresis between ET and environmental forces, turbulence intermittency, island effects on heterogeneous surfaces, and phase transition between underlying surfaces are examples of reported new phenomena, posing theoretical and practical challenges to mainstream ET methodologies. Additionally, based on non-conventional theories, new methods have emerged, such as maximum entropy production and nonparametric approaches. Furthermore, high-frequency on-site observation and aerospace remote sensing technology in combination form multi-scale observations across plant stomata, leaves, plants, canopies, landscapes, and basins. This promotes an insightful understanding of diverse ET processes and synthesizes the common mechanisms of the processes between and across spatial and temporal scales. All the recent achievements in conception, model, and technology serve as the basis for breaking through the known difficulties in ET estimation. We expect that they will provide a rigorous, reliable scientific basis and experimental support to address theoretical arguments of global significance, such as the water-heat-carbon cycle, and solve practical needs of national importance, including agricultural irrigation and food security, precise management of water resources and eco-environmental protection, and regulation of the urban thermal environment and climate change adaptation.

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Acknowledgements

We sincerely thank the three anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments on the early version of the manuscript. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51879255, 41430855).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008, China

    Yuanbo Liu, Ning Ma & Yifan Cui

  2. School of Environment and Energy, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen, 518055, China

    Guoyu Qiu & Chunhua Yan

  3. Laboratory for Climate and Ocean-Atmosphere Studies, Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing, 100081, China

    Hongsheng Zhang

  4. Key Laboratory for Agricultural Water Resources, Center for Agricultural Resources Research, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shijiazhuang, 050022, China

    Yonghui Yang & Shumin Han

  5. Key Laboratory of Tibetan Environment Changes and Land Surface Processes, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China

    Yinsheng Zhang

  6. Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China

    Yinsheng Zhang

  7. Faculty of Agriculture, Shizuoka University, Shizuoka, 422-8529, Japan

    Quan Wang

  8. Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, 730000, China

    Wenzhi Zhao & Xibin Ji

  9. Key Laboratory of Ecohydrology of Inland River Basin, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, 730000, China

    Wenzhi Zhao & Xibin Ji

  10. Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100094, China

    Li Jia

  11. School of Civil Engineering, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, 510275, China

    Yujiu Xiong

  12. Key Laboratory of Water Cycle and Related Land Surface Processes, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China

    Ning Ma

  13. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Yonghui Yang & Yifan Cui

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  1. Yuanbo Liu
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Correspondence to Yuanbo Liu.

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Liu, Y., Qiu, G., Zhang, H. et al. Shifting from homogeneous to heterogeneous surfaces in estimating terrestrial evapotranspiration: Review and perspectives. Sci. China Earth Sci. 65, 197–214 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-020-9834-y

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