Articles | Volume 22, issue 9
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-4959-2018
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-4959-2018
Research article
 | Highlight paper
 | 
27 Sep 2018
Research article | Highlight paper |  | 27 Sep 2018

Global 5 km resolution estimates of secondary evaporation including irrigation through satellite data assimilation

Albert I. J. M. van Dijk, Jaap Schellekens, Marta Yebra, Hylke E. Beck, Luigi J. Renzullo, Albrecht Weerts, and Gennadii Donchyts

Data sets

ANU Water and Landscape Dynamics - Global data Albert Van Dijk https://doi.org/10.4225/41/5934fbef70319

Download
Short summary
Evaporation from wetlands, lakes and irrigation areas needs to be measured to understand water scarcity. So far, this has only been possible for small regions. Here, we develop a solution that can be applied at a very high resolution globally by making use of satellite observations. Our results show that 16% of global water resources evaporate before reaching the ocean, mostly from surface water. Irrigation water use is less than 1% globally but is a very large water user in several dry basins.