Evaluation of evapotranspiration for exorheic basins in China using an improved estimate of terrestrial water storage change

•A daily terrestrial water storage anomaly reconstruction framework is proposed based on the precipitation reconstruction method.•Evapotranspiration is calculated for nine exorheic basins in China from the water balance equation based on three different terrestrial water storage change estimates.•The reconstruction method significantly reduces the frequency and magnitude of negative evapotranspiration values.•Uncertainties derived from the three-cornered hat method indicate that the evapotranspiration derived from the reconstruction method is superior to the other two terrestrial water storage change estimates.