Hydrology and Irrigation

Engineering – 15CV73
VII Semester

MODULE 2: LOSSES: EVAPOTRANSPIRATION

Measurement
Empirical Formulae

Dr. Swathi Boddula

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 Transpiration
Process by which water leaves the body of a living plant
through leaves and reaches the atmosphere as water vapour

Factors affecting are Atmospheric vapour pressure,

Temperature, Wind and Light intensity, Characteristics of the
plant such as root and leaf system

Major difference between evaporation and transpiration is:

Transpiration is essentially confined to daylight hours and
rate of transpiration depends upon the growth periods of the
plant
Evaporation on other hand, occurs all through day and
night (at different rates)
 Evapotranspiration
As Transpiration occurs, in the surrounding area, Evaporation
process continues from water available in soil and from water
bodies
Thus, it is collectively called as Evapotranspiration
This loss is also termed as Consumptive use

Field capacity: It is the maximum quantity of water that the

soil can retain against the force of gravity
 Any higher moisture input to a soil after field capacity, it
simply drains away

Permanent Wilting Point: It is the moisture content of a soil

at which the moisture is no longer available in sufficient
quantity to sustain the plants
 Evapotranspiration (contd)
The difference between the two moistures, Field capacity and
Permanent Wilting Point is called Available water
This moisture is available to the plants to help it grow

Potential Evapotranspiration (PET): If sufficient moisture

is always available to completely meet the needs of vegetation
fully covering the area, the resulting evapotranspiration is called
as PET
Actual Evapotranspiration (AET): The real
evapotranspiration occurring in a specific situation is called as
AET

If water supply to the plant is adequate such that soil moisture
will be at the Field capacity, then AET = PET
 AET and PET
If water supply is less than PET, soil dries out and AET < PET
AET/PET < 1

When soil reaches the permanent wilting point, the AET = 0

All applied studies in hydrology use PET as basic parameter

related with evapotranspiration, in various estimations related to
water utilizations

PET gives a good approximation for lake evaporation, thus

where Pan evaporation data is not available, PET can be used
 Measurement of Evapotranspiration
ET for a given vegetation can be measured by:
LYSIMETERS
It is a special water tight tank containing a block of soil and
set in a field of growing plants
The plants grown in the Lysimeter are the same as
surrounding plants
ET is estimated in terms of the amount of water required to
maintain constant moisture conditions within the tank, measured
either by volumetric or gravimetric arrangement
They are designed to accurately reproduce the soil conditions,
moisture content, type and size of the vegetation of the
surrounding area
Time consuming and expensive
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 Measurement of Evapotranspiration
ET for a given vegetation can be measured by:
Field Plots
In plots, all the elements of the water budget in a known
interval of time are measured and ET can be determined as:
Evapotranspiration = Precipitation + Irrigation input – Runoff
– Increase in soil storage – groundwater loss
Field measurements are confined to Precipitation, Irrigation
input, surface runoff and soil moisture
Groundwater loss due to deep percolation is difficult to
measure and shallow percolations can estimated based on the
infiltration rates
 Evapotranspiration Equations
Due to lack reliable field data and difficulties of obtaining
reliable ET data, based upon the climatological data, several
methods to predict PET have been proposed
Penman’s Equation
It is based upon the combination of Energy balance and Mass
transfer approach
 Penman’s Equation (contd)
The net radiation is estimated from:
Penman’s Equation (contd)
 Penman’s Equation (contd)
For computation of PET, data on n, ea, u2, mean air
temperature and nature of surface (value of r) are required
The above can be obtained from actual observations and the
data can be obtained from IMD
Reference Crop Evapotranspiration, ET0
In irrigation practice, PET is used in calculation of crop –
water requirements
FAO recommends ET0, for a reference surface with reference
green crop with assumed crop height of 0.12 m, fixed surface
resistance of 70 s m-1 and r of 0.23
The reference surface resembles an extensive surface of green
and well watered grass of uniform height, actively growing and
completely shading the ground with weekly irrigation frequency
 ET0 is estimated using Penman-Monteith method
Thus, PET of any other crop is calculated by multiplying the
ET0 by a coeffcient K (which changes with the stage of crop)
PET = K(ET0)
K varies from 0.5 to 1.3 based on type of crop
 Empirical Formulae
Based on climatological data, empirical formulae are available
for estimation of PET
They are not universally applicable

1. Blaney Criddle Formula

2. Thornwaite Formula
 Blaney Criddle Formula
Based on Arid western USA data
Assumes that the PET is related to hours of sunshine and
temperature, which are taken as measures of solar radiation in
the area
PET (in cm) in a crop growing season is:
PET = 2.54 K F
 Blaney Criddle Formula (contd)
Values of K depend on the month and locality
This formula is largely used by Indian irrigation engineers to
estimate the water requirements of crops
Water requirement of a crop is taken as the difference between
PET and effective precipitation

Blaney Morin equation is similar equation but with an

additional correction for humidity
Problem
 Thornthwaite Formula
Eastern USA data
Uses only the mean monthly temperature together with an
adjustment for day lengths
PET, ET (in cm) in a month is:
 PET over India
Penman’s equation is used for the estimation of PET
Annual PET ranges from 140 to 180 cm over most parts of the
country

Actual Evapotranspiration, AET

AET can be obtained from water budgeting and accounting
for soil-plant-atmosphere interactions
Doorenbos and Pruit procedure is:
Using available meteorological data, reference ET0 is
calculated
Knowing Crop coefficient K for a given crop, PET is
calculated (PET = K(ET0)
 Actual Evapotranspiration, AET
AET at any time t in the field is calculated as