The estimated actual evapotranspiration over the Tibetan Plateau from 2001 to 2016

However, the spatial distribution and temporal changes of ETa over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) remain very uncertain. Here we estimate the multiyear (2001-2018) monthly ETa and its spatial distribution on the TP by a combination of meteorological data and satellite products.

Validation against data from six eddy-covariance monitoring sites yielded a root mean square errors ranging from 9.3 to 14.5 mm mo-1, and correlation coefficients exceeding 0.9. The estimated ETa product is useful for an improved understanding of water and energy cycle changes over the TP.