Use of land-cover fractions derived from MESMA for urban water balance calculation

Multiple Endmember Spectral Mixture Analysis (MESMA) is a useful method to deal with issues of spatial and spectral heterogeneity in urban areas, allowing endmembers to vary on a per-pixel basis. In this study, per-pixel land-cover fractions obtained from MESMA are used as an input for spatially distributed hydrological modeling in a strongly urbanized area. Different components of the water balance are estimated using per-pixel land-cover fractions and compared to results obtained with a semi-distributed approach, where land-cover composition is fixed a priori for each land-use type, using default model parameters. Access to spatially detailed information on the impervious surface and vegetation component proves to have a strong impact on surface runoff and groundwater recharge calculations for different land-uses. Use of MESMA, providing accurate estimates land-cover composition for each pixel may therefore contribute to improving water balance calculation in urbanized areas.