Hydrology

for the Master Programme in

Water Science and Engineering

3 Evaporation
Dr. Pieter J.M. de Laat
Associate Professor in Land and Water Development
UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education
E-mail: p.delaat@unesco-ihe.org
 Lecture notes:
• De Laat, P.J.M. and H.H.G. Savenije, 2008. Hydrology, Lecture note
LN0262/08/1, UNESCO-IHE, Delft
• De Laat, P.J.M., 2008. Workshop on Hydrology, Lecture note LN0192/08/1,
UNESCO-IHE, Delft

Recommended text books

• Brutsaert, W., 2005. Hydrology: an introduction. Cambridge
• McCuen, R.H., 1998. Hydrologic analysis and design. Prentice Hall, 814 p.
• Shaw, E.M., 1994. Hydrology in practice. Van Nostrand Reinhold, 569 p.
• Shaw, E.M., 1989. Engineering hydrology techniques in practice. Ellis
Horwood, 350 p.
• Ward, R.C. and M. Robinson, 1990. Principles of Hydrology, McGraw-Hill,
365 p.
• Wilson, E.M., 1990. Engineering Hydrology. Mc Millan, 309 p.

Acknowledgement
Some material of this ppt originates from Prof. Stefan Uhlenbrook
Contents of this Lecture

• Factors affecting evaporation

• Radiation balance
• Methods for estimating evaporation
• Evaporation measurement
 Symbols and terminology
Evaporation
E0 open water evaporation
Es evaporation from soil
Ewet evaporation of a wet crop (intercepted water)

Transpiration
Et transpiration of living plants

Evapotranspiration
Epot potential evapotranspiration
Eact actual evapotranspiration
 Example of annual rainfall and evaporation data for three different climates

Tropical Arid Temperature

Annual amounts in mm humid Iraq humid
Singapore Netherlands
Precipitation P 2500 150 750
Open water
evaporation E0 1500 2250 650

Potential
evapotranspiration Epot 1400 1800 525

Actual
evapotranspiration Eact 1200 100 450
 Factors affecting evapo(transpi)ration

A Evaporation Surface
• Reflection coefficient
• Roughness of the surface
• Heat storage capacity
and for a cropped surface also
• Soil cover
• Crop resistance

B Atmospheric conditions
• Temperature
• Wind velocity
• Relative humidity
• Solar radiation
Contents of this Lecture

• Factors affecting evaporation

• Radiation balance
• Methods for estimating evaporation
• Evaporation measurement
Radiation balance (simplified)

Net radiation RN :
(neglecting storage of heat below the surface)

R N = (1 − r ) R s − R nL
 RA short wave radiation
Radiation energy received from the sun at the outer
limits of the atmosphere (wave length: 0.3 – 3 μm)
RA is read from tables for given latitude and time of
the year.
RA in Joule/second/square metre (= W.m-2)

RA may also be expressed as equivalent evaporation

(mm/d):
RA J .d −1 .m −2 kg mm
= −1
= 2
≈
L J .kg d .m d

L latent heat of vaporization (2.45x106 J/kg)

 RS short wave radiation
Radiation energy received from the sun at the
surface of the earth. Depends on local atmospheric
conditions and cloudiness n/N.

n actual hours of sunshine

=
N possible hours of sunshine

Examples of empirical relations for RS:

The Netherlands RS = (0.20 + 0.60 n/N)RA
New Delhi RS = (0.31 + 0.60 n/N)RA
Singapore RS = (0.21 + 0.48 n/N)RA
General RS = (0.25 + 0.50 n/N)RA
 rRS reflected short wave radiation

Part of the short wave radiation RS that is reflected.

r = reflection coefficient or albedo

Some examples of albedo:

Free water surface 0.06
Grass 0.22 – 0.25
Bare soil 0.10 – 0.30
Fresh snow 0.90
 RnL long wave radiation

Long wave radiation (wave length 3 – 50 μm) is

emitted by every object with a temperature above
absolute zero.
Empirical formula for estimating NET outgoing long
wave radiation:
(273 + Tmin )4 + (273 + Tmax )4
R nL = σ (0.34 - 0.139 ed ) (0.1 + 0.9 n/N )
2

Tmin minimum temperature at 2 m in oC

Tmax maximum temperature at 2 m in oC
ed actual vapour pressure at 2 m in kPa
RnL net long wave radiation in J.d-1.m-2
 RN net radiation

Net amount of radiation remaining at the earth

surface is

R N = (1 − r ) R s − R nL
RN is measured with radiometers
or
estimated from the following data
•Temperature of the air
•Humidity
•Sunshine duration
Contents of this Lecture

• Factors affecting evaporation

• Radiation balance
• Methods for estimating evaporation
• Evaporation measurement
Open water evaporation: equation of Penman
C sRN + c p ρ a (e s − ed ) / ra
Eo =
L s+γ

Eo open water evaporation in mm/d

C Conversion constant
RN net radiation at the earth surface in W/m2
L latent heat of vaporization (L = 2.45*106 J/kg)
s slope of the temperature-saturation vapour pressure curve (kPa/K)
es saturation vapour pressure deficit (kPa)
ed actual vapour pressure deficit (kPa)
γ psychrometric constant (γ = 0.067 kPa/K)
cp specific heat of air (cp = 1004 J/kg/K)
ρa air density (ρa = 1.2047 kg/m3 at sea level)
ra aerodynamic resistance (s/m), which is function of windspeed U2
245
ra =
0.54 U 2 + 0.5
Relation between saturation vapour pressure and temp of the air
(Moisture content of the air in general < 4 %)

ed: dewpoint vapour pressure

es: saturation vapour pressure
es – ed = Saturation vapour
pressure deficit

Relative Humidity %:

ed
RH = 100
es
Open water evaporation: equation of Penman

C sRN + c p ρ a (e s − ed ) / ra
Eo =
L s+γ

Required meteorological data (24 hour means at 2 m height)

Ta temperature of the air
RH relative humidity or actual vapour pressure
U2 windspeed
n/N relative sunshine duration or radiation
Evapotranspiration ET
Penman - Monteith equation
C sRN + c p ρ a (e s − ed ) / ra
ET =
L s + γ (1 + rc ra )

ra aerodynamic resistance (s/m)

rc crop resistance (s/m)
For a soil amply supplied with water rc reaches a minimum value
and Eact = Epot
208
Example aerodynamic resistance of grass: ra =
U2
Minimum value crop resistance grass
(crop well supplied with water)
rc = 70 s.m-1
Contents of this Lecture

• Factors affecting evaporation

• Radiation balance
• Methods for estimating evaporation
• Evaporation measurement
Evaporation measurement
Piche evaporimeter
• atmometers
• evaporation pans
• water balance
• soil water budget method (lysimeter)
• remote sensing
Class A pan
Some final remarks
1. The most important parameter for evaporation is energy
2. Evapotranspiration of a partly vegetated area consists of
transpiration and evaporation of soil and intercepted water
3. The Penman (Penman-Monteith) method is most accurate
and universally applicable because it is physically based
4. Instruments to measure actual evapotranspiration from a
catchment are not (yet) available on a routine basis
5. Quality of meteorological data (height of observation, units,
etc.) and pan evaporation data should be carefully checked