HYDROLOGICAL

LOSSES
Evapotranspiration
• Evapotranspiration is one of the most difficult components of
the hydrologic cycle to estimate. Thornthwaite and Mather
(1955) developed a detailed method to estimate
evapotranspiration

• Although this method for computing potential and actual

evapotranspiration is highly accepted and widely used, it is
unfeasible to perform these calculations with large data sets.
Potential evapotranspiration (PET)

• Thornthwaite and Mather’s (1955) method of estimating PET

is based solely on air temperature.

• PET estimates are based upon a 12-hour day (amount of

daylight) and a 30-day monthly.
Thornthwaite’s Method
• Steps of Computation

1. Begin by computing the monthly heat index:

𝑇𝑖 1.514
𝐼= 5

I = Monthly heat index

Ti = Mean temperature of the month
2. Sum the 12 monthly heat index into an annual heat index (I):

𝑇𝑖 1.514
12
𝐼= 𝑖=1 5

I = Monthly heat index

i = Month ( 1 = January . . . 12 = December )
Ti = Mean temperature for month i
3. Compute monthly potential ET:

10𝑇𝑖 𝑎
𝑬𝒕𝒑 = 16
𝐼

Where
𝑬𝒕𝒑 = is the potential evapotranspiration in mm / month
Ti = is the mean monthly temperature in °C
I = is the annual heat index
a = is an empirical parameter which defends on I.
Sample Problem:
Compute the monthly potential ET for June 2013 in
Cagayan De Oro , using Thornthwaite’s method. The
average temperature for the month of June 2013 in
Cagayan De Oro was 17.9 °C. The mean monthly
temperature data in °C for all the months of the year
2013 are as follow:

January 2.7 July 21.3

February 0.1 August 18.7
March 2.0 September 16.4
April 8.0 October 9.4
May 14.1 November 4.7
June 17.9 December 0.2
 𝟏𝟎𝑻𝒊 𝒂
• Solution: 𝑬𝒕𝒑 = 16
𝑱
𝐸𝑡𝑝 = is the monthly potential ET (mm)
Ti = is the mean monthly temperature (°C).

1. Determine heat index using

1.514
12 𝑇𝑖
𝐼= 𝐼=1 5 or I = 39.9

2. Determine “a” using equation

a = 0.675x10−6 𝐼 3 – 0.771x10−4 𝐼 2 + 0.01792 𝐼 + 0.49239
Or a = 1.13

3. Substituting the values of “a” and “I” in the Thornthwaites equation,

𝑬𝒕𝒑 = 91.78 mm/month

THANK YOU

Reference
https://www.glerl.noaa.gov/pubs/tech_reports/glerl-101/tm-
101.pdf
https://www.coursehero.com/file/52252547/4-
Evapotranspiration-part-4pdf/