Development and enhancement of openet software tools, datasets, and planningproject period: 1 17 2025 through 1 16 2027AWARD purpose:the goal of the project is to research and enhance…

This federal Cooperative Agreement award for $1,300,000.00, provided by the U.S. Geological Survey under the Assistance to State Water Resources Research Institutes program (CFDA 15.805), will fund research and development activities at the Desert Research Institute (DRI) to enhance evapotranspiration (ET) mapping and modeling capabilities for national-scale consumptive water use estimation and reporting. Key activities include:

1. Assessing the integration of new reference ET datasets within the OPENET software platform, including the development of bias correction factors and intercomparisons.

2. Enhancing software tools and workflows for flux tower and gridded ET data processing and intercomparisons, with deliverables including open-source software, methods, documentation, and webinars.

3. Implementing uncertainty and quality assurance mapping within the OPENET system.

4. Intercomparing irrigated area datasets and assessing the impact on ET volumes from irrigated lands.

5. Developing open-source Python notebooks to simplify OPENET raster data reduction and summarization.

6. Creating open water evaporation estimation software workflows with documentation and public outreach.

7. Evaluating vegetation ET and effective precipitation products.

This award supports the Desert Research Institute's collaborative research efforts with the U.S. Geological Survey and the OPENET consortium to advance national-scale ET mapping and water use reporting capabilities.

Activities

Activities are focused on research, development, and enhancement of 1) CONUS404 gridded weather data assessments and openet integration, 2) flux data processing and intercomparison tools through development and documentation of end-to-end software workflows, 3) implementation of uncertainty and quality assurance maps within openet, 4) intercomparison of commonly used irrigated area datasets, and assessment of resulting differences in ET volumes from irrigated lands, 5) use of python open-source notebooks to easily reduce and summarize openet raster data through development, documentation, and training, 6) open water evaporation estimation software workflows through development, documentation, and public outreach and engagement, and 7) assess vegetation ET (veget) effective precipitation (PPT) products. DRI will collaborate with USGS, openet consortium, and the public to research and advance ET mapping capabilities.deliverables and expected outcomes:1.CONUS404 and reference ET analysis: assessment of new reference ET dataset integration within openet publication on development of bias correction factors, and intercomparison of openet using CONUS404 and or other reference ET.2.development and enhancement of software tools for flux tower and gridded ET intercomparisons: publication of open-source software, methods, colab notebooks, documentation, and at least 1 online webinar.3.enhancement and implementation of openet uncertainty layers: technical memo on uncertainty bands, open-source software, methods, colab notebooks, documentation, metadata, and at least 1 online webinar.4.lanid enhancement: updated lanid irrigated area data, publication highlighting differences in irrigated area and consumptive use volumes based on the use of different products.5.develop and document open-source software: publication of open-source software, methods, colab notebooks, documentation, and at least 1 online webinar. At least 1 week of time will be spent on outreach and engagement. 6.open water evaporation: publication of open-source software, methods, colab notebooks, documentation, and 3 online webinars.7.veget assessment: veget effective PPT assessment and evaluation memo.intended beneficiary(IES) the intended beneficiaries of this project are state, and local water agencies, agricultural producers, and the public. The quantification of ET is necessary for irrigation water management, estimating past and future streamflow depletions stemming from irrigation activities, basin-wide water balance estimates, and consumptive water use reporting.

Subrecipient activities

Texas a m university (DR. Hulin GAO and her team) will support DRI in 1) assessing intercomparisons of over water evaporation estimates using the daily lake evaporation model (dlem) to openet estimates and in-situ data, 2) identify opportunities to enhance use of gridded weather data and add lakes and reservoirs, 3) explore opportunities to integrate results within the openet platform, and 4) develop a peer reviewed paper intercomparing dlem toopenet satellite-based methods for estimating evaporation.