Abstract
Evapotranspiration determined using the energy-budget method at a semi-permanent prairie-pothole wetland in east-central North Dakota, USA was compared with 12 other commonly used methods. The Priestley-Taylor and deBruin-Keijman methods compared best with the energy-budget values; mean differences were less than 0.1 mm d−1, and standard deviations were less than 0.3 mm d−1. Both methods require measurement of air temperature, net radiation, and heat storage in the wetland water. The Penman, Jensen-Haise, and Brutsaert-Stricker methods provided the next-best values for evapotranspiration relative to the energy-budget method. The mass-transfer, deBruin, and Stephens-Stewart methods provided the worst comparisons; the mass-transfer and deBruin comparisons with energy-budget values indicated a large standard deviation, and the deBruin and Stephens-Stewart comparisons indicated a large bias. The Jensen-Haise method proved to be cost effective, providing relatively accurate comparisons with the energy-budget method (mean difference=0.44 mm d−1, standard deviation=0.42 mm d−1) and requiring only measurements of air temperature and solar radiation. The Mather (Thornthwaite) method is the simplest, requiring only measurement of air temperature, and it provided values that compared relatively well with energy-budget values (mean difference=0.47 mm d−1, standard deviation=0.56 mm d−1). Modifications were made to several of the methods to make them more suitable for use in prairie wetlands. The modified Makkink, Jensen-Haise, and Stephens-Stewart methods all provided results that were nearly as close to energy-budget values as were the Priestley-Taylor and deBruin-Keijman methods, and all three of these modified methods only require measurements of air temperature and solar radiation. The modified Hamon method provided values that were within 20 percent of energy-budget values during 95 percent of the comparison periods, and it only requires measurement of air temperature. The mass-transfer coefficient, associated with the commonly used mass-transfer method, varied seasonally, with the largest values occurring during summer.
Similar content being viewed by others
Literature Cited
Allred, E. R., P. W. Manson, G. M. Schwartz, P. Golany, and J. W. Reinke. 1971. Continuation of studies on the hydrology of ponds and small lakes. University of Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station Technical Bulletin 274.
Burba, G. G., S. B. Verma, and J. Kim. 1999. A comparative study of surface energy fluxes of three communities (Phragmites australis, Scirpus acutus, and open water) in a prairie wetland ecosystem. Wetlands 19:451–457.
Brutsaert, W. H. 1982. Evaporation into the Atmosphere: Theory, History, and Applications. D. Reidel Publishing Co., Dordrecht, The Netherlands.
Brutsaert, W. H. and H. Stricker. 1979. An advection-aridity approach to estimate actual regional evapotranspiration. Water Resources Research 15:443–450.
Campbell, G. S. 1977. An Introduction to Environmental Biophysics. Springer-Verlag, New York, NY, USA.
DeBruin, H. A. R. 1978. A simple model for shallow lake evaporation. Journal of Applied Meteorology 17:1132–1134.
DeBruin, H. A. R. and J. Q. Keijman. 1979. The Priestley-Taylor evaporation model applied to a large, shallow lake in the Netherlands. Journal of Applied Meteorology 18:898–903.
Eisenlohr, W. S., Jr. 1966. Water loss from a natural pond through transpiration by hydrophytes. Water Resources Research 2:443–453.
Eisenlohr, W. S., Jr. 1972. Hydrologic investigations of prairie potholes in North Dakota, 1959–1968. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 585-A.
Ficke, J. F. 1972. Comparison of evaporation computation equations, Pretty Lake, LaGrange County, northeastern Indiana. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 686-A.
Fritschen, L. J. and L. W. Gay. 1979. Environmental Instrumentation. Springer-Verlag, New York, NY, USA.
Gunaji, N. N. 1968. Evaporation investigations at Elephant Butte Reservoir in New Mexico. International Association of Scientific Hydrology, Publication no. 78:308–325.
Hamon, W. R. 1961. Estimating potential evapotranspiration. Proceedings of American Society of Civil Engineers 87:107–120.
Harbeck, G. E. Jr., M. A. Kohler, and G. E. Koberg. 1958. Waterloss investigations: Lake Mead studies. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 298.
Hayashi, M., G. van der Kamp, and D. L. Rudolph. 1998. Water and solute transfer between a prairie wetland and adjacent uplands, 1. water balance. Journal of Hydrology 207:42–55.
Langbein, W. B., C. H. Hains, and R. C. Culler. 1951. Hydrology of stock-water reservoirs in Arizona. U.S. Geological Survey Circular C110.
List, R. J. 1966. Smithsonian Meteorological Tables. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA.
Lott, R. B. and R. J. Hunt. 2001. Estimating evapotraspiration in natural and constructed wetlands. Wetlands 21:614–628.
Mather, J. R. 1978. The Climatic Water Budget in Environmental Analysis. Lexington Books, D.C. Heath and Co., Lexington, MA, USA.
McGuinness, J. L. and E. F. Bordne. 1972. A comparison of lysimeter-derived potential evapotranspiration with computed values. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service Techmical Bulletin 1452.
Meyboom, P. 1967. Mass-transfer studies to determine the ground-water regime of permanent lakes in hummocky moraine of western Canada. Journal of Hydrology 5:117–142.
Mitsch, W. J. and J. G. Gosselink. 2000. Wetlands, third edition. John Wiley & Sons, New York, NY, USA.
Parkhurst, R. S., T. C. Winter, D. O. Rosenberry, and A. M. Sturrock. 1998. Evaporation from a small prairie wetland in the Cottonwood Lake area, North Dakota —an energy-budget study. Wetlands 18:272–287.
Penman, H. L. 1948. Natural evaporation from open water, bare soil, and grass. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London A 193: 120–146.
Penman, H. L. 1956. Evaporation: an introductory survey. Netherland Journal of Agricultural Science 4:9–29.
Poiani, K. A. 1990. Response of a semi-permanent prairie wetland to climate change: a spatial simulation model. Ph.D. Dissertation. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA, USA.
Poiani, K. A. and W. C. Johnson. 1993. Potential effects of climate change on a semi-permanent prairie wetland. Climatic Change 24: 213–232.
Priestley, C. H. M. and R. J. Taylor. 1972. On the assessment of surface heat flux and evaporation using large-scale parameters. Monthly Weather Review 100:81–92.
Rosenberry, D. O., A. M. Sturrock, and T. C. Winter. 1993. Evaluation of the energy budget method of determining evaporation at Williams Lake, Minnesota, using alternative instrumentation and study approaches. Water Resources Research 29:2473–2483.
Stannard, D. I., D. O. Rosenberry, T. C. Winter, and R. S. Parkhurst. 2004. Estimates of fetch-induced errors in Bowen-ratio energy-budget measurements of evapotranspiration from a prairie wetland, Cottonwood Lake area, North Dakota, USA. Wetlands, 24: 498–513.
Stewart, R. B. and W. R. Rouse. 1976. A simple equation for determining the evaporation from shallow lakes and ponds. Water Resources Research 12:623–628.
Sturrock, A. M., T. C. Winter, and D. O. Rosenberry. 1992. Energy budget evaporation from Williams Lake: a closed lake in north central Minnesota. Water Resources Research 28:1605–1617.
Sweers, H. E. 1976. A nomogram to estimate the heat-exchange coefficient at the air-water interface as a function of wind speed and temperature; a critical survey of some literature. Journal of Hydrology 30:375–401.
Thornthwaite, C. W. 1948. An approach toward a rational classification of climate. Geographical Review 38:55–94.
Winter, T. C. and D. O. Rosenberry. 1997. Physiographic and geological characteristics of the Shingobee River headwaters area. p. 11–17. In T. C. Winter (ed.) Hydrological and Biogeochemical Research in the Shingobee River Headwaters Area, North-Central Minnesota. U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 96-4215.
Winter, T. C. and D. O. Rosenberry. 1998. Hydrology of prairie pothole wetlands during drought and deluge: a 17-year study of the Cottonwood Lake wetland complex in North Dakota in the perspective of longer term measured and proxy hydrological records. Climatic Change 40:189–209.
Winter, T. C., D. O. Rosenberry, and A. M. Sturrock. 1995. Evaluation of 11 equations for determining evaporation for a small lake in the north central United States. Water Resources Research 31:983–993.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rosenberry, D.O., Stannard, D.I., Winter, T.C. et al. Comparison of 13 equations for determining evapotranspiration from a prairie wetland, Cottonwood Lake Area, North Dakota, USA. Wetlands 24, 483–497 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1672/0277-5212(2004)024[0483:COEFDE]2.0.CO;2
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1672/0277-5212(2004)024[0483:COEFDE]2.0.CO;2