Christopher J. Martinez, Ph.D
Estimating Reference Evapotranspiration with Minimum Data
Christopher J. Martinez, Ph.D
279 Frazier Rogers Hall
PO Box 110570, University of Florida
Gainesville, FL 32611
Reference evapotranspiration estimation methods
that require minimal data are necessary when
climatic datasets are incomplete, inaccurate, or
unavailable. This study was conducted to evaluate
temperature-based reference evapotranspiration
methods in Florida. Using reference
evapotranspiration estimates using satellite-derived
radiation as the standard for comparison, the
"reduced-set" Penman-Monteith, Hargreaves, and
Turc equations were evaluated using monthly
temperature data from 72 weather stations in
Florida.
Results of this work found that the Turc equation
produced the best estimates of reference
evapotranspiration in Florida when compared to the
full standardized Penman Monteith equation. The
results of this work has been published in 2 articles
in the Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
(link, link).