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.
Similar content being viewed by others
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)
References
Abtew W (2001) Evaporation estimation for Lake Okeechobee in South Florida. J Irrig Drain Eng 127:140–147
Anderson ER (1954) Energy-budget studies. In: water loss investigations: Lake Hefner studies. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 269, 71–119
Assouline S, Mahrer Y (1993) Evaporation from Lake Kinneret: 1 Eddy correlation system measurements and energy budget estimates. Water Resour Res 29:901–910
Blaney HF (1959) Monthly consumptive use requirements for irrigated crops. J Irrig Drain Div Amer Soc Civil Eng 85(IR1):1–12
Blaney HF, Criddle WD (1950) Determining water requirements in irrigated areas from climatological irrigation data. Technical Paper No. 96, US Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service, Washington, D.C., 48 pp
Bowen IS (1926) The ratio of heat losses by conduction and by evaporation from any water surface. Phys Rev 27:779–787
Brutsaert W, Stricker H (1979) An advection-aridity approach to estimate actual regional evapotranspiration. Water Resour Res 15(2):443–450
Brutsaert W, Yu SL (1968) Mass transfer aspects of pan evaporation. J Appl Meteorol 7:563–566
Cogley JG (1979) The albedo of water as a function of latitude. Mon Weather Rev 107:775–781
Dalton J (1802) Experimental essays on the constitution of mixed gases; on the force of steam or vapor from water and other liquids in different temperatures, both in a Torricellian vacuum and in air; on evaporation and on the expansion ofgases by heat. Mem Manchester Lit Philos Soc 5–11:535–602
de Bruin HAR (1978) A simple model for shallow lake evaporation. J Appl Meteorol 17:1132–1134
de Bruin HAR, Keijman JQ (1979) The Priestley-Taylor evaporation model applied to a large shallow lake in the Netherlands. J Appl Meteorol 18:898–903
de Bruin HAR, Stricker JNM (2000) Evaporation of grass under non-restricted soil moisture conditions. Hydrol Sci J 45:391–406
Delclaux F, Coudrain A, Condom T (2007) Evaporation estimation on Lake Titicaca: a synthesis review and modelling. Hydrol Process 21:1664–1677
dos Reis RJ, Dias NL (1998) Multi-season lake evaporation: energy-budget estimates and CRLE model assessment with limited meteorological observations. J Hydrol 208:135–147
Finch J, Calver A (2008) Methods for the quantification of evaporation from lakes. Prepared for the World Meteorological Organization’s Commission for Hydrology. CEH Wallingford, Oxfordshire
Gallego-Elvira B, Martínez-Alvarez V, Pittaway P, Brink G, Martín-Gorriz B (2013) Impact of micrometeorological conditions on the efficiency of artificial monolayers in reducing evaporation. Water Resour Manag 27:2251–2266
Gianniou SK, Antonopoulos VZ (2007) Evaporation and energy budget in lake Vegoritis, Greece. J Hydrol 345:3–4, 212–223
Gokbulak F, Ozhan S (2006) Water loss through evaporation from water surfaces of lakes and reservoirs in Turkey. E-Water 1–6
Hamon WR (1961) Estimating potential evapotranspiration. Hyraul Div Am Soc Civ Eng 87:107–120
Hamon WR (1963) Computation of direct runoff amounts from storm rainfall. Int Assoc Sci Hydrol Publ 63:52–62
Harbeck GE (1962) A practical field technique for measuring reservoir evaporation utilizing mass-transfer theory. USGS Professional Paper 272-E, 101-105. US Geological Survey
Irmak S, Haman D, Jones W (2002) Evaluation of class A pan coefficients for estimating reference evapotranspiration in humid location. J Irrig Drain Eng 128(3):153–159
Jensen ME, Haise HR (1963) Estimating evapotranspiration from solar radiation. J Irrig Drain Div ASCE 89:15–41
Kim S, Shiri J, Kisi O, Singh VP (2013) Estimating daily pan evaporation using different data-driven methods and lag-time patterns. Water Resour Manag 27(7):2267–2286
Lenters JD, Kratz TK, Bowser CJ (2005) Effects of climate variability on lake evaporation: results from a long-term energy budget study of Sparkling Lake, northern Wisconsin (USA). J Hydrol 308:168–195
Linacre ET (1993) Data-sparse estimation of lake evaporation, using a simplified Penman equation. Agric Forest Meteorol 64:237–256
Lu J, Sun G, McNulty S, Devendra MA (2005) A comparison of six potential evaportranspiration methods for regional use in the southeastern United States. J Am Water Resour Assoc 41:621–633
Keskin ME, Terzi O (2006) Evaporation estimation models for Lake Egirdir, Turkey. Hydrol Process 20:2381–2391
Kisi O, Cengiz TM (2013) Fuzzy genetic approach for estimating reference evapotranspiration of Turkey: Mediterranean Region. Water Resour Manag 27:3541–3553
Makkink GF (1957) Ekzameno de la formulo de Penman. Netherlands. J Agric Sci 5:290–305
McJannet DL, Webster IT, Cook FJ (2012) An area-dependent wind function for estimating open water evaporation using landbased meteorological data. Environ Model Softw 31:76–83
Maestre-Valero JF, Martínez-Granados D, Martínez-Alvarez V, Calatrava J (2013) Socio-economic impact of evaporation losses from reservoirs under past, current and future water availability scenarios in the semi-arid Segura Basin. Water Resour Manag 27:1411–1426
Majidi M, Alizadeh A, Farid A, Vazifedoust M. (2015) Analysis of the effect of missing weather data in estimating daily reference evapotranspiration under different climatic conditions. Water Resour Manage, 29:2107--2124
Martinez-Granados D, Francisco Maestre-Valero J, Calatrava J, Martinez-Alvarez V (2011) The economic impact of water evaporation losses from water reservoirs in the Segura Basin, SE Spain. Water Resour Manag 25(13):3153–3175
Mironov D, Kirillin G, Heise E, Golosov S, Terzhevik A, Zverev I. 2003. Parameterization of lakes in numerical models for environmental applications. Proc. of the 7th Workshop on Physical Processes in Natural Waters, A. Yu. Terzhevik, Ed., Northern Water Problems Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Petrozavodsk, Karelia, Russia, 135−143
Mosner MS, Aulenbach BT (2003) Comparison of methods used to estimate lake evaporation for a water budget of Lake Semnole, southwestern Georgia and northwestern Florida. Proceedings of the 2003 Georgia Water Resources Conference, Athens, Georgia, USA
Mugabe FT, Hodnett MG, Senzanje A (2003) Opportunities for increasing productive water use from dam water: a case study from semi-arid zimbabwe. Agr Water Manage 62:149–163
Papadakis J (1961) Climatic tables for the world. Buenos Aires, (Original not seen, cited in Grassi, 1964)
Penman HL (1948) Natural evaporation from open water, bare soil and grass. Proc R Soc 193:120–145
Penman HL (1963) Vegetation and hydrology. Tech. Comm. No. 53. Commonwealth Bureau of Soils, Harpenden, 125 pp
Priestley CHB, Taylor RJ (1972) On the assessment of the surface heat flux and evaporation using large-scale parameters. Mon Weather Rev 100:81–92
Rasmussen AH, Hondzo M, Stefan HG (1995) A test of several evaporation equations for water temperature simulations in lakes. Water Resour Bull 31:1023–1028
Rosenberry DO, Winter TC, Buso DC, Likens GE (2007) Comparison of 15 evaporation methods applied to a small mountain lake in the northeastern USA. J Hydrol 340:149–166
Ryan PJ, Harleman DRF (1973) An analytical and experimental study of transient cooling pond behavior, R. M. Parsons Laboratory, Technical Report No. 161, MIT
Sabziparvar AA, Tabari H, Aeini A, Ghafouri M (2010) Evaluation of class A pan coefficient models for estimation of reference crop evapotranspiration in cold semi-arid and warm arid climates. Water Resour Manag 24(5):909–920
Sadek MF, Shahin MM, Stigter CL (1997) Evaporation from the reservoir of the High Aswan Dam, Egypt: a new comparison of relevant methods with limited data. Theor Appl Climatol 56:57–66
Schertzer WM, Taylor B (2008) Report to the Okanagan water supply and demand study on Lake evaporation: assessment of the capability to compute Lake evaporation from Lake Okanagan and its Mainstem Lakes using the existing database (Draft Report). Prepared for the Okanagan basin Water Board
Shakir A, Narayan CG, Ranvir S (2008) Evaluating best evaporation estimate model for water surface evaporation in semi-arid region, India. Hydrol Process 22:1093–1106
Shuttleworth WJ (1993) Evaporation. In: Maidment DR (ed) Handbook of hydrology. McGraw-Hill, New York, pp 4.1–4.53
Singh VP, Xu CY (1997) Evaluation and generalization of 13 mass-transfer equations for determining free water evaporation. Hydrol Process 11:311–323
Stephen BKT, Eng BS, Lloyd HCC (2007) Modelling hourly and daily open-water evaporation rates in areas with an equatorial climate. Hydrol Process 21:486–499
Stephens JC, Stewart EH (1963) A comparison of procedures for computing evaporation and evapotranspiration. Publication 62, International association of scientific hydrology. International Union of Geodynamics and Geophysics, Berkeley, pp 123–133
Stets EG, Striegl RG, Aiken GR, Rosenberry DO, Winter TC (2009) Hydrologic support of carbon dioxide flux revealed by wholelake carbon budgets. J Geophys Res 114, G01008
Stewart RB, Rouse WR (1976) A simple method for determining the evaporation from shallow lakes and ponds. Water Resour Res 12:623–628
Stewart RB, Ruose WR (1977) Substantiation of the priestley-taylor parameter alpha=1.26 for potential evaporation in high latitudes. J Appl Meteorol 16:649–650
Sturrock AM, Winter TC, Rosenberry DO (1992) Energy budget evaporation from Williams Lake—a closed lake in North Central Minnesota. Water Resour Res 28:1605–1617
Vallet-Coulomb C, Legesse D, Gasse F, Travi Y, Chernet T (2001) Lake evaporation estimates in tropical Africa (Lake Ziway, Ethiopia). J Hydrol 245:1−18
Winter TC (1981) Uncertainties in estimating the water balance of lakes. Water Resour Bulletin 17:82--115
Winter TC, Buso DC, Rosenberry DO, Likens GE, Sturrock AMJ, Mau DP (2003) Evaporation determined by the energy budget method for Mirror Lake, New Hampshire. Limnol Oceanogr 48(3):995–1009
Winter TC, Rosenberry DO, Sturrock AM (1995) Evaluation of 11 equations for determining evaporation for a small lake in the north central United States. Water Resour Res 31:983–993
Xu C-Y, Singh VP (2000) Evaluation and generalization of radiation-based methods for calculating evaporation. Hydrol Process 14:339–349
Yao H, Creed IF (2005) Determining spatially-distributed annual water balances for ungauged locations on Shikoku Island, Japan: a comparison of two interpolators. Hydrol Sci J 50:245–263
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.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
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
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-015-1025-8