Intercomparison of SEBAL Heat Fluxes Measured From Scintillometry and Eddy Covariance in Mountain Areas.

The Surface Energy Balance Algorithm for Land (SEBAL) is being used worldwide for the estimation of sensible (H) and latent heat (LE) fluxes from MODIS and Landsat images. In this study, 9 Landsat and MODIS images of the Valles Caldera National Preserve (New Mexico, USA) were selected to estimate H and LE using SEBAL. These fluxes were compared against direct ground measurements of the heat fluxes using scintillometer for H and eddy covariance (EC) systems for H and LE. This study shows that SEBAL yields reasonable estimates for H and LE in mountain areas of the southwestern United States.