Trends in remote sensing-based evapotranspiration over New Mexico’s natural vegetation

Recent droughts have had significant impacts on New Mexico’s (NM) water resources and natural vegetation. Regional scale evapotranspiration (ET) can be used to provide an improved understanding of these impacts especially on rangelands that are mainly used for grazing. This study aims to identify trends in ET over NM relative to water availability and rangeland conditions. Estimates of ET from the ALEXI model for 2001-2017 based on GOES and MODES data at daily and 4-km scales were used. The study also highlights some gaps in the use of remote sensing of ET that still need to be addressed.