Evapotranspiration

Returning water to the atmosphere

Evapotranspiration (ET)
• Composed of two subprocesses
• Evaporation occurs on surfaces of open water or from vegetation and
ground surfaces.
• Transpiration is the removal of water from the soil by plant roots,
transported through the plant into the leaves and evaporated from the
leaf’s stomata.
• Typically combined in mass balance equations because the components
are difficult to partition.

Evapotranspiration

Transpiration
Evaporation
Open Plants
Soil Vegetation
Water
Surfaces
Potential vs. Actual ET
• Potential ET (PET) is the amount of evaporation that will occur
if an unlimited amount of water is available.

• Actual ET (AET) is the actual amount of evaporation that

occurs when water is limited.
Some definitions
• Saturation vapor pressure (es)is the vapor pressure at which a
liquid-vapor system is in a state of equilibrium. It increases
exponentially with temperature

• Actual vapor pressure (ed)is the amount of pressure the water vapor
in the air exerts on the surface it contacts
• Vapor pressure deficit (es-ed) is the difference between saturation
and actual vapor pressures.
• Relative humidity is the ratio of the amount of water present in the
air to the amount required for saturation of the air at the same dry
bump temperature and barometric pressure, expressed as a
percentage.
Saturation vapor pressure (es)
• vapor pressure of water is the partial pressure exerted by the
water molecules in their gaseous form.
• For example, if liquid water is introduced into a closed
container, water will evaporate from the surface until there is
a balance or equilibrium between the molecules leaving the
water and those re-entering the water.
• A pressure guage attached to the container will indicate an
increase in pressure. This increase is the vapor pressure of the
water
• Related to temperature
Evaporation
o Phase change of water from a liquid to a gas.
o Latent heat of vaporization is the energy needed by a molecule to
penetrate the water surface (540 cal/g of water evaporated at 100°C.
o Rate of evaporation is driven by the vapor pressure deficit. Function
of:
1. The ability of air to hold water based on air temperature and
relative humidity.
2. The energy in the water largely based on temperature.
o Net evaporation ceases when the air has reached the saturation
vapor pressure.
• For evaporation to continue, some mechanism is needed to
remove water vapor from the air above the evaporating
surface (wind).
Evaporation From Open Water
• Gives good estimation of PET rates.

• Affected by 4 (minor) factors:

1. Barometric pressure
2. Dissolved matter
3. Shape, site and situation of evaporating
body
4. Relative depth of evaporating body
Evaporation From Open Water
Evaporation From Open Water
• Based on measured evaporation from large and
small water surface areas, Rohwer (1931)
determined that the evaporation from the small
water surface areas can be multiplied by 0.77 to
estimate the evaporation from large water
surface areas. Equations 4.20 or 4.21 can be
used to calculate winds speeds for the desired
height from wind peed measured at other
heights.
Example Problem
• Compute the evaporation for the month of June from a
shallow pond if the surface water temperature is 15°C, the
average wind speed at 7.6 m height is 1.4 m/s, and the
average temperature and relative humidity at 7.6 m height are
22°C and 40%, respectively.
Evaporation from bare soil
o Similar to open water evaporation when soil is saturated.
o Divided into two stages.
• Stage 1: Soil is at or near saturation
• Evaporation is controlled by heat energy
• Approximately 90% of maximum PET
• Stage 2: Falling stage
• Surface starts to dry and evaporation occurs below the soil
surface.
• Controlled by soil properties rather than weather conditions.
Evaporation from Vegetative Surfaces
• Interception is the water retained on plant surfaces during and
after precipitation.

• 10 to 25% of annual precipitation is intercepted.

• Plant transpiration is reduced by the amount of intercepted

water to be evaporated.
Transpiration
 Transpiration is the loss of water in
the form of vapor from plants
 Factors that affect transpiration
rates
 Type of plant
 Wind
 Plant Available Water: the
portion of water in a soil that
can readily be absorbed by plant
roots. Amount of water released
between field capacity (amount
of water remaining in the soil
after gravitation flow has
stopped) and wilting point
(amount of water in the soil at
15 bars of suction).
Transpiration Ratio & consumptive use

• Transpiration ratio is the ratio of the weight of

water transpired to the dry weight of the plant.
• Measure of how efficiently crops use water.

• Consumptive Use is the amount of water needed

to grow a crop (ET requirement + water stored in
plant tissues).
Measuring Evaporation and ET
Evaporation Pans
PET Gages-acts as surrogates for plants
Soil Water Depletion
Lysimeters
Energy Balance and Mass transfer-measure
average gradient of water vapor above the
canopy.
Calculating Evapotranspiration

Where:
ET = evapotranspiration
ETo= potential ET or reference crop ET
Kc = crop coefficient
Calculating Evapotranspiration
Potential ET
- the maximum rate at which water, if available, can be
removed from soil and plant surfaces
- varies from day to day
Reference crop ET
- potential ET for a specific crop (usually either grass or alfalfa)
and set of surrounding conditions
- ET from surface of 8 to 15 cm tall, green grass of uniform
height, shaded, not short of water (Doorenbos and Pruitt,
1977)
- daily alfalfa ET, actively growing, 20 cm tall, well watered
(Wright, 1981)
Calculating Evapotranspiration
• Aerodynamic Method
• Energy Balance Method
• Combination Method
• Empirical Methods
Pan Evaporation
Oldest / simplest method to
measure evaporation
Measure water depths in a pan
U.S. Weather Bureau has standard
Class A pan
Cylindrical container made of galvanized
steel
10 inches deep and 48 inches in
diameter
Pan placed on a 6 inch wooden platform
Site should be flat and free of
obstructions
Water filled to 8 inches deep
Refill when water drops to 7 inches deep
Water level measurements made using
a hook gage
Measurements to 0.01 inch
Determining Pan factors
• Etr=kp Epan
• Lake evaporation
• Typically taken as 70%
of pan evaporation
• PET
• Pan evaporation times
a coefficient ranging
from 0.6 to > 1.0.
Pan Evaporation / Example Problem
 Given:
Set up below with a class A pan
Average wind speed = 4.3 km/hr to the east
Average relative humidity = 67%
Measured water change in pan on July 1 = 7.5 mm

200 m N
Class A Pan
200 m
Turfgrass (4 in.)
Pan Evaporation / Example Problem
• Required:
• Calculate the PET for July 1
• Solution:
• Fetch =
• Wind speed =
• Set up =
• Kp =
• PET = Kp x depth change =
• PET =
Problem No. 2
• Estimate the grass reference crop ETo if pan evaporation for
July 10 and 11 was 16 mm. The wind was 3 m/s, relative
humidity was 50%, and the pan has a 10 m grass fetch.
Calculating Evapotranspiration
Seasonal Variation of the crop coefficient, Kc (Doorenbos and
Pruitt)
Calculating Evapotranspiration
Average Interval of Units of ET
Irrigation or Rainfall mm/day In/day
(days)
a b a b

2 1.049 -0.119 0.714 -0.119

4 0.904 -0.216 0.450 -0.216
7 0.742 -0.319 0.264 -0.319
10 0.580 -0.408 0.155 -0.408
20 0.438 -0.455 0.101 -0.455

Equation above is used to determine kc for growth stage 1 for

annual crops
Calculating Evapotranspiration
From Table 1.4 (Principles of Farm Irrigation)
Kc Values Based on a Grass reference Crop
Min RH < 20% Days in Growth Stage
Growth
CROP Stage 0-5 5-8 1 2 3 4
m/s m/s
3 1.15 1.20
Wheat 20 25 60 30
4 0.20 0.20

Corn 3 1.15 1.20

25 40 45 30
4 0.60 0.60
Estimating ET using Crop Coefficient
Estimating ET using Crop Coefficient
Sample Problem
• Estimate ETc for cotton on June 20,2017, near
Taguibo, Butuan City. Assume the planting date
was April 1. Assume ETo is 8mm/day
Landscape Plant Coefficients
The water requirements of landscape plants are handled
differently from crop plants because maximum growth is not
usually desired.
The basic need is to supply sufficient water to maintain
appearance, health, and reasonable growth, thus the water
requirements are frequently lower than for agricultural crops
(Costello and Jones, 2000).
Other differences occur because landscape plantings are often
composed of more than one species that are irrigated as a unit
or zone.
The vegetative density may vary from single plants to groups of
plants to complete cover.
In addition, large trees in some landscape designs will have more
leaf area and use more water than a grouping of small plants
in the same surface area
Landscape Plant Coefficients
Landscape Plant Coefficients
1. Estimate the water required for one citrus tree in a bare area
in California. The tree is mature with a canopy diameter of 10
m, irrigated every third day, and ETo is 7mm/day.
Lysimeters
• Allow an area to be
isolated from the rest
of the field while
carefully measuring
the individual
components of the
water balance.
• Weighing
• Non-weighing-measure
drainage from the
bottom
Long Term Water Balances

Basic equation for a control volume:

 I - O = DS
 Inputs – Outputs = Change in Storage
 Control volumes in hydrology
 Pond, cultivated field, subdivision, watershed, river basin, etc.

 Example1: Control volume is a pond

 Inputs (I)
precipitation, runoff, water pumped in
 Outputs (O)
Discharges, seepage losses, evaporation
 Change in Storage (DS)
 Change in volume of water stored in pond
Long Term Water Balances

Example 2: Control volume is a vegetated plot

Inputs: precipitation, irrigation
Outputs: evapotranspiration (ET), infiltration, runoff
D S = change in volume of water stored in the soil profile

• 2 conditions exist for vegetated plots

1. If the soil profile is kept very wet ET is maximized.
2. If the soil profile dries naturally ET is limited by available water
in the soil profile
Theoretical Models for
Estimating
Evapotranspiration
Evapotranspiration is often predicted on
the basis of Climatological data.

Relate the magnitude and variation of ET

to one or more climatic factors such as
temperature, day length, humidity, wind,
sunshine, etc.
 Broadly these approaches fall in two
classes:
(1)purely empirical attempts to correlate ET with one or more
climatic factors
(2) the application of a more theoretical approach.
If no measured data on pan evaporation are available locally,
a theoretical method to calculate the reference crop
evapotranspiration ETo has to be used.
•Blaney-Criddle Method
•Penman-Monteith Method
•Hargreaves Method
Blaney-Criddle
Method
 Blaney and Criddle (1950) observed that the
amount of water consumptively used by crops
during their growing seasons was closely related
with mean monthly temperature and daylight
hours.
 k  t p
U = K.F =  k. f = u = 100
In which,
U=seasonal consumptive use of water by the crop for a
given period, inches
u=monthly consumptive use, inches
K=empirical seasonal consumptive use crop coefficient for
the growing season
F=sum of the monthly consumptive use factor(f) for the
growing season
K=empirical consumptive use crop coefficient for the
month=u/f
t=mean monthly temperature, F
p=monthly daylight hours expressed as percentage of day
light hours of the year
Doorenbas and Pruitt (1975) have rejected the
use of crop coefficient(K)normally applied in
the original Blaney Criddle approach, because
The Blaney-Criddle method is simple, using
measured data on temperature only (Fig. 11).
It should be noted, however, that this method is
not very accurate; it provides a rough estimate or
"order of magnitude" only.
Under "extreme" climatic conditions the Blaney-
Criddle method is inaccurate: in windy, dry, sunny
areas, the ETo is underestimated (up to some 60
percent), while in calm, humid, clouded areas, the
ETo is overestimated (up to some 40 percent).
the following relationship for ‘f’
factor (expressed in mm/day) in
Blaney-Criddle formula
ETo = p (0.46 T mean + 8), using t in C.
p  t
or ETo = 25 . 4  , using t in F.
100
The use of the Blaney-Criddle formula
Step 1
Step 1:
Determination of the mean daily temperature:
Tmean

• The Blaney-Criddle method always refers to

mean monthly values, both for the temperature and
the ETo. If, for example, it is found that T mean in
March is 28°C, it means that during the whole month
of March the mean daily temperature is 28°C.
• If in a local meteorological station, the daily
minimum and maximum temperatures are measured
Step 2
Step 2:
Determination of the mean daily percentage of
annual daytime hours: p
• To determine the value of p. Table 4 is used. To be
able to determine the p value it is essential to know
the approximate latitude of the area: the number of
degrees north or south of the equator.
• Suppose the p value for the month March has to be
determined for an area with a latitude of 45° South.
From Table 4 it can be seen that the p value during
March = 0.28.
Table 4 MEAN DAILY PERCENTAGE (p) OF ANNUAL
DAYTIME HOURS FOR DIFFERENT LATITUDES

Step 3
Step 3:
Calculate ETo, using the formula:
ETo = p (0.46 T mean + 8)
 For example, when p = 0.29 and T mean = 21.5°C the ETo is
calculated as follows:

ETo = 0.29 (0.46 × 21.5 + 8) = 0.29 (9.89 + 8)

= 0.29 × 17.89 = 5.2 mm/day

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PENMAN-MONTEITH
In 1948, Penman combined the energy balance
with the mass transfer method and derived an
equation to compute the evaporation from an
open water surface from standard climatological
records of sunshine, temperature, humidity and
wind speed.
 This so-called combination method was further
developed by many researchers and extended to
cropped surfaces by introducing resistance
factors.
• The Penman-Monteith form of the combination equation is:
Where: D represents the slope
Rn is the net radiation,
of the saturation
G is the soil heat flux, vapour pressure
(es - ea) represents the temperature
vapour pressure deficit relationship,
of the air, g is the psychrometric
r a is the mean air constant, and
density at constant rs and ra are the (bulk)
pressure, surface and
cp is the specific heat of aerodynamic
the air resistances.
A consultation of experts and researchers was organized by
FAO in May 1990, in collaboration with the International
Commission for Irrigation and Drainage and with the World
Meteorological Organization, to review the FAO
methodologies on crop water requirements and to advise on
the revision and update of procedures.
The panel of experts recommended the adoption of
the Penman-Monteith combination method as a new
standard for reference evapotranspiration.
By defining the reference crop as a hypothetical crop
with an assumed height of 0.12 m having a surface
resistance of 70 s m-1 and an albedo of 0.23, closely
resembling the evaporation of an extension surface of
green grass of uniform height, actively growing and
adequately watered.
The method overcomes shortcomings of the previous
FAO Penman method and provides values more
consistent with actual crop water use data worldwide.
From the original Penman-Monteith equation the FAO
Penman-Monteith method to estimate ETo can be
derived:
Where:
ETo reference evapotranspiration [mm day-1],
Rn net radiation at the crop surface [MJ m-2 day-1],
G soil heat flux density [MJ m-2 day-1],
T mean daily air temperature at 2 m height [°C],
u2 wind speed at 2 m height [m s-1],
es saturation vapour pressure [kPa],
ea actual vapour pressure [kPa],
es - ea saturation vapour pressure deficit [kPa],
D slope vapour pressure curve [kPa °C-1],
g psychrometric constant [kPa °C-1].
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HARGREAVES EQUATION
• Among the ET models evaluated, the Hargreaves model is the
simplest one for practical use, since it requires only two easily
accessible parameters, temperature and solar energy.
• The Hargreaves model is expressed as follows:
ETo= 0.0135 (T + 17.78) RS
where
ET = potential daily evapotranspiration, mm/day;
T = mean temperature, °C;
RS = incident solar radiation converted to depth of water, mm/day.
There are two common units for solar
radiation:
1. Megajoule per square meter (MJ/m2)
2. Langley
One Langley is equivalent to one calorie per square
centimeter. When the solar energy is express as
Langleys
ETo= 0.0135 (T + 17.78) RS {10/(595.5-0.55T)}
where Rs becomes the incident solar radiation expressed as
Langleys/day
Penman-Monteith
Assignment:
1. Compute the grass reference crop ETo for June 20, 2002,
near Ampayon, Butuan City , 8°Latitude, 125°Longitude,
using the Standardized Penman-Monteith equation and
these values:
maximum temperature = 38°C
minimum temperature = 22°C
maximum relative humidity = 75%
minimum relative humidity = 35%
wind speed at 2 m = 1.5 m/s
measured solar radiation = 50 MJ m-2 day-1
elevation = 1600 m assume G = 0.0