Spatiotemporal assessment of actual evapotranspiration using satellite remote sensing technique in the Nile Delta, Egypt

Egypt's Nile delta area is a wealthy land for growing Egypt's principal crops such as rice. Being at the end of the Nile River the water shortage problem is very serious. Thus, water resource maintenance is necessary by tracking Actual crop evapotranspiration (ETC). The main aim of the recent study is to evaluate the ETC over the Mit-Yazid command area based on remote sensing methods daily and seasonally by Surface Energy Balance Algorithm for Land (SEBAL) technique using 18 Landsat 8 images during the 2017 and 2018 summer season. To evaluate the performance of SEBAL algorithm derived ETC (ETC-SEBAL) in the same conditions, Fao-Penman-Monteith method has been used, by applying several performance criteria. The results which revealed the acceptable accuracy of SEBAL algorithms with Landsat 8 images, are adequately accurate with an appropriate estimate of ETC's distribution across the study area with R-2 = 0.843% and RMSE around 0.264 mm/day. Additionally, a field water equilibrium has been assessed using the ETC-SEBAL obtained, and the results show that the seasonal ETC was generality provided with water surface supply by (87,5%). Moreover, a new summer crop pattern vision is assumed for agricultural cultivation to maximize the water-saving for the selected pilot study area. (C) 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria University.

Automated summary

This study evaluates the crop evapotranspiration in Egypt's Nile delta area using remote sensing, showing that the SEBAL algorithm can accurately estimate the distribution of ETC, providing information on water supply for the region.