The potential and actual evapotranspiration of water-rich ecosystems in arid regions

Abstract

The well-known and widely accepted Penman combination equation was applied to climatic data collected in a desert environment to predict actual evapotranspiration if the desert region were developed into irrigated agriculture. The Penman evaporation estimates from desert climate data were compared to Bowen ratio ET measurements collected on irrigated alfalfa fields in the general vicinity. Six variations of the wind function in Penman's equation were tested. From these six the best fit-model was determined. surprisingly, Penman's original equation provided the best fit (in mean hourly units W m⁻²) as PLE₁ = 0.953LE + 43. The s.e. was 51 W⁻², r² = 0.953, and n = 298 hourly points. A calibrated wind function was developed and named 'Sonoran'. The Sonoran wind function PLE₆ = 0.954LE + 24, s.e. = 48.8 r² = 0.956 provided virtually imperceptible improvements over Penman's original wind function.