Surface Albedo and Temperature Models for Surface Energy Balance Fluxes and Evapotranspiration Using SEBAL and Landsat 8 over Cerrado-Pantanal, Brazil

The determination of the surface energy balance fluxes (SEBFs) and evapotranspiration ([Formula: see text]) is fundamental in environmental studies involving the effects of land use change on the water requirement of crops. SEBFs and [Formula: see text] have been estimated by remote sensing techniques, but with the operation of new sensors, some variables need to be parameterized to improve their accuracy. Thus, the objective of this study is to evaluate the performance of algorithms used to calculate surface albedo and surface temperature on the estimation of SEBFs and [Formula: see text] in the Cerrado-Pantanal transition region of Mato Grosso, Brazil. Surface reflectance images of the Operational Land Imager (OLI) and brightness temperature ([Formula: see text]) of the Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) of the Landsat 8, and surface reflectance images of the MODIS MOD09A1 product from 2013 to 2016 were combined to estimate SEBF and [Formula: see text] by the surface energy balance algorithm for land (SEBAL), which were validated with measurements from two flux towers. The surface temperature ([Formula: see text]) was recovered by different models from the [Formula: see text] and by parameters calculated in the atmospheric correction parameter calculator (ATMCORR). A model of surface albedo ([Formula: see text]) with surface reflectance OLI Landsat 8 developed in this study performed better than the conventional model ([Formula: see text]) SEBFs and [Formula: see text] in the Cerrado-Pantanal transition region estimated with [Formula: see text] combined with [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] performed better than estimates with [Formula: see text]. Among all the evaluated combinations, SEBAL performed better when combining [Formula: see text] with the model developed in this study and the surface temperature recovered by the Barsi model ([Formula: see text]). This demonstrates the importance of an [Formula: see text] model based on surface reflectance and atmospheric surface temperature correction in estimating SEBFs and ET by SEBAL.