Flash droughts– the rapid drying of land and intensification of drought conditions - have devasting impacts to natural resources, food supplies, and the economy. Less is currently known about the drivers of flash droughts and their impact to landscape carbon losses. We leverage carbon and water cycle data from NASA OCO-2 and SMAP missions to determine the net impact of flash drought events in the U.S. on the carbon sinks. On average, pre-onset carbon uptake fully offsets post-onset losses, creating a carbon neutral biosphere over a +/- 3 month period surrounding flash drought onset. This contrasts with ecosystem models, which underestimate pre-onset uptake and overestimate post-onset loss. Furthermore, spaceborne observations of solar induced fluorescence (SIF) provide a reliable indicator of flash droughts at lead times of 2-3 months, due to feedbacks between vegetation growth and soil water loss. This study is expected to improve understanding and prediction of flash droughts.

The ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS) collects thermal observations from the International Space Station to support evapotranspiration (ET) research at fine spatial resolutions (70 m x 70 m). Initial ET estimates from ECOSTRESS Collection 1 have been used in a wide range of scientific studies and applications, though subsequent analyses identified areas for improvement. This study provides an overview of updates to ECOSTRESS Collection 2 ET and presents an accuracy assessment of ET and auxiliary variables against in situ data from AmeriFlux. Key updates in Collection 2 include: four independent model estimates of ET and improved auxiliary forcing data. We find the multi-model ensemble ET estimate achieves a root mean square error (RMSE) of 109 Wm-2 for instantaneous observations and 1.5 mm/day for daily retrievals. When considering uncertainty in energy balance closure approaches for site-level data, the RMSE improves to 48 Wm-2 for instantaneous ET. We observe variable performance based on time of day of ECOSTRESS image acquisition, climate and vegetation type. Evaluation of auxiliary data highlight limitations in down-scaled net radiation and relative humidity, contributing to a diurnal hysteresis in ET estimates. We provide accuracy metrics and model sensitivity to auxiliary data to facilitate user confidence, data adoption, interpretation, and applications. ECOSTRESS is the only instrument capable of providing ET at different times of day at high spatial scales; thus, this work is an important step toward enhancing the capabilities of satellite-driven ET models in resolving diurnal ET variations and guiding directions for future improvements.

The ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS) is a scientific mission that collects high spatio-temporal resolution (~70 m, 1-5 days average revisit time) thermal images since its launch on 29 June 2018. As a predecessor of future missions, one of the main objectives of ECOSTRESS is to retrieve and understand the spatio-temporal variations in terrestrial evapotranspiration (ET) and its responses to soil water availability. In the European ECOSTRESS Hub (EEH), by taking advantage of land surface temperature retrievals, we generated ECOSTRESS ET products over Europe and Africa using three structurally contrasting models, namely Surface Energy Balance System (SEBS) and Two Source Energy Balance (TSEB) parametric models, as well as the non-parametric Surface Temperature Initiated Closure (STIC) model. A comprehensive evaluation of the EEH ET products was conducted with respect to flux measurements from 19 eddy covariance sites over 6 different biomes with diverse aridity levels. Results revealed comparable performances of STIC and SEBS (RMSE of ~70 W m-2). However, the relatively complex TSEB model produced a higher RMSE of ~90 W m-2. Comparison between STIC ET estimate and the operational ECOSTRESS ET product from NASA PT-JPL model showed a difference in RMSE between the two ET products around 50 W m-2. Substantial overestimation (>80 W m-2) was noted in PT-JPL ET estimates over shrublands and savannas presumably due to the weak constraint of LST in the model. Overall, the EEH is promising to serve as a support to the Land Surface Temperature Monitoring (LSTM) mission.