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Abstract:The main goal of this research was to estimate the actual evapotranspiration (ET c ) of a drip-irrigated apple orchard located in the semi-arid region of Talca Valley (Chile) using a remote sensing-based soil water balance model. The methodology to estimate ET c is a modified version of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) dual crop coefficient approach, in which the basal crop coefficient (K cb ) was derived from the soil adjusted vegetation index (SAVI) calculated from satellite images and incorporated into a daily soil water balance in the root zone. A linear relationship between the K cb and SAVI was developed for the apple orchard K cb = 1.82¨SAVI´0.07 (R 2 = 0.95). The methodology was applied during two growing seasons (2010-2011 and 2012-2013), and ET c was evaluated using latent heat fluxes (LE) from an eddy covariance system. The results indicate that the remote sensing-based soil water balance estimated ET c reasonably well over two growing seasons. The root mean square error (RMSE) between the measured and simulated ET c values during 2010-2011 and 2012-2013 were, respectively, 0.78 and 0.74 mm¨day´1, which mean a relative error of 25%. The index of agreement (d) values were, respectively, 0.73 and 0.90. In addition, the weekly ET c showed better agreement. The proposed methodology could be considered as a useful tool for scheduling irrigation and driving the estimation of water requirements over large areas for apple orchards.

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A two-source energy balance model that separates surface fluxes of the soil and canopy was applied to a drip-irrigated vineyard in central Spain, using a series of nine Landsat-5 images acquired during the summer of 2007. The model partitions the available energy, using surface radiometric temperatures to constrain the sensible heat flux, and computing ET as a residual of the energy balance. Flux estimations from the model are compared with half-hourly and daily values obtained by an eddy covariance flux tower installed on the site during the experiment. The performance of the twosource model to estimate ET under the low vegetation cover and semiarid conditions of the experiment, with RMSD between observed and model data equal to 49 W m -2 for half-hourly estimations and RMSD=0.5 mm day -1 at daily scale, is regarded as acceptable for irrigation management purposes. Model results in the separation of the beneficial (transpiration) and non-beneficial (evaporation from the soil) fractions, which is key information for the quest to improve water productivity, are also reported. However, the lack of measures of these components makes it difficult to draw conclusions about the final use of the water.