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Trends in pan evaporation and actual evapotranspiration across the conterminous U.S.: Paradoxical or complementary?
Author(s) -
Hobbins Michael T.,
Ramírez Jorge A.,
Brown Thomas C.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2004gl019846
Subject(s) - evapotranspiration , pan evaporation , potential evaporation , advection , environmental science , evaporation , water cycle , hydrology (agriculture) , atmospheric sciences , geography , meteorology , geology , physics , ecology , geotechnical engineering , biology , thermodynamics
Pan evaporation ( ET pan ) has decreased at 64% of pans in the conterminous U.S. over the past half‐century. Comparing trends in ET pan and water budget‐derived actual evapotranspiration ( ET * a ), we observe the so‐called “Pan Evaporation Paradox,” which we confirm is no more than a manifestation of the complementarity between actual evapotranspiration ( ET a ) and potential evapotranspiration ( ET p ). Examining trends in the components of ET a —the radiative energy and regional advective budgets—we show that both components must be considered together to explain the relationship between ET pan and ET * a .