Daily Evaporative Stress Index for Contiguous United States at 70-Meter Resolution

June 2018 to present data from the ECOSTRESS instrument on the International Space Station provides daily Evaporative Stress Index (ESI) measurements. The dataset is produced by NASA's LPCLOUD using the DisALEXI algorithm and is projected on a 0.0006-degree grid over the Contiguous United States. It quantifies plant water stress by calculating the ratio of actual daily evapotranspiration to reference evapotranspiration.

Use Cases

• Monitor agricultural drought severity by analyzing the daily Evaporative Stress Index variable across CONUS.
• Assess vegetation stress patterns by mapping the spatial distribution of the ESI at 70-meter resolution.
• Validate land surface models using the ESI Daily Uncertainty variable to quantify measurement confidence.
• Investigate temporal trends in plant water use by analyzing the time series of daily ESI values.

Strengths

• Global 0.0006-degree grid projection provides consistent 70-meter spatial resolution over CONUS.
• Derived from the ECOSTRESS instrument, which measures plant temperature from the International Space Station.

Limitations

• Data acquisition experienced gaps and anomalies in 2018, 2019, and 2020, affecting temporal continuity.
• Some scenes contain data quality issues from solar array obstructions on the ISS, noted in the 'FieldOfViewObstruction' metadata.
• Spatial coverage is limited to the Contiguous United States (CONUS), not global.

Provenance

Source

NASA LPCLOUD via the ECOSTRESS mission on the International Space Station.

Collection Method

Calculated from clear-sky estimates using the Atmosphere Land Exchange Inverse (ALEXI) Disaggregation algorithm (DisALEXI).

Time Range

June 2018 to present, with documented acquisition gaps.

Freshness

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Geography

Contiguous United States (CONUS), between 52° N and 52° S latitudes for instrument coverage.