OpenET – Filling the Biggest Gap in Water Data

In Collaboration With

Filling the Biggest Data Gap in Water Management

Key Features

Transformative, Timely ET Data

OpenET employs several well-established methods to generate daily, monthly, and annual satellite-based ET data at the field scale. OpenET also provides access to field-scale information on weather and vegetation conditions. Potential applications include:

Support for ET-based irrigation practices that maximize “crop per drop” and reduce costs for fertilizer and water.
Support for water trading programs that protect the financial viability of farms during droughts while helping to make water available for other beneficial uses.
Development of water budgets and innovative management programs that enable innovative water management for agriculture, people, and ecosystems.
Support for groundwater management programs that require consistent, accurate ET data for monitoring historical and current consumptive water use.

How it Works

OpenET relies entirely on publicly available data as inputs to multiple well-established ET models to calculate ET. The primary inputs include data from Landsat, Sentinel-2, GOES, and other satellites; weather station networks and models; and field boundary and crop type datasets. The satellite data from Landsat are one of the most important inputs to the ET models, which use the satellite data to measure patterns in land surface temperature and vegetation extent and condition at the scale of individual fields. A complete description of the methods used by OpenET can be found here.