Accurate and continuous estimation of evapotranspiration (ET) is crucial for effective water resource management. We used the moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) standard ET algorithm forced by the MODIS land products and the three-hourly solar radiation datasets to estimate daily actual evapotranspiration of China (ET_MOD) for the years 2001 to 2015. From the point scale validations using seven eddy covariance tower sites, the results showed that the agreement of ET_MOD estimates and observations was higher for monthly and daily values than that of instantaneous values. Under the major river basin and subbasin levels’ comparisons with the variable infiltration capacity hydrological model estimates, the ET_MOD exhibited a slight overestimation in northern China and underestimation in southern China. The mean annual ET_MOD estimates agreed favorably with the hydrological model with coefficients of determination (R2) of 0.93 and 0.83 at major river basin and subbasin scale, respectively. At national scale, the spatiotemporal variations of ET_MOD estimates matched well with those ET estimates from various sources. However, ET_MOD estimates were generally lower than the other estimates in the Tibetan Plateau. This underestimation may be attributed to the plateau climate along with low air temperature and sparsely vegetated surface on the Tibetan Plateau.
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