Application of S-SEBI model for crop evapotranspiration using Landsat-8 data over parts of North India

Estimation and monitoring of crop evapotranspiration (ETc) or consumptive water use over large-area holds the key to irrigation management plans and regional drought preparedness. The objective of this study was to estimate ETc by applying the simplified-surface energy balance index (S-SEBI) model to Landsat-8 data for the 2014-2015 period in parts of North India. An average ETc was estimated 2.72 and 2.47 in mm day(-1) with 0.22, 0.18 standard deviation and 0.11, 0.07 standard error for Kharif and Rabi crops, respectively. On validation part, a close relationship was observed between S-SEBI derived and scintillometer observed evaporative fraction with 0.85 correlation coefficient and 0.86 agreement index. The statistical analysis also endorses the results accuracy and reliability with 0.026 and 0.602, relative root-mean square errors and model efficiency for wheat crop, respectively. The study showed that normalized difference vegetation index and LST are closely related and serve as a proxy for qualitative representation of ETc.