The energy exchange across soil vegetation-atmosphere interface through the net radiation components (Rn) the soil heat flux (G), sensible heat flux (H) and latent heat flux (LE) are of vital importance for the climatic and hydrologic modeling, which affects all biosphere. The main objectives of this research are: (1) to estimate and compare the several energy balance components behavior, using SEBAL algorithm, under different soil usages; and (2) to validate SEBAL algorithm. In order to make the analysis, three TM - Landsat 5 images, from orbit and point 214/066, of August 26th 2006, September 6th 2010 and January 28th 2011, covering the South Coast of Pernambuco State (Brazil) were used. The results showed the ability of SEBAL to estimate the spatial variability of the different components of energy balance, with the ability to distinguish different soil occupations. The calculation of the energy balance components allows to figure the different forms of energy usages by different soil coverage and to find those that provide better thermal comfort. Estimates of evapotranspiration obtained by the algorithm SEBAL showed a good agreement with the results obtained by the FAO-Penman-Monteith, thus demonstrating the potential of this methodological approach.
SEBAL; energy balance; evapotranspiration
