An evaluation of common evapotranspiration equations

Abstract

A comparison is made between the Pruitt and Doorenbos version of an hourly Penman-type equation, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) hourly Penman-Monteith equation, and an independent measure of reference evapotranspiration (ET₀) from lysimeter data. Reducing the canopy resistance improved the hourly FAO Penman-Monteith estimates. Daytime soil heat flux density is estimated as 10% of net radiation in the FAO hourly Penman-Monteith equation; however, the measured soil heat flux density under grass that was never shorter than 0.10 m in this study was between 3% and 5% of net radiation. The daytime totals of hourly ET₀ from the hourly Penman-Monteith and Pruitt-Doorenbos equations and ET₀ from the 24-h FAO Penman-Monteith equation were computed using data from five Italian and five Californian stations. A comparison showed that all of the equations gave acceptable results. The Pruitt-Doorenbos equation may slightly over-estimate ET₀ in conditions of summertime cold air advection.