Using radiometric surface temperature for surface energy flux estimation in Mediterranean drylands from a two-source perspective

Comparisons with Eddy covariance and field data showed that the TSM produced reliable estimates of net radiation (Rn) and H fluxes, with errors of ~ 30% and ~ 10%, respectively, but not for LE, with errors ~ 90%. Despite of lower errors (~ 10%) in estimating H using parallel resistance, the series scheme was more robust showing slightly higher correlations (r2 = 0.78-0.80 vs. r2 = 0.75-0.77) and allowing a better disaggregation of soil and canopy fluxes. Differences between model runs using the iterative algorithm to disaggregate TR and the simplified version that uses separate inputs of Ts and T′c were minor. This demonstrates the robustness of the iterative procedure to disaggregate a composite soil-vegetation temperature into separate soil and vegetation components in semiarid environments with good prospects for image applications.