AN ANALYSIS OF THE EVAPOTRANSPIRATION IN THE ARGES RIVER BASIN USING MODIS MOD16A2

This work presents an analysis of the evapotranspiration in the Arges River Basin, including a riparian system located near Dragomiresti village, using MODIS Global Terrestrial Evapotranspiration 8-Day Global (MOD16A2) at 500-m pixel resolution to assess the amount of water lost from the hydrologic budget. The period of coverage is 8 days during the vegetation season of the considered period (2015-2022). The geospatial analysis of the selected riparian systems was performed with ArcGIS Desktop 10.8.1 and Google Earth Engine. Arges River supplies water for several important Romanian cities, and thus, the rationale of this work relies on the characterization of evapotranspiration for potential better management. Riparian vegetation has multiple functions and provides a wide range of ecosystem services of which yields are directly influenced by the river basin`s ecological status. Limiting anthropogenic disturbance is important for the health of lotic ecosystems. The utilization of MODIS does not provide fine-scale resolution (< 10 m), making it difficult to discriminate between phytosociological associations at a small scale and thus establish the riparian systems' typology and associated vegetation indicators. Downscaling and data fusion methods will be further explored.