Chapter Three

Evaporation and
Evapotranspiration
Evaporation is the process in which water changed from
liquid state in to vapour through
the transfer of heat energy.
The process of evaporation of water is one of the basic
components of the hydrologic cycle and consists that
phase in which precipitation reaching earth's surface is
returned to the atmosphere in the form of vapour.
  Evapotranspiration
 Transpiration is the process by which water is lost to atmosphere as water vapour
from the body of plants. As much as 99% of the total water received by a plant
through its roots is lost to the atmosphere by this process.
 If sufficient moisture is always available to completely meet the needs of
vegetation on fully covering the area the resulting evapotranspiration is called
potential evapotranspiration(PET).
 The real evapotranspiration occurring in a specific situation is called actual
evapotranspiration(AET).
 The water holding capacity of soil against gravity is termed as field capacity
(FC) beyond which any drop of water will percolate down to join ground water
table.
 Permanent wilting point(WP) is the moisture content of a soil at which the
moisture is no longer available in sufficient quantity to sustain the plants.
 The available water, which is the difference between FC and WP, should always
be present in the soil for plants to grow.