Methods for Estimating

Evaporation from Open Water

Estimation of Open Water
Evaporation

Estimates of evaporation from open water are

increasingly required for several Environment Agency
functions, particularly Water Resources and Ecology.
These estimates are used mainly for water balance studies
to support appraisals of applications for abstraction
licenses, in wetlands and still waters management.
Current methods of estimating open water evaporation
vary between and, in some cases, within Regions; there is
no generally adopted best method.
 METHODS OF ESTIMATING
EVAPORATION IN AN OPEN WATER
1. PAN EVAPORATION -The use of pans of water for measuring
evaporation dates back to the 18th century. It is easy to understand
their intuitive appeal as they measure open water evaporation in a
visible way. However, despite numerous studies, it is very difficult to
use data from pans except in specific circumstances.
2. MASS BALANCE -The mass balance method of measuring open
water evaporation is simple in principle.
𝑸𝒓𝒊+𝑸𝒈𝒊 − 𝑸𝒓𝒐+𝑸𝒈𝒐 −𝒅𝑽/𝒅𝒕
E=P+
𝑨𝒔

where E is the evaporation rate from the water body, P is the mean
rate of precipitation over the sampling period, Qri is the surface
inflow rate, Qro is the surface outflow rate, Qgi is the groundwater
and seepage inflow rate, Qgo is the groundwater and seepage
outflow rate, V is the water stored and As is the surface area.
3. ENERGY BUDGET MODELS -In this method, as its name implies,
evaporation from a water body is estimated as the energy
component required to close the energy budget when all the
remaining components of the budget of the water body are known,
i.e. it is the residual.
N = S(1−αs ) + L↓ (1 −α L) − L↑ − λE − c(Ts − Tb )E − H + Fin − Fout + Fp – G
where N is the change in the energy storage in the water, S and L↓ are the
incident short and long-wave radiation respectively, and αS and αL are the
albedos (reflectivity’s) for short and long-wave radiation, L↑ is the long-wave
radioactive loss from the water, λE is the flux of latent heat (evaporation
rate in energy flux units; λ is the latent heat of vaporization and E is the
evaporation rate in mass units), c is the specific heat of water, Ts and Tb are
the temperature of the evaporated water and an arbitrary base temperature
respectively, H is the flux of sensible heat (the energy used in warming the
atmosphere in contact with the water which is then converted upwards), Fin
and Fout are the heat fluxes associated with water flows in and out of the
water body, FP is the heat inflow associated with precipitation, and G is the
heat conduction occurring between the water and its substrate. All the
energy components are in units of energy per unit surface area of the water.
4. BULK OR MASS TRANSFER METHOD -A simple derivation of the bulk
transfer equation is given by Sene et al., (1991). It has the form:
E=Cu(e*s-e)
where C is the mass transfer coefficient, u is the wind speed and e*s and e
are the saturated vapor pressure of the air at the water surface
temperature and the vapor pressure of the air at the reference height.
5. COMBINATION EQUATIONS (THE PENMAN and PRIESTLEY-EQUATIONS)
-In the last fifty years the most widely used formula to estimate
evaporation from water, or vegetation, has been the Penman equation
(Penman, 1948). Its success when applied in many different locations is
attributable to its physical basis.
Penman combined the mass transfer and energy budget approaches and
eliminated the requirement for surface temperature to obtain his
expression for the evaporation in mm per day from open water:
∆𝐑𝐧 𝒚𝒇(𝒖)(𝒆∗𝒂−𝒆)
E= +
∆+𝐲 ∆+𝐲

where Rn' is the net radiation in units of equivalent depth of water (mm
day-1), ∆ is the slope of the saturated vapor pressure-temperature curve
and γ is the psychometric coefficient (or cp/λ).
6. EQUILIBRIUM TEMPERATURE METHOD -Useful models have been
derived from a more detailed consideration of the heat transfer processes
occurring at the surface of a water body. These require the same driving
data as the combination equations except the water heat storage which is
calculated within the models.
7. EMPIRICAL FACTORS -In operational estimates of evaporation, empirical
factors to convert evaporation rates measured or estimated for one type of
land surface (the reference evaporation) to those of another have been
used for some time.
Penman (1948) gives factors to convert evaporation rates from “turf with a plentiful
water supply” to an open water surface exposed to the same weather conditions as:
Midwinter (November – February) 1.67
Spring and autumn (March – April, September – October) 1.43
Midsummer (May-August) 1.25
The modification involved changing the wind function. The factors given for open
water evaporation are:
Humid environment – light to moderate wind 1.1
Humid environment – strong wind 1.15
Dry environment – light to moderate wind 1.15
Dry environment –strong wind 1.2