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Actual Evapotranspiration for Australia using CMRSET algorithm

<p>This dataset provides accurate, high-resolution (30 m) / high-frequency (monthly) / continuous (no gaps due to cloud) actual evapotranspiration (AET) for Australia using the CMRSET algorithm. The CMRSET algorithm uses reflective remotely sensed indices to estimate AET from potential evapotranspiration (PET; calculated using daily gridded meteorological data generated by the Bureau of Meteorology). Blending high-resolution / low-frequency AET estimates (e.g., Landsat and Sentinel-2) with low-resolution / high-frequency AET estimates (e.g., MODIS and VIIRS) results in AET data that are high-resolution / high-frequency / continuous (no gaps due to cloud) and accurate. These are all ideal characteristics when calculating the water balance for a wetland, paddock, river reach, irrigation area, landscape or catchment.

</p><p>

Accurate AET information is important for irrigation, food security and environmental management. Like many other parts of the world, water availability in Australia is limited and AET is the largest consumptive component of the water balance. In Australia 70% of available water is used for crop and pasture irrigation and better monitoring will support improved water use efficiency in this sector, with any water savings available as environmental flows. Additionally, ground-water dependent ecosystems (GDE) occupy a small area yet are "biodiversity hotspots", and knowing their water needs allows for enhanced management of these critical areas in the landscape. Having high-resolution, frequent and accurate AET estimates for all of Australia means this AET data source can be used to model the water balance for any catchment / groundwater system in Australia.

</p><p>

Details of the CMRSET algorithm and its independent validation are provided in Guerschman, J.P., McVicar, T.R., Vleeshouwer, J., Van Niel, T.G., Peña-Arancibia, J.L. and Chen, Y. (2022) Estimating actual evapotranspiration at field-to-continent scales by calibrating the CMRSET algorithm with MODIS, VIIRS, Landsat and Sentinel-2 data. Journal of Hydrology. 605, 127318, doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2021.127318</p>

<p>

<i>We strongly recommend users to use the TERN CMRSET AET V2.2</i>. Details of the TERN CMRSET AET V2.2 data product generation are provided in McVicar, T.R., Vleeshouwer, J., Van Niel, T.G., Guerschman, J.P., Peña-Arancibia, J.L. and Stenson, M.P. (2022) Generating a multi-decade gap-free high-resolution monthly actual evapotranspiration dataset for Australia using Landsat, MODIS and VIIRS data in the Google Earth Engine platform: Development and use cases. Journal of Hydrology (In Preparation).

Simple

Identification info

Date (Creation)
2021-02-28
Date (Publication)
2022-04-04
Date (Revision)
2025-12-10
Edition
1.0

Identifier

Title
DataCite
Code
doi:10.25901/gg27-ck96
Codespace
http://dx.doi.org

Publisher

Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network
Building 1019, 80 Meiers Rd
Indooroopilly
QLD
4068
Australia
+61 7 3365 9097

Author

CSIRO Land and Water (2014-2022) - McVicar, Tim R (Research Scientist)
147 Underwood Avenue, Floreat, Western Australia, 6014, Australia
Floreat
Western Australia
6014
Australia

Co-author

CSIRO Land and Water (2014-2022) - Vleeshouwer, Jamie ()
147 Underwood Avenue, Floreat, Western Australia, 6014, Australia
Floreat
Western Australia
6014
Australia

Co-author

CSIRO Land and Water (2014-2022) - Van Niel, Thomas G ()
147 Underwood Avenue, Floreat, Western Australia, 6014, Australia
Floreat
Western Australia
6014
Australia

Co-author

CSIRO Land and Water (2014-2022) - Guerschman, Juan Pablo (Senior Research Scientist)
147 Underwood Avenue, Floreat, Western Australia, 6014, Australia
Floreat
Western Australia
6014
Australia

Co-author

CSIRO Environment - Peña-Arancibia, Jorge Luis ()
Clunies Ross Street, Black Mountain, 2601, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
Black Mountain
Australian Capital Territory
2601
Australia
Website
https://www.tern.org.au/

Purpose
To provide accurate, timely, high-resolution, high-frequency and continuous estimates of actual evapotranspiration (AET) data across Australia to support improved water resource management and environmental management.
Credit
We at TERN acknowledge the Traditional Owners and Custodians throughout Australia, New Zealand and all nations. We honour their profound connections to land, water, biodiversity and culture and pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.
Credit
<p></p>This work was funded by the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN), an Australian Government NCRIS enabled project, and is supported by the use of TERN infrastructure.
Status
On going

Point of contact

CSIRO Land and Water (2014-2022) - McVicar, Tim R (Research Scientist)
147 Underwood Avenue, Floreat, Western Australia, 6014, Australia
147 Underwood Avenue
Floreat
Western Australia
6014
Australia

Point of contact

CSIRO Land and Water (2014-2022) - Van Niel, Thomas G ()
147 Underwood Avenue, Floreat, Western Australia, 6014, Australia
147 Underwood Avenue
Floreat
Western Australia
6014
Australia

Point of contact

CSIRO Land and Water (2014-2022) - Vleeshouwer, Jamie ()
147 Underwood Avenue, Floreat, Western Australia, 6014, Australia
147 Underwood Avenue
Floreat
Western Australia
6014
Australia
Topic category
  • Environment

Extent

Description
Australia
N
S
E
W


Temporal extent

Time period
2000-02-01
Title
Guerschman J.P. et al. (2009) Scaling of potential evapotranspiration with MODIS data reproduces flux observations and catchment water balance observations across Australia. doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2009.02.013
Website
Guerschman J.P. et al. (2009) Scaling of potential evapotranspiration with MODIS data reproduces flux observations and catchment water balance observations across Australia. doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2009.02.013

Related documentation

Title
Guerschman, J.P., McVicar, T.R., Vleeshouwer, J., Van Niel, T.G., Peña-Arancibia, J.L. and Chen, Y. (2022) Estimating actual evapotranspiration at field-to-continent scales by calibrating the CMRSET algorithm with MODIS, VIIRS, Landsat and Sentinel-2 data. Journal of Hydrology. 605, 127318, doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2021.127318
Website
Guerschman, J.P., McVicar, T.R., Vleeshouwer, J., Van Niel, T.G., Peña-Arancibia, J.L. and Chen, Y. (2022) Estimating actual evapotranspiration at field-to-continent scales by calibrating the CMRSET algorithm with MODIS, VIIRS, Landsat and Sentinel-2 data. Journal of Hydrology. 605, 127318, doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2021.127318

Related documentation

Maintenance and update frequency
Monthly
GCMD Science Keywords
  • EFFECTIVE EVAPOTRANSPIRATION
  • AGRICULTURE
  • IRRIGATION
  • LANDSCAPE MANAGEMENT
  • WATER MANAGEMENT
  • ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS
ANZSRC Fields of Research
  • Environmental management
  • Agriculture, land and farm management
  • Surface water hydrology
TERN Platform Vocabulary
  • LANDSAT-5
  • LANDSAT-7
  • LANDSAT-8
  • Terra
  • Aqua
  • Suomi-NPP
  • Sentinel-2A
  • Sentinel-2B
TERN Instrument Vocabulary
  • TM
  • ETM+
  • OLI
  • MSI
  • MSI
  • MODIS
  • MODIS
  • VIIRS
TERN Parameter Vocabulary
  • actual evapotranspiration
  • Millimetre per Day
  • evapotranspiration
  • Millimetre per Day
QUDT Units of Measure
  • Millimetre per Day
  • Millimetre per Day
GCMD Horizontal Resolution Ranges
  • 1 meter - < 30 meters
GCMD Temporal Resolution Ranges
  • Hourly - < Daily
Keywords (Discipline)
  • ETa
  • Water Balance
  • Energy
  • Raster
  • Australia
  • AGCD
  • CMRSET

Resource constraints

Use limitation
The Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license allows others to copy, distribute, display, and create derivative works provided that they credit the original source and any other nominated parties. Details are provided at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
File name
88x31.png
File description
CCBy Logo from creativecommons.org
File type
png
Linkage
https://w3id.org/tern/static/cc-by/88x31.png

Title
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence
Alternate title
CC-BY
Edition
4.0
Website
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Access constraints
License
Use constraints
Other restrictions
Other constraints
Please send citation details of any publications using this data to TERN tern@uq.edu.au
Other constraints
TERN services are provided on an “as-is” and “as available” basis. Users use any TERN services at their discretion and risk. They will be solely responsible for any damage or loss whatsoever that results from such use including use of any data obtained through TERN and any analysis performed using the TERN infrastructure. Web links to and from external, third party websites should not be construed as implying any relationships with and/or endorsement of the external site or its content by TERN.

Resource constraints

Classification
Unclassified

Distribution Information

Distribution format

Distributor

Distributor

Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network
80 Meiers Road, Indooroopilly, Queensland, 4068, Australia
Indooroopilly
Queensland
4068
Australia
OnLine resource
Download CMRSET Actual Evapotranspiration Datasets (v2_2 recommend and supported)

OnLine resource
View CMRSET Actual Evapotranspiration Datasets v2_2 (Earth Engine)

OnLine resource
Download CMRSET Actual Evapotranspiration Datasets (v2_1 not recommend and not supported)

OnLine resource
CMRSET Code Examples for User

OnLine resource
cmrset_aet

Actual Evapotranspiration for Australia using CMRSET algorithm

OnLine resource
Landscape Data Visualizer

OnLine resource
ro-crate-metadata.json

Data quality info

Hierarchy level
Dataset
Other
Guerschman, J.P., McVicar, T.R., Vleeshouwer, J., Van Niel, T.G., Peña-Arancibia, J.L. and Chen, Y. (2022) Estimating actual evapotranspiration at field-to-continent scales by calibrating the CMRSET algorithm with MODIS, VIIRS, Landsat and Sentinel-2 data. Journal of Hydrology. 605, 127318, doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2021.127318

Report

Result

Statement
Calibration and validation have been performed using the 29 eddy covariance towers included in the TERN OzFlux network, with independent hydrological validation performed using streamflow (Q) data from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) for 780 unregulated and unimpaired catchments (i.e. not significantly affected by regulation structures or streamflow extraction). Full results are presented in Guerschman, McVicar et al (2021).

Resource lineage

Statement
McVicar, T.R., Vleeshouwer, J., Van Niel, T.G., Guerschman, J.P., Peña-Arancibia, J.L. and Stenson, M.P. (2022) Generating a multi-decade gap-free high-resolution monthly actual evapotranspiration dataset for Australia using Landsat, MODIS and VIIRS data in the Google Earth Engine platform: Development and use cases. Journal of Hydrology (In Preparation).
Hierarchy level
Dataset
Title
Guerschman, J.P., McVicar, T.R., Vleeshouwer, J., Van Niel, T.G., Peña-Arancibia, J.L. and Chen, Y. (2022) Estimating actual evapotranspiration at field-to-continent scales by calibrating the CMRSET algorithm with MODIS, VIIRS, Landsat and Sentinel-2 data. Journal of Hydrology. 605, 127318, doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2021.127318
Website
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2021.127318

Method documentation

Reference System Information

Reference system identifier
EPSG/EPSG:4326

Reference system type
Geodetic Geographic 2D

Metadata

Metadata identifier
urn:uuid/9fefa68b-dbed-4c20-88db-a9429fb4ba97

Title
TERN GeoNetwork UUID

Language
English
Character encoding
UTF8

Point of contact

Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network
Building 1019, 80 Meiers Rd
Indooroopilly
QLD
4068
Australia
+61 7 3365 9097

Type of resource

Resource scope
Dataset
Metadata linkage
https://geonetwork.tern.org.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/9fefa68b-dbed-4c20-88db-a9429fb4ba97

Point-of-truth metadata URL

Date info (Creation)
2021-02-28T00:00:00.000000+00:00
Date info (Revision)
2025-12-10T10:09:48.978390+00:00

Metadata standard

Title
ISO 19115-1:2014/AMD 1:2018 Geographic information - Metadata - Fundamentals
Edition
1

Metadata standard

Title
ISO/TS 19115-3:2016
Edition
1.0

Metadata standard

Title
ISO/TS 19157-2:2016
Edition
1.0
Title
Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN) Metadata Profile of ISO 19115-3:2016 and ISO 19157-2:2016
Date (published)
2021
Edition
1.0

Identifier

Code
10.5281/zenodo.5652221
Website
https://github.com/ternaustralia/TERN-ISO19115/releases/tag/v1.0

 
 

Overviews

Spatial extent

N
S
E
W


Keywords

ANZSRC Fields of Research
Agriculture, land and farm management Environmental management Surface water hydrology
GCMD Science Keywords
AGRICULTURE ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS EFFECTIVE EVAPOTRANSPIRATION IRRIGATION LANDSCAPE MANAGEMENT WATER MANAGEMENT

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Associated resources

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