OpenET
Meeting Utah’s water consumption data needs while improving transparency and confidence
Project tasks advance science and application
OpenET will provide the Authority:
- User-focused administrative support through training, review of reports reliant upon OpenET data, data services, and access,
- Data improvement through historic data production (1991-2023), crop type and land use updates, and consumptive use accounting for effective precipitation, and
- Data comparison through correlation of historic OpenET data to crop coefficient methods.
Together, these efforts will provide a longer and higher frequency dataset than is currently publicly available and will streamline the process for incorporating effective precipitation for consumptive use determination, while improving the publicly available data. Ultimately, OpenET’s products will support the Authority’s objective of establishing confidence in remote sensing methods and their applications to drought mitigation planning, implementation, and verification.
Ground-truthing data through partnership with Utah Geological Survey
OpenET Historical Dataset & Report
In 2024, OpenET completed production of the 1991-2023 Historical Dataset for the Colorado River system in Utah complemented by a Report on the dataset. The Historical Dataset Report includes:
- An overview of the OpenET modeling system,
- A review of differences between the OpenET ensemble and eeMETRIC,
- Identification of geographic anomalies or temporal discontinuities in historic ET data, and
- Discussion of limitations and considerations when using OpenET evapotranspiration (ET) data from any model.
Intercomparison of the historical OpenET dataset and other ET products is ongoing, and applications for the historical dataset are in development by the Authority. Additional publications about OpenET, and publicly available data can be found on OpenET’s website linked below.
Primary Contributors
