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Estimating Evaporation from Lakes and Reservoirs under Limited Data Condition in a Semi-Arid Region

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Abstract

The Bowen ration energy balance (BREB) is considered as a standard method for estimating lake evaporation. The BREB method however requires numerous input data which may not be readily available especially in develo** countries. This limitation could be solved by using methods with fewer data requirements. Evaporation from lakes and reservoirs in Iran is commonly estimated using pan evaporation because there have not been a consensus on which methods are most applicable under the limited data condition and arid climate. Therefore, the objective of this research was to determine the most appropriate evaporation methods over Doosti dam reservoir in Iran. Eighteen existing methods were tested and ranked based on the BREB method. The Jensen-Haise, Makkink, Penman and deBruin methods were among the most consistent methods with BREB in which the RMSD values were obtained 1.2, 1.34, 1.62 and 1.65 mm d−1, respectively. Finally, we concluded that methods which rely only on air temperature, or air temperature combined with sunshine data (e.g., Jensen-Haise and Makkink), were relatively cost-effective options for estimating evaporation at the study area due to their simplicity, least sensitivity and high accuracy.

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Abbreviations

E :

the evaporation rate (mm d−1)

R n :

the net radiation (W m−2)

N :

the change in the energy storage in the water (W m−2)

λ :

the latent heat of vaporization

c :

the specific heat of water (J kg−1)

F in and F out :

the heat fluxes from water flows in and out of the water body (W m−2)

F P :

the heat inflow from precipitation (W m−2)

G :

the heat conducted from the lake to the sediments (W m−2)

β :

Bowen ratio (dimensionless)

P :

the atmospheric pressure (kPa)

c B :

the specific heat of air at constant pressure (0.61 °C−1)

T a :

the air temperature (°C) (°F for the Blaney–Criddle Jensen–Haise and Stephens–Stewart equations)

T w :

the water surface temperature (°C)

e s :

the saturation vapor pressure at the water surface temperature (Pa)

e a :

the atmospheric vapor pressure (Pa)

e a * :

the saturated vapor pressure at temperature of the air (mb)

∆ :

the slope of the saturated vapor pressure-temperature curve (Pa °C−1)

γ :

the psychometric coefficient (Pa °C−1)

u :

the wind speed (m s−1)

α :

Priestley–Taylor empirically derived constant (dimensionless)

R s :

the incoming solar radiation (W m−2)

C :

the mass-transfer coefficient (dimensionless)

A s :

the area of the water body (hec)

D :

the hours of daylight

D TA :

the total annual hours of daylight

SVD :

the saturated vapor density at mean air temperature (g m−3)

e ∗ a,max :

the saturated vapor pressures at maximum air temperature (Pa)

e ∗ a,min :

the saturated vapor pressures at minimum air temperature (Pa)

E BREB :

the estimated evaporation values using BREB method (mm d−1)

E eq :

the estimated evaporation values obtained by any methods (mm d−1)

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the support from the Khorasan Razavi Regional Water Authority. Also the authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their precious and insightful comments and suggestions that greatly improved the quality of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Water Engineering Department, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

    M. Majidi, A. Alizadeh & A. Farid

  2. Water Engineering Department, University of Guilan, Guilan, Iran

    M. Vazifedoust

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  1. M. Majidi
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Majidi, M., Alizadeh, A., Farid, A. et al. Estimating Evaporation from Lakes and Reservoirs under Limited Data Condition in a Semi-Arid Region. Water Resour Manage 29, 3711–3733 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-015-1025-8

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