Riparian plant evapotranspiration and consumptive use for selected areas of the Little Colorado River watershed on the Navajo Nation
Links
- More information: Publisher Index Page (via DOI)
- Data Release: USGS data release - Uncultivated plant water use (riparian evapotranspiration) and consumptive use data for selected areas of the Little Colorado River watershed on the Navajo Nation, Arizona
- Open Access Version: Publisher Index Page
- Download citation as: RIS | Dublin Core
Abstract
Estimates of riparian vegetation water use are important for hydromorphological assessment, partitioning within human and natural environments, and informing environmental policy decisions. The objectives of this study were to calculate the actual evapotranspiration (ETa) (mm/day and mm/year) and derive riparian vegetation annual consumptive use (CU) in acre-feet (AF) for select riparian areas of the Little Colorado River watershed within the Navajo Nation, in northeastern Arizona, USA. This was accomplished by first estimating the riparian land cover area for trees and shrubs using a 2019 summer scene from National Agricultural Imagery Program (NAIP) (1 m resolution), and then fusing the riparian delineation with Landsat-8 OLI (30-m) to estimate ETa for 2014–2020. We used indirect remote sensing methods based on gridded weather data, Daymet (1 km) and PRISM (4 km), and Landsat measurements of vegetation activity using the two-band Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI2). Estimates of potential ET were calculated using Blaney-Criddle. Riparian ETa was quantified using the Nagler ET(EVI2) approach. Using both vector and raster estimates of tree, shrub, and total riparian area, we produced the first CU measurements for this region. Our best estimate of annual CU is 36,983 AF with a range between 31,648–41,585 AF and refines earlier projections of 25,387–46,397 AF.
Study Area
| Publication type | Article |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | Journal Article |
| Title | Riparian plant evapotranspiration and consumptive use for selected areas of the Little Colorado River watershed on the Navajo Nation |
| Series title | Remote Sensing |
| DOI | 10.3390/rs15010052 |
| Volume | 15 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Publication Date | December 22, 2022 |
| Year Published | 2022 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | MDPI |
| Contributing office(s) | Southwest Biological Science Center |
| Description | 52, 37 p. |
| Country | United States |
| State | Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah |
| Other Geospatial | Hopi Reservation, Little Colorado River Watershed, Navajo Nation |