Ezzahar J. auteur aut IRD Chehbouni Abdelghani auteur aut IRD Er-Raki S. auteur aut IRD Hanich L. auteur aut IRD text journalArticle eng The objective of the present study was to investigate the potential of a large aperture scintillometer (LAS) combined with a simple available energy model to estimate area-averaged latent heat flux in difficult environmental conditions. The difficulties are related to the sparseness of the vegetation, the heterogeneity of the soil characteristics, and, most importantly, the heterogeneity in terms of soil moisture induced by the flood irrigation method. In this context, three sites (Agdal, R3 and Saada) in the Tensift Al Haouz plain (region of Marrakech city, central Morocco) have been equipped with a LAS and eddy covariance (EC) system (local scale measurements). Agdal and R3 are a flood-irrigated olive yard and wheat field, respectively. Saada is a drip-irrigated orange orchard. Due to the irrigation method applied, the Agdal and R3 sites shifted from being almost homogeneous between two irrigations (dry conditions) and completely heterogeneous during the irrigation events (large variability of soil moisture along the site), while Saada was always heterogeneous, at least at the scintillometer footprint scale. Consequently, the comparison between the sensible heat fluxes derived from both LAS and EC showed a large scatter during the irrigation events, while a good correspondence was found in between two irrigations. It was also found that combining LAS and an estimate of the available energy (using a simple model) can provide reasonable large-scale evapotransipration estimates, which are of prime interest for irrigation management. specialized Evapotranspiration olive orange scintillation semi-arid region wheat 072 143 1 209-221 2009 1126-3504 https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/PAR00003521 10.1080/11263500802710036 1126-3504 https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/PAR00003521 IRD - Base Horizon / Pleins textes 2009-06-08 2017-08-23 PAR00003521 fre