When managing local and regional water resources, the estimation of evapotranspiration is important and has generally been one of the components of the hydrological cycle that has the greatest uncertainty. With the development of suitable models and algorithms applied to high resolution (30 m) satellite imagery, evapotranspiration may be estimated with greater accuracy, and in a cost effective and time efficient manner. The METRIC image processing procedure calculates net radiation, soil heat flux and sensible heat flux through a number of steps before estimating evapotranspiration as the residual from the energy balance. Sensible heat flux is calibrated using the so-called "cold" and "hot" anchor pixels. These pixels are selected by the user, which may introduce some operator dependency or human errors on the estimation of sensible heat flux and subsequently error in the final map of evapotranspiration. A procedure for automated selection of the anchor pixels is presented. The automated pixel selection procedure will reduce the user dependency of the estimations of sensible heat flux. Additionally, it may allow more novice users to obtain good results when applying METRIC.

Seasonal range prediction over North America has been based on intraseasonal and interannual variability related to the Pacific North America (PNA) pattern and El Niño and Southern Oscillation (ENSO), respectively. These phenomena have an impact on the occurrence of atmospheric blocking and the long-term conditions for North America. Similar relationships may be found for seasonal range prediction over South America. Previous studies have examined ENSO-related variability of the South Pacific Jetstream as well as atmospheric blocking. Using the National Centers for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCEP/NCAR) reanalyses, the character of the monthly circulations were studied over the South Pacific/South America sector from 2000–2016. Initial results show that there is a negative correlation in the upper air circulation over the East Pacific and South America during winter for ENSO. Also, the interannual variability in the jet-stream pattern for the region as related to ENSO shows a 180° phase difference. Finally, there is evidence that the circulation pattern for the 2000–2016 may be different from that of the latter part of the 20th century as indicated by a recent reversal of the interdecadal variability of atmospheric blocking over the South Pacific Region.