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Mixture of Time Scales in Evaporation: Desorption and Self‐Similarity of Energy Fluxes
Author(s) -
PortéAgel Fernando,
Parlange Marc B.,
Cahill Anthony T.,
Gruber Alexander
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
agronomy journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.752
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1435-0645
pISSN - 0002-1962
DOI - 10.2134/agronj2000.925832x
Subject(s) - evaporation , potential evaporation , energy balance , flux (metallurgy) , desorption , bowen ratio , environmental science , atmospheric sciences , evapotranspiration , energy flux , chemistry , soil science , thermodynamics , ecology , adsorption , geology , physics , organic chemistry , astronomy , biology
The time evolution of evaporation from a bare soil, over a 9‐d period following irrigation, is described by a combination of daily and hourly drying patterns. From the second day, the daily evaporation shows a second stage of drying that can be described as a desorptive process (evaporation proportional to ( t − t o ) −1/2 , where t is time in days and t o is the day when the second stage starts). The short time (hourly) evaporation rate can be modeled on the basis of a type of self‐similarity in the energy balance components. Combining the evaporative flux behavior at the two time scales, desorption at the daily timescale and self‐similarity for the diurnal variations, a robust description of evaporation for drying land surfaces is obtained. This approach is tested using accurate measurements of the different components of the energy balance at the soil surface, obtained at 20‐min intervals. The model accurately describes the time evolution of the evaporative flux and could be used for the disaggregation of daily or weekly evaporation into hourly values.