Abstract
Accurate estimation of reference evapotranspiration (ETo) is a challenging task in windy regions with sparse data recording. This study aimed to assess the accuracy of daily and monthly ETo estimated by Penman–Monteith FAO-56 (PM) fed with ERA5-Land reanalysis (PMERA5-Land), temperature-based PM using the default 2 m wind speed (u2) of 2 m s−1 (PMT2), local u2 (PMTua), seasonal u2 (PMTus) and monthly u2 average (PMTum), Hargreaves-Samani (HS), and recalibrated PMT (RPMT) and HS (RHS) against PM in 31 water-limited windy sites. The most accurate ETo estimates were produced by RPMT and RHS for the majority of cases. The HS, PMT2, and PMTua failed to provide reliable ETo estimates (i.e., normalized root mean square error (nRMSE) of < 30%) in most locations on daily step. The HS, PMT2, and PMTua performed weak in the regions with a large u2 variation. The PMERA5-Land-, PMTua-, and PMTum-estimated ETo had a nRMSE < 30% for 87% of cases on monthly scale, and for more than half of the areas on daily step, respectively. Overall, PMERA5-Land seems the best suited when complete required data set for calibration are missing. Except for PMERA5-Land, the alternative models gave ETo estimates with significantly (p < 0.05) larger nRMSE in the locations with a large u2 variance. This implies that u2 variation should also be considered for ETo simulation in windy environments. These results can expand our understanding on crop water demand estimation and drought monitoring in data-limited windy areas.
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Data availability
The observed metrological data were retrieved from https://data.irimo.ir/login/login.aspx. The ERA5-Land reanalyses can be downloaded from https://cds.climate.copernicus.eu/.
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References
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank three anonymous reviewers for their constructive and helpful comments. The first author is also deeply indebted to Iran Meteorological Organization (IRIMO) and its experts for providing required data and invaluable advice.
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This work was financed by grants from the Iran Soil and Water Research Institute as the project number 1400/11530/243.
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Milad Nouri conceptualized the methodology framework, validated the results, and was a major contributor in writing the manuscript. Niaz Ali Ebrahimipak provided the required resources, and edited and proofread the main text. Seyedeh Narges Hosseini analyzed and visualized the data, and contributed in writing the manuscript.
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Nouri, M., Ebrahimipak, N.A. & Hosseini, S.N. Estimating reference evapotranspiration for water-limited windy areas under data scarcity. Theor Appl Climatol 150, 593–611 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-022-04182-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-022-04182-6