Maskey et al. (2026) Water Balance Approach for Evapotranspiration Dynamics: A Comprehensive Review

⚠️ Warning: This summary was generated from the abstract only, as the full text was not available.

Identification

• Journal: Hydrometeorology
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-09-16
• Authors: Mahesh L. Maskey, Bibash Dhakal, Anitha Madapakula, Arjun Thapa, Gafar (Lanre) Agunbiade
• DOI: 10.3390/hydrometeorology1010007

Research Groups

Not specified

Short Summary

This review evaluates the theoretical foundations and recent advancements in water balance methods for estimating evapotranspiration (ET), emphasizing the shift toward hybrid physics-based and machine learning approaches.

Objective

• To examine the theoretical basis and recent developments in water balance approaches for estimating ET across different hydroclimatic regimes.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Multi-scale (ranging from ground-based observations to satellite-scale Earth observations).
• Temporal Scale: Not specified (Review of recent developments).

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Classic soil water balance methods, physically based hydrologic models, remote-sensing approaches, machine learning, and hybrid physics-ML models.
• Data sources: MODIS, Landsat, ground-based observations, and datasets for precipitation, runoff, and storage.

Main Results

• Water balance methods remain critical due to their direct connection to the conservation of mass.
• Hybrid approaches combining process-based understanding with data-driven machine learning have significantly advanced ET estimation accuracy.
• Significant uncertainties persist in the estimation of precipitation, runoff, and storage, as well as in representing groundwater dynamics.
• Integration of MODIS and Landsat data has improved the handling of spatial heterogeneity in ET.

Contributions

• Synthesizes the evolution of ET estimation from traditional mass-balance methods to modern hybrid AI-physics models, providing a framework for improving irrigation management, drought assessment, and water-resource planning.

Funding

Not specified

Citation

@article{Maskey2026Water,
  author = {Maskey, Mahesh L. and Dhakal, Bibash and Madapakula, Anitha and Thapa, Arjun and Agunbiade, Gafar (Lanre)},
  title = {Water Balance Approach for Evapotranspiration Dynamics: A Comprehensive Review},
  journal = {Hydrometeorology},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.3390/hydrometeorology1010007},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.3390/hydrometeorology1010007}
}