Vapor pressure deficit (VPD) is an important parameter in modelling hydrologic cycles and vegetation productivity. Meteorological stations are scarce in remote areas, which often results in imprecise estimations of VPD on the Tibetan Plateau. Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) provides evapotranspiration data, which may offer the possibility of scaling up VPD estimations on the Tibetan Plateau. However, no studies thus far have estimated VPD using MODIS evapotranspiration data on the Tibetan Plateau. Therefore, this study used MODIS potential evapotranspiration (PET) to estimate VPD in alpine meadows, alpine steppes, croplands, forests and shrublands for the year, spring, summer, autumn and winter in 2000-2012. A series of root-mean- squared-error (RMSE) and mean-absolute-error (MAE) values were obtained for correlating measured VPD and estimated VPD using MODIS PET data for each listed time period and vegetation type: whole year (0.98-2.15 hPa and 0.68-1.44 hPa), spring (0.95-2.34 hPa and 0.72-1.54 hPa), summer (1.39-2.60 hPa and 0.89-1.96 hPa), autumn (0.78-1.93 hPa and 0.56-1.36 hPa), winter (0.48-1.40 hPa and 0.36-0.98 hPa), alpine steppes (0.48- 1.39 hPa and 0.36-1.00 hPa), alpine meadows (0.58-1.39 hPa and 0.44-0.90 hPa), croplands (1.10-2.55 hPa and 0.82-1.74 hPa), shrublands (0.98-1.90 hPa and 0.78-1.37 hPa), and forests (1.40-2.60 hPa and 0.98-1.96 hPa), respectively. Therefore, MODIS PET may be used to estimate VPD, and better results may be obtained if future studies incorporate vegetation types and seasons when the VPD data are estimated using MODIS PET on the Tibetan Plateau.
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