Assessing deficiencies in remotely sensed actual evapotranspiration (AET): introducing AET signatures

Gardiya Weligamage, Hansini; Fowler, Keirnan; Saft, Margarita; Peterson, Tim; Ryu, Dongryeol; Peel, Murray C.

doi:10.5194/hess-30-4057-2026

Articles | Volume 30, issue 12

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-30-4057-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-30-4057-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 30, issue 12

Research article

|

30 Jun 2026

Research article |

| 30 Jun 2026

Assessing deficiencies in remotely sensed actual evapotranspiration (AET): introducing AET signatures

Hansini Gardiya Weligamage, Keirnan Fowler, Margarita Saft, Tim Peterson, Dongryeol Ryu, and Murray C. Peel

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-30-4057-2026-supplement

Data sets

Characterising evapotranspiration signatures for improved behavioural insights H. Gardiya Weligamage https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17082085

Short summary

This study is the first to propose actual evapotranspiration (AET) signatures, which can be used to assess multiple aspects of AET dynamics across various temporal scales. As a demonstration, we applied AET signatures to evaluate two remotely sensed (RS) AET products against flux tower AET. The results reveal specific deficiencies in RS AET and provide guidance for selecting appropriate RS AET, including for modelling studies.