Long term variations of actual evapotranspiration over the Tibetan Plateau

Abstract. Terrestrial actual evapotranspiration (ET_a) is a key parameter controlling the land-atmosphere interaction processes and the water cycle. However, the spatial distribution and temporal changes of ET_a over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) remain very uncertain. Here we estimate the multiyear (2001–2018) monthly ET_a 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 domain mean of annual ET_a on the TP decreased slightly (−1.45 mm yr⁻¹, p < 0.05) from 2001 to 2018. The annual ET_a increased significantly at a rate of 2.62 mm yr⁻¹ (p < 0.05) in the eastern sector of the TP (lon > 90° E), but decreased significantly at a rate of −5.52 mm yr⁻¹ (p < 0.05) in the western sector of the TP (lon < 90° E). In addition, the decreases in annual ET_a were pronounced in the spring and summer seasons, while almost no trends were detected in the autumn and winter seasons. The mean annual ET_a during 2001–2018 and over the whole TP was 496 ± 23 mm. Thus, the total evapotranspiration from the terrestrial surface of the TP was 1238.3 ± 57.6 km³ yr⁻¹. The estimated ET_a product presented in this study is useful for an improved understanding of changes in the energy and water cycle on the TP. The dataset is freely available at the Science Data Bank (http://www.dx.doi.org/10.11922/sciencedb.t00000.00010, (Han et al. 2020)) and at the National Tibetan Plateau Data Center (https://data.tpdc.ac.cn/en/data/5a0d2e28-ebc6-4ea4-8ce4-a7f2897c8ee6/).