Scaling Up Stomatal Conductance from Leaf to Canopy Using a Dual-Leaf Model for Estimating Crop Evapotranspiration

The dual-source Shuttleworth-Wallace model has been widely used to estimate and partition crop evapotranspiration (λET). Canopy stomatal conductance (G(sc)), an essential parameter of the model, is often calculated by scaling up leaf stomatal conductance, considering the canopy as one single leaf in a so-called “big-leaf” model. However, G(sc) can be overestimated or underestimated depending on leaf area index level in the big-leaf model, due to a non-linear stomatal response to light. A dual-leaf model, scaling up G(sc) from leaf to canopy, was developed in this study. The non-linear stomata-light relationship was incorporated by dividing the canopy into sunlit and shaded fractions and calculating each fraction separately according to absorbed irradiances. The model includes: (1) the absorbed irradiance, determined by separately integrating the sunlit and shaded leaves with consideration of both beam and diffuse radiation; (2) leaf area for the sunlit and shaded fractions; and (3) a leaf conductance model that accounts for the response of stomata to PAR, vapor pressure deficit and available soil water. In contrast to the significant errors of G(sc) in the big-leaf model, the predicted G(sc) using the dual-leaf model had a high degree of data-model agreement; the slope of the linear regression between daytime predictions and measurements was 1.01 (R(2) = 0.98), with RMSE of 0.6120 mm s(−1) for four clear-sky days in different growth stages. The estimates of half-hourly λET using the dual-source dual-leaf model (DSDL) agreed well with measurements and the error was within 5% during two growing seasons of maize with differing hydrometeorological and management strategies. Moreover, the estimates of soil evaporation using the DSDL model closely matched actual measurements. Our results indicate that the DSDL model can produce more accurate estimation of G(sc) and λET, compared to the big-leaf model, and thus is an effective alternative approach for estimating and partitioning λET.