Validation of RS methods capable of estimating variables like soil moisture and fluxes such as latent and sensible heat is vital for the use of RS models in ungaged and remote areas. In this study the validation of the surface energy balance system (SEBS) was carried out by estimating soil moisture and actual evapotranspiration for the Guareña catchment in Spain and comparing them against ground measurements. Thirteen atmospherically corrected MODIS images were processed and compared from ground information collected on 23 soil moisture loggers and 5 meteorological stations. The proportional relation of the relative soil moisture with the relative evapotranspiration was used for the estimation of soil moisture from RS as SEBS was primarily developed for the estimation of surface turbulent fluxes. A downscaling procedure to improve the comparison between point and RS information was accomplished using the temporal stability approach. The study reveals that there is a satisfactory correlation (r2=0.65) between the average field scale soil moisture estimates of the RS method SEBS and the ground measurements, allowing this methodology for modeling initialization. There is no correlation however between the pixel wise RS estimates and the measured soil moisture on the point scale level after the pixel level estimates were downscaled to the point scale ground measurements (0
009_WREM_Michael Gidey _eyesus18861.pdf