Towards an Integrated Understanding of Terrestrial Evapotranspiration

Terrestrial evapotranspiration (ET), the second-largest component of the terrestrial water cycle, links water, energy, and carbon cycles and influences the productivity and health of our ecosystems. Despite the importance of ET, the dynamics of ET across a spectrum of spatiotemporal scale and their controls are uncertain. During an international ET workshop held in November 2021 by AmeriFlux, the scientific community identified key challenges to improve our understanding of ET dynamics. Participants underscored the need for an integrated understanding of ET across the different research disciplines: in-situ measurements, remote sensing, and modeling. Here, we propose the synthesis of the three research areas to advance the current state of ET science. Through the proposed synthesis activities, we aim to link the different perspectives on ET research that have mostly been covered separately. Ultimately, we expect to build a stronger cross-disciplinary network of ET scientists and facilitate more integrated ET knowledge in the future. This Powell Center Working Group is collaboratively supported by the NSF Critical Zone Network Hub and the U.S. Geological Survey. 


Principal Investigators
Gabrial Senay (USGS)
Joshua B. Fisher (Chapman University)
Kosana Suvočarev (UC-Davis)
Lixin Wang (Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis) 

Publications

• Fisher, J.B., Anderson, M.C., Miralles, D.G., Mallick, K., Stoy, P.C., Ryu, Y., and Bastiaanssen, W.G.M., 2026, Evapotranspiration Everywhere, All the Time: Towards a Unified View From Earth Observation: Global Change Biology, v. 32, no. 5, p. e70898, accessed June 30, 2026, at https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.70898.
• Karimzadeh, S., Ahmadi, A., Baldocchi, D., and Fisher, J.B., 2025, Climate change has increased global evaporative demand except in South Asia: Communications Earth & Environment, v. 6, no. 1, p. 1009, accessed August 30, 2026, at https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02959-x.
• Khand, K., Senay, G.B., Friedrichs, M., Yi, K., Fisher, J.B., Wang, L., Suvočarev, K., Ahmadi, A., Chu, H., Good, S., Mallick, K., Missik, J., Nelson, J.A., Reed, D.E., and others, 2025, A novel approach to increase accuracy in remotely sensed evapotranspiration through basin water balance and flux tower constraints: Journal of Hydrology, v. 662, p. 133824, accessed August 30, 2026, at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2025.133824.
• Moyano, M.C., Garcia, M., Juana, L., Recuero, L., Tornos, L., Fisher, J.B., Fernández, N., and Palacios-Orueta, A., 2025, Remote Sensing-Based Assessment of Evapotranspiration Patterns in a UNESCO World Heritage Site Under Increasing Water Competition: Remote Sensing, v. 17, no. 14, p. 2339, accessed August 30, 2026, at https://doi.org/10.3390/rs17142339.
• Yi, K., Novick, K.A., Zhang, Q., Wang, L., Hwang, T., Yang, X., Mallick, K., Béland, M., Senay, G.B., and Baldocchi, D.D., 2024a, Responses of Marginal and Intrinsic Water‐Use Efficiency to Changing Aridity Using FLUXNET Observations: Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, v. 129, no. 6, p. e2023JG007875, accessed March 25, 2025, at https://doi.org/10.1029/2023JG007875.
• Yi, K., Senay, G.B., Fisher, J.B., Wang, L., Suvočarev, K., Chu, H., Moore, G.W., Novick, K.A., Barnes, M.L., Keenan, T.F., Mallick, K., Luo, X., Missik, J.E.C., Delwiche, K.B., and others, 2024b, Challenges and Future Directions in Quantifying Terrestrial Evapotranspiration: Water Resources Research, v. 60, no. 10, p. e2024WR037622, accessed May 28, 2025, at https://doi.org/10.1029/2024WR037622.
• Yi, K., Torn, M.S., Senay, G.B., Wang, L., Suvočarev, K., Fisher, J.B., Ahmadi, A., Chu, H., Bohrer, G., Moore, G.W., Good, S.P., Kannenberg, S.A., Missik, J.E.C., Mallick, K., and others, 2026, Bioclimatic Reorganization of Carbon–Water–Energy Coupling Revealed by Eddy Covariance and Interpretable Machine Learning: Global Change Biology Communications, v. 1, no. 2, p. e70012, accessed March 30, 2026, at https://doi.org/10.1002/gcb4.70012.