Princeton MEaSUREs PET: Global 3-Hourly Evapotranspiration Estimates

Princeton University's MEaSUREs Potential Evapotranspiration dataset provides global estimates using three established methods: Penman, Priestley-Taylor, and FAO reference crop. It is derived from a combination of reanalysis, satellite, and gauge data at a 3-hourly temporal and 0.25x0.25 degree spatial resolution. The dataset spans the 23-year period from 1984 to 2006 and is stored as 3-dimensional arrays in NetCDF-4 format.

Use Cases

• Modeling hydrological drought and water stress based on 3-hourly PET estimates.
• Comparing different PET calculation methodologies (Penman, Priestley-Taylor, FAO) for research validation.
• Assessing climate change impacts on the water cycle using a 23-year global time series.
• Forcing land surface models with near-surface meteorology and radiation data.

Strengths

• Provides three distinct, widely-used PET estimation methods for methodological comparison.
• Covers a 23-year global time series (1984-2006) at a high 3-hourly temporal resolution.
• Uses a multi-source input approach (reanalysis, satellite, gauge) intended to reduce forcing error.

Limitations

• Metadata completeness is medium; specific column names and exact data volume are not provided.
• There is a conflict in the 'last updated' field between sources (2006 vs. 2026), suggesting potential metadata inconsistency.
• The dataset's temporal coverage ends in 2006, which may limit analysis of recent climate trends.

Provenance

Source

Princeton University, GES DISC

Collection Method

Derived from a combination of reanalysis, satellite, and gridded gauge data.

Time Range

1984-2006

Freshness

2026-04-09 22:59:56.093400

Geography

Global at 0.25x0.25 degree resolution