OpenET shows lower latency and 7‑day ET forecasting plans; Otter near operational for ET of applied water
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Summary
OpenET reported provisional latencies (Landsat‑9: 1–3 days; Landsat‑8: 3–7 days), a low‑latency provisional feed and Otter development to compute effective precipitation and ET of applied water; the team plans to integrate new satellites and meteorological inputs and to offer near‑real‑time reporting for managers.
Forrest, a senior scientist at NASA Ames who works with the OpenET consortium, briefed the DMEC on advances in data latency, forecasting and the Otter system for calculating effective precipitation and ET of applied water. "For Landsat 9, within typically 1 to 3 days of satellite overpass; for Landsat 8 typically 3 to 7 days," he said when describing provisional data pathways, and he noted a separate archival (final) collection used for annual reporting.
OpenET is delivering multiple access tools: a public data explorer, an OpenET API, and a Farm & Ranch user interface (farms.etdata.org) that users can configure with field boundaries and recurring reports. Forrest described Otter as "the amount of rainfall that falls and remains in the field and within the root zone" and said the Otter comparisons to existing tools have been favorable; OpenET intends to use OpenET minus Otter effective precipitation to compute ET of applied water.
The consortium is testing short‑term ET forecasts. Forrest said a 7‑day lead time forecast for reference ET and fraction of reference ET shows promise: within about a 7‑day window the forecast distribution is generally within plus‑or‑minus about 20% mean absolute error in many cases, but accuracy declines beyond roughly two weeks. OpenET is also evaluating additional meteorological inputs and satellite sources (ECOSTRESS, Sentinel‑2, VIIRS and NISAR soil moisture) and will only add model changes that demonstrably improve accuracy.
Why it matters: lower latency provisional products and a practical Otter approach let managers identify rapid changes in consumptive use during heat waves or flash droughts and to target ground measurements where the satellite‑based ET of applied water appears inconsistent with measured diversions.
Next steps: OpenET will share tools, finalize Otter documentation and continue pilot integrations in partner incentive programs, while being attentive to data privacy concerns when publishing ET of applied water at field scales.
