Why is potential and actual evapotranspiration important?
The ratio of actual and potential evaporation is an important indicator of aridity. This indicator describes the capacity of the prevailing climate to evaporate water from soils, plants, open water or other surfaces.
Why is potential evapotranspiration important?
Potential evaporation transpiration calculations are useful in calculating plant water requirements and also the losses of water to evaporation from open areas such as irrigated fields and reservoirs.
What is potential evapotranspiration used for?
PET data is used to calculate the water requirements of crops and landscape plants, and adjust irrigation schedules in a way that encourages efficient water use, reduces waste, and saves money. Reduction in over-watering also reduces pollution from fertilizer and chemical run-off into waterways.
What is the relationship between actual evapotranspiration and potential evapotranspiration?
PE is the demand or maximum amount of water that would be evapotranspired if enough water were available (from precipitation and soil moisture). AE is how much water actually is evapotranspired and is limited by the amount of water that is available.
What is the relationship between PET and AET?
Of these four variables, AET and PET are the most commonly used in hydrology since they represent two important concepts. The former is the real flow of water from the surface to the atmosphere, while the latter is the representation of the atmo- spheric evaporative demand [Donohue et al., 2010].Sep 6, 2017
What is the relationship between evapotranspiration and transpiration?
Evapotranspiration includes water evaporation into the atmosphere from the soil surface, evaporation from the capillary fringe of the groundwater table, and evaporation from water bodies on land. Evapotranspiration also includes transpiration, which is the water movement from the soil to the atmosphere via plants.Jun 12, 2018
Why actual evapotranspiration is less than potential evapotranspiration?
Actual rates of evapotranspiration only reach potential rates when water is not limiting (i.e., after a series of heavy rain events, soil at or above field capacity). However, when the amount of plant-available water in the soil decreases, the actual rate of ET quickly falls to a fraction of PET.Jul 25, 2012
What does potential evapotranspiration depend on?
Potential evapotranspiration, or PET, represents the combined loss of water through: 1) the plant's process of transpiration via its vascular system, and 2) evaporation of water from the earth's surface. Both are influenced by temperature, humidity, sunlight, and wind.