Mapping of coupling hot spots of satellite derived latent heat flux in indian agro-climatic regions
Keywords: Latent heat flux, Evapotranspiration, Evaporative fraction, Soil water index, Coupling hot spots, MODIS
Abstract. This study focuses on the understanding and mapping of coupling hotspots of LE versus terrestrial and meteorological parameters. Single source surface energy balance model was used to derive surface energy balance parameters. Agro climatic region wise monthly information of terrestrial, energy balance and meteorological parameters were derived during June- September from decadal analysis of MODIS data (2003–2012) over India (68–100°E, 5–40°N) at 5 km spatial resolution. Information on rainfall was obtained from gridded rainfall data (1° × 1° spatial resolution) from Indian Meteorological Department (IMD). The spatiotemporal variability of the parameters such as rainfall, evapotranspiration (ET), evaporative fraction (EF), soil water index (SWI), land surface temperature (LST) and air temperature (Ta) showed strong influence on seasonal LE fluctuation. LE showed positive linear coupling with ET (0.52