Articles | Volume 24, issue 8
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-4189-2020
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-4189-2020
Research article
 | 
27 Aug 2020
Research article |  | 27 Aug 2020

Data-driven estimates of evapotranspiration and its controls in the Congo Basin

Michael W. Burnett, Gregory R. Quetin, and Alexandra G. Konings

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AC: Author comment | RC: Referee comment | SC: Short comment | EC: Editor comment
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AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision
ED: Publish subject to minor revisions (further review by editor) (05 Jul 2020) by Adriaan J. (Ryan) Teuling
AR by Michael Burnett on behalf of the Authors (13 Jul 2020)  Author's response   Manuscript 
ED: Publish as is (23 Jul 2020) by Adriaan J. (Ryan) Teuling
AR by Michael Burnett on behalf of the Authors (24 Jul 2020)  Manuscript 
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Short summary
Water that evaporates from Africa's tropical forests provides rainfall throughout the continent. However, there are few sources of meteorological data in central Africa, so we use observations from satellites to estimate evaporation from the Congo Basin at different times of the year. We find that existing evaporation estimates in tropical Africa do not accurately capture seasonal variations in evaporation and that fluctuations in soil moisture and solar radiation drive evaporation rates.