Lecture 11

Evapotranspiration (4)
ET Measurements
• Lysimeters
• Evaporation Pans
• Pan size effects
 Lysimeter
• Allow determination of
water balance of a block of
soil

• Maintain wet soil to

measure PET

• Allow soil moisture to

fluctuate to measure AET

http://lawr.ucdavis.edu/classes/ hyd143/hyd143week2.html
 Weighing
Lysimeters
• Use a balance to assess
changes in storage

•Small lysimeters can be

removed and weighed

•Measure both PET and AET

http://www.kfa-juelich.de/icg/icg5/irapic/einlasse.jpg
 Draining Lysimeters
• Soil block is
isolated but must
be undisturbed and
in the same
surroundings

• Can’t measure
change in storage,
only inputs and
outputs

http://www.l-sadwrn.dircon.co.uk/ lysim.html
 Evaporation Pan (US Class A)
standard of the National Weather Service (NWS)

http://www.fao.org/docrep/S2022E/s2022e07.htm
 Sunken Colorado Pan

http://www.fao.org/docrep/S2022E/s2022e07.htm
 Evaporation Pans
Solve a simplified water-balance equation for a given period (t):

E = W – (V2 – V1)

E = Evaporation
W = Precipitation during t
V1 = Volume at beginning of t
V2 = Volume at end of t
 Estimating the Effect of Pan Size
Empirical equations to account for energy exchange through the side the
pan, in order to estimate free water evaporation:

E fw  0.7 E pan  0.00064P pan  0.37  0.00255v pan  Tspan  Ta
0.88

+ when Tspan > Ta
- when Tspan < Ta

Efw = Evaporation from free-water surface

Epan = Pan evaporation
P = Atmospheric pressure (mb)
vpan = Avg. wind speed 15 cm above pan (km/day)
Tspan = Water-surface temperature (C)
Ta = Air temperature (C)
pan = Proportion of energy lost to evaporation
 pan  0.34  0.0117Tspan  3.5 10 7  Tspan  17.83  0.0135v 0pan
.36

Kohler et al. (1955)

 Evaporation Pans
• Free-water evaporation
• Expose a cylindrical (or rectangular) pan of water to the atmosphere

• Provide estimates of potential evapotranspiration (PET) – can be more

accurate than formulae

• Must be related to vegetation canopies using other methods

(coefficients etc.)

• Precipitation is measured in an adjacent rain gauge

• Pan volume is measured by recording water height (which is

maintained by adding or removing measured amounts of water)

• Pans can be placed on land in clearings or on floating platforms on

open water and usually surrounded by fences
 Plot Studies
• Water balance approach applied to small undisturbed plots of land

• Analogous to small lake for simple evaporation

• Must select suitable sites where inputs/outputs can be measured

• Spatial uncertainty increases with size of plot

• Artificial rain (sprinklers) can be used to assess PET

• Soil moisture assessed by spot sampling and measurement by:

Gravimetric methods
Soil block moisture
Neutron probe
Time domain reflectometry
 Catchment Studies
•Water balance of entire drainage basin

•Even greater spatial uncertainties

Variable precipitation, soil water capacity
Ground water seepage

•Better for long term estimates

On a yearly basis, change in storage is approx. zero