Jabeen et al. (2026) The role of evapotranspiration in green roofs: a review of modelling approaches

Identification

• Journal: Frontiers in Environmental Science
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-09-11
• Authors: Komal Jabeen, Ilaria Gnecco, Anna Palla
• DOI: 10.3389/fenvs.2026.1914024

Research Groups

• Department of Civil, Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Genova, Italy
• Various research groups from North America and Europe (as mentioned in the paper)

Short Summary

This review critically evaluates evapotranspiration measurement and modelling in green roofs, positioning them within the broader urban nature-based solutions context. The study synthesizes 104 studies published between 1948 and 2026 to identify gaps that limit robust monitoring and prediction of ET.

Objective

• Critically evaluate approaches for estimating actual evapotranspiration (AET) in urban nature-based solutions.
• Evaluate in situ and remote sensing techniques used to measure ET in green roofs.
• Synthesize empirical evidence from green roofs examining ET behaviour across vegetation types, substrate configurations, and climatic conditions.
• Assess data requirements and sources of uncertainty in ET estimation for urban nature-based solutions.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Urban scale, focusing on green roofs as a specific type of urban nature-based solution.
• Temporal Scale: Long-term (1948-2026), with a focus on recent studies (2015-present).

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Various ET models, including temperature-based, radiation-based, combination, and remote-sensing/data-driven approaches.
• Data sources: Database search (Scopus and ScienceDirect) and citation searching of selected studies.

Main Results

• Temperature-based models tend to overestimate ET in urban environments due to the urban heat island effect.
• Radiation-based methods assume ET is controlled primarily by available energy, which weakens under drier conditions common on urban rooftops.
• Combination models provide a more defensible physical basis for ET in urban nature-based solutions when local meteorological data are available.
• Remote-sensing/data-driven approaches have shown good accuracy but are limited by mixed-pixel effects and coarse resolution.

Contributions

• This review provides an integrated critical synthesis to support more accurate, transferable, and climate-resilient ET representation in urban nature-based solutions research.
• The study highlights the need for long-term multi-site observational datasets, standardized ET measurement protocols, and climate-adaptive modelling frameworks.

Funding

• Not specified in the paper.

Citation

@article{Jabeen2026role,
  author = {Jabeen, Komal and Gnecco, Ilaria and Palla, Anna},
  title = {The role of evapotranspiration in green roofs: a review of modelling approaches},
  journal = {Frontiers in Environmental Science},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.3389/fenvs.2026.1914024},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2026.1914024}
}