How can I benefit from BAITSSS?
BAITSSS brings satellite, weather, soil, and field information into one continuous workflow for examining evapotranspiration, soil water, irrigation, and spatial field variability.
You can examine how water use changes across a field, follow soil-water conditions through a season, evaluate modeled irrigation behavior, compare simulation periods or management settings, rerun a field with updated Landsat and NLDAS data, and export results for research, reports, teaching, and decision support.
BAITSSS helps you understand what is happening with water in your field, where it is happening, and how it changes over time.
Can BAITSSS look at my field?
Yes. Define or import an Area of Interest (AOI) in the BAITSSS viewer. The desktop can show that saved AOI with the base information used by the project, including NLCD land cover, DEM/elevation, Soil Field Capacity, and Soil Available Water Capacity.
Can I run BAITSSS on my laptop?
Yes. BAITSSS is a Windows desktop application designed to run locally on the user's computer. A cloud computing environment is not required to run the model.
Performance depends on the processor, available memory, disk space, field size, and simulation length. Larger AOIs and longer simulations require more computing resources. Exact minimum and recommended hardware specifications will be published after they are formally verified.
What data do I need before I can run a field?
You do not have to build the base spatial-data stack yourself. BAITSSS already works with the land-cover, elevation and soil base layers used by the model. The changing datasets in the current desktop workflow are Landsat and NLDAS hourly weather.
Inside BAITSSS, use File → Import → Landsat or File → Import → NLDAS. The import windows show the registered BaseData archive and provide Download Missing for data still needed by the selected project.
Can I use BAITSSS with recent data during the growing season?
Yes, with the latency of the public source data. NASA states that NLDAS-2 forcing is currently available about 3–4 days behind the current date. USGS reports that Landsat 9 Level-2 products are generally available about 3 days after acquisition. Landsat 8 requires additional tier processing and can take longer; the current USGS Collection 2 generation timeline reports approximately 4–11 days from acquisition to Level-2 generation.
BAITSSS does not currently forecast future ET or future irrigation demand. Instead, you can return to the same field, use the most recently available Landsat and NLDAS data, adjust the simulation period, download what is missing, and run the field again.
At what spatial resolution are BAITSSS results produced?
BAITSSS produces its Landsat-based field results at 30 m spatial resolution. That allows mapped outputs such as evapotranspiration to show spatial differences across the field rather than only one field-average number.
Can I use my own satellite or weather data?
Not yet for alternative satellite or weather sources. The current BAITSSS workflow is built around its supported Landsat and NLDAS data path. Support for additional user-provided or alternative satellite and weather sources is a planned future capability.
Can I use my own soil maps?
Not currently as raster inputs. The present BAITSSS desktop workflow does not support user-supplied raster soil maps for spatially varying soil properties. Instead, supported soil-related conditions can be adjusted through single-value field inputs where appropriate.
Can higher-resolution data improve BAITSSS results?
Potentially. Higher-resolution data may improve representation of field variability that can be missed at the current 30 m Landsat scale, especially in smaller fields, field edges, mixed pixels, heterogeneous soils, or nonuniform management.
However, higher spatial resolution does not automatically mean higher model accuracy. The data must also be reliable, appropriately processed, timed correctly, and scientifically compatible with the BAITSSS model and its assumptions.
Can I use BAITSSS for all crops or land uses other than irrigated agriculture?
BAITSSS is not limited to a single crop. Its calculations use satellite observations, weather, surface-energy-balance and soil-water processes rather than a single crop-specific equation.
However, this does not mean every crop type or land-use class has been equally validated. Model performance should be evaluated for the vegetation, management, soil-water conditions, and land use where it is applied. For non-irrigated agriculture or other vegetated land uses, ET and soil-water behavior can still be investigated, while irrigation-related outputs should be interpreted according to the actual management of the site.
Can BAITSSS track crop growth and rooting growth?
BAITSSS can follow seasonal crop and canopy development through satellite-derived vegetation information, including changes in NDVI and LAI used by the model.
BAITSSS does not currently simulate biological root growth through time. Rooting depth is provided as a model setting rather than being predicted dynamically.
Does BAITSSS use thermal information?
BAITSSS does not currently use satellite thermal data as a direct model input. Soil and canopy temperatures are calculated internally as part of the surface energy balance using the model state and atmospheric forcing.
The desktop also makes thermal computation and pixel scale extraction available for scientific inspection and comparison. A selected pixel can be examined through the Results workflow so calculated temperature behavior can be evaluated alongside other model outputs, even though thermal imagery is not driving the current BAITSSS simulation.
Does BAITSSS use reference evapotranspiration (ET)?
No. BAITSSS does not require reference ET to calculate or calibrate ET. ET is computed from coupled energy-balance, resistance, vegetation, soil-water, and atmospheric processes.
Minimum canopy resistance helps constrain maximum transpiration, but not as a simple reference-ET multiplier.
Next pipeline: Reference ET calculation and weather-data conditioning are planned for a future BAITSSS release. They are not part of the current ET calculation.
Can I change the irrigation scheduling settings?
Yes. The advanced irrigation settings allow the user to change management assumptions including Management Allowed Depletion (MAD), rooting depth, and other irrigation-control options. You can rerun the field with different settings to examine how the modeled irrigation and soil-water response changes.
Can I adjust the initial soil-moisture condition?
Yes. BAITSSS allows the user to adjust the initial soil-moisture condition using a single field-level value. This is intended mainly for relatively homogeneous fields, including many center-pivot applications, where one representative starting condition is appropriate.
How many simulations can I run?
You can run as many simulations as needed. BAITSSS does not impose a fixed total simulation-count limit. Each simulation stores outputs on your computer, so the practical limit is the available disk space.
Can I run multiple AOIs, Landsat datasets, or simulations at the same time?
Not currently. BAITSSS runs one simulation at a time. You can prepare multiple projects, AOIs, Landsat datasets, and future simulation periods in advance and run them sequentially.
At present, a simulation can use only one Landsat scene. Because of that, the maximum AOI for a single simulation is limited to the spatial coverage of that Landsat scene.
How fast can I get results?
Runtime depends strongly on the size of the area being simulated. On the current development computer, a small-area or single-pixel seasonal simulation may take roughly 5–10 minutes. For a much larger AOI approaching about 500 km², the currently observed runtime is about 1 hour.
These are current practical observations, not fixed guarantees. Runtime varies with the computer, AOI size, simulation length, and run configuration, and BAITSSS is still being optimized.
What do I get after a BAITSSS run?
BAITSSS runs a continuous field-scale water and energy balance and lets the user inspect outputs including evapotranspiration, soil-water conditions, modeled irrigation behavior, spatial maps, and time-series results for the selected simulation period.
Can I export my results?
Yes. BAITSSS provides exports including CSV for tabular results and PNG for figures and maps, so results can be carried into analysis, reports, presentations, and other scientific workflows.
BAITSSS also preserves detailed model diagnostics and model information within each model output, allowing users to inspect and export information about the simulation beyond the summarized figures and tables.
Where are my projects and results stored?
BAITSSS Desktop uses a local project workflow. Project inputs, run information, and outputs are organized with the project on the user's computer, while registered reusable environmental data are maintained in the local BaseData archive. The current modeling workflow does not depend on cloud synchronization.
How accurate are BAITSSS results?
BAITSSS is a scientific model, so there is no single accuracy number that applies to every field and every period. Results should be evaluated against independent field observations whenever those observations are available. Performance can vary with the quality of the input data, field conditions, model parameters, irrigation assumptions, and the period being simulated.
Why might BAITSSS results differ from my field observations even when the inputs are correct?
BAITSSS represents field processes through mathematical and physical assumptions. A real crop and field can behave differently because of physiological conditions, crop stress, disease, nutrient limitations, cultivar differences, rooting behavior, canopy condition, management, or other field-specific factors that are not fully represented by the model.
A mismatch should first be checked against the AOI, dates, Landsat coverage, weather data, soil properties, irrigation settings, rooting depth, MAD, and other model inputs. But even when those inputs are correct, the field can still behave differently from the model assumptions.
How is BAITSSS different from free ET products?
Free ET products can be very useful when the main question is simply, "What was ET here?" BAITSSS is not designed only to provide an ET map.
ET is one part of a continuous field simulation that connects Landsat, hourly weather, surface energy balance, soil-water balance, crop conditions, and irrigation logic. This allows the user to examine how ET, soil water, and modeled irrigation change together through time, change management assumptions such as MAD or rooting depth, rerun the field, and inspect the model response.
Can I get software similar to BAITSSS?
Several tools provide satellite evapotranspiration, soil-water modeling, or irrigation support, but they do not necessarily combine these functions in the same way. BAITSSS integrates 30 m remote sensing with hourly weather, energy balance, soil-water dynamics, and modeled irrigation within one continuous simulation.
Many established tools also have relatively fixed functionality, while BAITSSS remains under active development so supported workflows and capabilities can continue to expand.
How do I get started after installing BAITSSS?
Open BAITSSS, create or reopen a project, locate and define the field in the AOI Viewer, choose the simulation period, then use the Landsat and NLDAS import tools to verify or download the required changing data. Once the project is ready, run the model and inspect the Results page.
Can I manage more than one field or project?
Yes. The Project Manager can hold multiple BAITSSS projects that can be created, reopened, and managed separately. Each project keeps its own AOI, simulation period, project data, runs, and results. The current desktop workflow runs projects individually rather than as a multi-field batch job.
Is BAITSSS simply the original research code with a desktop interface?
No. BAITSSS was fundamentally rebuilt from the earlier bare-bones research code into a faster, modern geospatial software architecture with structured project data, validation, background processing, provenance, and restart capability.
The redesign supports efficient hourly simulation across large raster grids, which is central to evapotranspiration, soil-water, and irrigation analysis.
Understanding or extending modern BAITSSS therefore requires more than reading the earlier research script. It requires understanding the core literature and scientific model, the hourly state progression, two-source energy balance, soil-water balance, irrigation logic, backward-averaged iteration and its numerical limitations, and the difference between scientific validation and software verification. Only then can the computational engine, project-state and data systems, execution and recovery, provenance, Results, packaging, and source implementation be interpreted in the proper context.
Can I still run the old BAITSSS research code?
Earlier research versions may still be useful for historical comparison or specialized scientific work, but current BAITSSS development is centered on the desktop software.
The desktop is intended to provide the maintained workflow for project setup, supported data, simulation, Results, provenance, reproducibility, and scientific export.
Can I edit the BAITSSS code and work with it on my local machine?
BAITSSS runs locally on your computer, but the current desktop distribution is intended to be used as packaged scientific software rather than as an editable source-code project.
If source-code access is provided for a research, development, or collaboration purpose, that access is handled separately from normal software access.
Who developed BAITSSS?
BAITSSS originated at the University of Idaho and has continued to evolve through different forms and institutions. As the model moved between institutions, different stages of its development contributed changes in code structure, scientific validation, testing, and refinement.
Later work at Kansas State University and USDA played an important role in advancing and refining BAITSSS and helped establish the foundation from which the current desktop software could be developed.
Earlier versions of BAITSSS were primarily research models used for scientific investigation and validation. The current generation represents a new stage of that history: BAITSSS is being transformed into an integrated desktop scientific software system while maintaining continuity with the science and development that came before it.
How can students and faculty use BAITSSS?
Students can use BAITSSS for education, thesis or dissertation work, research training, and field-scale analysis of ET, soil water, and irrigation. Faculty can use it for teaching, research, student supervision, model evaluation, and academic field studies. Software access is governed through the responsible institution or organization.
Where do I go for support or to report a problem?
Use the BAITSSS Contact page for software questions, troubleshooting, or problem reports. When reporting a software issue, include the BAITSSS build or version, the project step where the problem occurred, and enough information to reproduce the behavior when possible.
Is BAITSSS free?
Public information, publications, evidence, and demonstrations are available without software access. Use of BAITSSS Desktop is provided through an approved institutional or organizational agreement; an individual request does not by itself establish access.
Still have a question?
Contact BAITSSS. Questions about the science, software, data, simulations, results, access, or troubleshooting will be directed to the appropriate BAITSSS contact.
