Accurate estimations of actual evapotranspiration (ETa) are essential to various environmental issues. Artificial intelligence-based models are a promising alternative to the most common direct ETa estimation techniques and indirect methods by remote sensing (RS)-based surface energy balance models. Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) are proven to be suitable for predicting reference evapotranspiration (ETo) and ETa based on RS data. This study aims to develop a methodology based on ANNs for estimating daily ETa values using NDVI and land surface temperature, coupled with limited site-specific climatic variables in a large irrigation catchment. The ANN model has been applied to the two different scenarios. Data from only the 38 days of satellite overpass dates was selected in Scenario I, while in Scenario II all datasets, i.e., the 769-day data were used. An irrigation scheme, located in the Mediterranean region of Turkiye, was selected, and a total of 38 Landsat images and local climatic data collected in 2021 and 2022 were used in the ANN model. The ETa results by the ANN model for Scenarios I and II showed that the R² values for training (0.79 and 0.86), testing (0.75 and 0.81), and the entire dataset (0.76 and 0.84) were all remarkably high. Moreover, the results of the new ANN model in two scenarios showed an acceptable agreement with ETa-METRIC values. The proposed ANN model demonstrated the potential for obtaining daily ETa using limited climatic data and RS imagery. As a result, the suggested ANN model for daily ETa computation offers a trustworthy way to determine crop water usage in real time for sustainable water management in agriculture. It may also be used to assess how crop evapotranspiration in drought-prone areas will be affected by climate change in the 21st century.

Estimation of crop water stress index (CWSI) and leaf area index (LAI) over large-irrigation schemes requires the use of cutting-edge technologies. Combinations of remote sensing techniques with ground-truth data have become available for use at the catchment level. These approaches allow us to estimate actual evapotranspiration and have the capability of monitoring crop water status and saving irrigation water in water-scarce regions. This study was conducted in the eastern Mediterranean Region of Turkiye. Fully distributed CWSI maps were generated and we assessed the relationship between CWSI and LAI for some specific crops in the winter season of 2021. Landsat 7 and 8 data were used and meteorological data were acquired from two stations in the study area. ‘Mapping Evapotranspiration at high Resolution with Internalized Calibration’ methodology was applied to estimate the energy balance components. CWSI maps displayed spatiotemporal changes in tandem with crop-type variations. Consequently, results presented a high correlation (r = 0.95 and r = 0.99 for wheat and lettuce, respectively) between CWSI and LAI, a moderate correlation (r = 0.44) for potatoes in the winter season. Thus, by utilizing remotely sensed data, the CWSI values would be directly estimated without requiring any in situ measurements of the canopy and air temperature over-irrigation scheme.

Estimating actual evapotranspiration (ETa) rates for different crop types grown in large irrigation schemes is of great importance to improve water use efficiency. To that end, crop types over large irrigation areas can be determined by employing remote sensing techniques coupled with ground truth data. This study aimed to: a) conduct a water balance work by realizing in-situ water balance measurements, b) derive cropping pattern maps, c) acquire daily crop evapotranspiration (ETc), d) generate fully distributed ETa maps by remote sensing, and e) compare ETa estimations with ETc and in-situ water balance. Landsat-7 and -8 satellite data and meteorological data were used to estimate ETa in the Eastern Mediterranean Region of Turkey in the 2021 hydrological year. Crop types were classified using Sentinel 2A-2B satellite images. The change in catchment storage was +67.08 mm with a 3.34% water balance closure error. The correlation between ETa and ETc for irrigated wheat, potato, lettuce, corn-1, peanut-1, soybean-2, and citrus was significant in growing season.

Determination of cropping pattern is a very important factor in quantifying irrigation water requirements at a catchment scale. In this regard, remote sensing is a robust tool for generating spatial-temporal variation of crops. This study focuses on crop classification by using remotely sensed data coupled with ground truth data. Therefore, this study aimed at both classifying each crop type and calculating crop evapotranspiration (ETc) based on reference evapotranspiration (ETo) by using the Penman-Monteith evapotranspiration model and crop coefficient (Kc). ETo was estimated by using data from two meteorological stations located in the study area. To this end, this study was conducted in Akarsu Irrigation District (≈95 km2), a sub-catchment in the Lower Seyhan Plain (LSP), in the 2021 hydrological year. Ground truth data were collected in the two growing seasons. The ENVI program was used to classify crop types from Sentinel 2A-2B satellite images with 10-m by 10-m spatial resolution. Image analysis results demonstrated that bare soil and citrus made up more than half of the area in the winter season, while corn and citrus were preponderant in summer. In addition, the total reference evapotranspiration and crop evapotranspiration were about 1308 mm and 890 mm, respectively in the 2021 water year. ETc values for second crop soybean, first crop corn, wheat, and citrus showed agreement with previous studies of direct methods of evapotranspiration in the Cukurova region. Furthermore, research findings led us to conclude that using remotely sensed satellite data in cropping pattern determination is promising in identifying the crops grown in large agricultural lands. Moreover, remote sensing images can be used to classify accurately crops in the winter and summer seasons, and this study has expanded the application value of remotely sensed data in large-scale irrigation schemes.

Accurate estimations of actual evapotranspiration (ETa) are fundamental for various environmental issues. Artificial Intelligence-based models are considered a promising alternative to the most common direct ETa estimation techniques and indirect methods by remote sensing (RS)-based surface energy balance models. Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) are proven to be suitable for predicting reference evapotranspiration and ETa based on RS data. The aim of this study is to develop a methodology based on ANNs for estimating daily ETa values using NDVI and land surface temperature, coupled with limited site-specific climatic variables at a large irrigation catchment. Two scenarios were implemented by the ANN model. Data from only the 38 days of satellite overpass dates was selected in Scenario-I, while the 769-day data included the satellite overpass dates and other days located between two satellite overpass acquisitions in Scenario-II. An irrigation scheme in the Mediterranean region of Turkiye was selected, and a total of 38 Landsat images, and local climatic data were used in 2021 and 2022. Results showed that R2 values in Scenario-I and II were acknowledgeably high for training (0.79 and 0.86), testing (0.75 and 0.81), and the entire dataset (0.76 and 0.84), respectively. Results of the new model in two scenarios showed acceptable agreement with ETa-METRIC values. The proposed ANN model demonstrated the potential of obtaining daily ETa using limited climatic data and RS imagery.