Applicability of Classical Predictive Equations for the Estimation of Evapotranspiration from Urban Green Spaces: Green Roof Results
Publication: Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 18, Issue 1
Abstract
Green roofs and other urban green spaces can provide a variety of valuable benefits linked to evaporative processes, including storm-water management, reduction of urban heat island, and carbon sequestration. Accurate and representative estimation of urban evapotranspiration (ET) is a necessary tool for predicting such benefits. However, many common ET estimation procedures were developed for agricultural applications, and thus carry inherent assumptions that may not be applicable to urban green spaces, including green roofs. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the performance of two combination methods for the prediction of ET from a green roof. Two ET estimation methodologies were compared, using on-site and regionally available data sets for daily time steps, to weighing lysimeter measurements of actual ET at a green roof site in the Bronx, New York. Regionally available estimates of potential ET did not accurately predict lysimeter measured actual ET on 30 nonconsecutive, non-water-limited days in months from September through December. Over the same period, the ASCE Standardized Reference Evapotranspiration Equation performed well in predicting actual ET with an RMSD of only . Additionally, the ET equation for short reference types, using on-site climatic data and coupled with a variation of the Thornthwaite-Mather approximation, which accounts for variable media moisture conditions, gave reasonable predictions of actual evapotranspiration for 89 days analyzed (representing months from June through January) with an aggregate underestimation of 10.1%. However, this method was highly sensitive to input parameters, specifically media field capacity. Further on-site data collection is necessary to fully evaluate the performance of the equations over different seasons at this location, and monitoring of supplementary urban green spaces and green infrastructure sites will also lend further insights regarding urban evapotranspiration.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program has provided funding support (NSFGRFP 200908922). Columbia University has been instrumental in facilitating the collaborative efforts in monitoring green roof performance at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School (ECFS) and has provided support on equipment installation and setup as well as climatic data collected by Columbia University at the ECFS green roof. ECFS, particularly Peter Mott and Howard Waldman, have provided enthusiastic support, funding for equipment and access to ECFS facilities. Northeast Regional Climate Center is acknowledged for provision of data. Chris Brunner, Ben Cohen, and Universal Supply Co. of Hammonton, New Jersey, are acknowledged for their aid in the green roof weighing lysimeter construction and provision of gratis materials. Cooper Union, Professor Joseph Cataldo, Krzysztof Wiater, and Cecilia Ye are thanked for providing facilities and aid in preliminary equipment testing before field deployment. Olyssa Starry is acknowledged for her generous insights regarding Sedum physiology and metabolic pathways. A portion of this manuscript has been submitted for publication in the conference proceedings of the ASCE-EWRI 2011 World Environmental and Water Resources Congress.
References
ASCE Task Committee on Standardization of Reference Evapotranspiration of the Environmental, Water Resources Institute. (2005). The ASCE standardized reference evapotranspiration equation, ASCE, Reston, VA.
Berthier, E., Dupont, S., Mestayer, P. G., and Andrieu, H. (2006). “Comparison of two evapotranspiration schemes on a sub-urban site.” J. Hydrol., 328(3–4), 635–646.
Bloomberg, M., and Holloway, C. (2010). “NYC Green Infrastructure Plan.” Office of the Mayor, City of New York.
Carter, T., and Jackson, C. R. (2007). “Vegetated roofs for stormwater management at multiple spatial scales.” Landscape Urban Plann., 80(1–2), 84–94.
Christen, A., and Vogt, R. (2004). “Energy and radiation balance of a central European city.” Int. J. Climatol., 24(11), 1395–1421.
Crago, R. D., and Brutsaert, W. (1992). “A comparison of several evaporation equations.” Water Resour. Res., 28(3), 951–954.
Cushman, J. C., and Borland, A. M. (2002). “Induction of Crassulacean acid metabolism by water limitation.” Plant, Cell Environ., 25(2), 295–310.
Decagon Devices. (2009). “EC-20, EC-10, EC-5 soil moisture sensors, user’s manual v9.” Decagon Devices, Inc., Pullman WA.
DeGaetano, Arthur T., Eggleston, Keith L., and Knapp, Warren W. (1994). “Daily evapotranspiration and soil moisture estimates for the northeast United States.”, Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY.
Denich, C., and Bradford, A. (2010). “Estimation of evapotranspiration from bioretention areas using weighing lysimeters.” J. Hydrol. Eng., 15(6), 522–530.
DiGiovanni, K., Gaffin, S., and Montalto, F. (2010). “Green roof hydrology: Results from a small-scale lysimeter setup (Bronx, NY).” Proc., 2010 Int. Low Impact Development Conf., ASCE-EWRI, San Fransisco, CA.
DiGiovanni, K., Gaffin, S., Montalto, F., and Rosenzweig, C. (2011). “The applicability of classical predictive equations for the estimation of evapotranspiration from urban green spaces: Green roof results.” Proc., 2011 ASCE-EWRI World Environmental and Water Resources Congress, ASCE, Reston, VA.
Doorenbos, J., and Pruitt, W.O. (1977). Guidelines for predicting crop water requirements, Irrigation and Drainage Paper 24, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, 179 p.
Dunne, T., and Leopold, L. B. (1978). Water in Environmental Planning, W. H. Freeman.
Dyck, S. (1983). “Overview on the present status of the concepts of water balance models.” New approaches in water balance computations, Proc., Hamburg Workshop, Van der Beken, A., and Herrmann, A., eds., IUGG-IAHS, Rennes, France, 3–19.
Grimmond, C. S. B., and Oke, T. R. (1991). “An evapotranspiration-interception model for urban areas.” Water Resour. Res., 27(7), 1739–1755.
Hanks, R., and Ashcroft, G. (1992). Applied soil physics: Soil water and temperature applications, Springer, New York.
Itenfisu, D., Elliott, R. L., Allen, R. G., and Walter, I. A. (2003). “Comparison of reference evapotranspiration calculations as part of the ASCE standardization effort.” J. Irrig. Drain. Eng., 129(6), 440–448.
Jackson, R. B. et al. (2005). “Trading water for carbon with biological sequestration.” Science, 310(5756), 1944–1947.
Jackson, R. B. et al. (2008). “Protecting climate with forests.” Environ. Res. Lett., 3(4), 044006.
Jacobs, J., Mecikalski, J., and Paech, S. (2008). “Satellite based solar radiation, net radiation, and potential and reference evapotranspiration estimates over Florida.” U.S. Geological Survey, Orlando, Florida.
Jensen, M. E., Burman, R. D., and Allen, R. G., eds. (1990). Evapotranspiration and irrigation water requirements, manual of practice No. 70, ASCE, New York.
Jim, C. Y., and Chen, W. Y. (2008). “Assessing the ecosystem service of air pollutant removal by urban trees in Guangzhou (China).” J. Environ. Manage., 88(4), 665–676.
Jim, C. Y., and Chen, W. Y. (2009). “Ecosystem services and valuation of urban forests in China.” Cities, 26(4), 187–194.
Katul, G., Cuenca, R., Grebet, P., Wright, J., and Pruitt, W. (1992). “Analysis of evaporative flux data for various climates.” J. Irrig. Drain. Eng., 118(4), 601–618.
Kephart, K. D., and Buxton, D. R. (1993). “Forage quality responses of C3 and C4 perennial grasses to shade.” Crop Sci., 33(4), 831–837.
Lazzarin, R. A., Castellotti, F., and Busato, F. (2005). “Experimental measurements and numerical modelling of a green roof.” Energy Build., 37(12), 1260–1267.
Mitchell, V. G., Cleugh, H. A., Grimmond, C. S. B., and Xu, J. (2008). “Linking urban water balance and energy balance models to analyse urban design options.” Hydrol. Process., 22(16), 2891–2900.
Monteith, J. L. (1965). “Evaporation and environment.” In G. E. Fogg (ed.)Symposium of the Society for Experimental Biology, The State and Movement of Water in Living Organisms, 19, 205–234, Academic Press, Inc., NY.
Neukrug, H. (2009). “A triple bottom line assessment of traditional and green infrastructure options for controlling CSO events in Philadelphia’s watersheds.” Philadelphia Water Dept. and Office of Watersheds, City of Philadelphia.
Nowak, D. J., and Crane, D. E. (2002). “Carbon storage and sequestration by urban trees in the USA.” Environ. Pollut., 116(3), 381–389.
Ouldboukhitine, S. E., Belarbi, R., Jaffal, I., and Trabelsi, A. (2011). “Assessment of green roof thermal behavior: A coupled heat and mass transfer model.” Build. Environ., 46(12), 2624–2631.
Pataki, D. E. et al. (2006). “Urban ecosystems and the North American carbon cycle.” Global Change Biol., 12(11), 2092–2102.
Penn State. (2007). “Fieldston soil analysis.” Agricultural Analytical Services Laboratory, The Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA.
Penman, H. L. (1948). “Natural evaporation from open water, bare soil and grass.” Proc. Roy. Soc., London, A193, 120–146.
Philadelphia Water Department. (2009). “Green cities, clean waters: The City of Philadelphia’s program for combined sewer overflow control, a long term control plan update.” City of Philadelphia.
Priestley, C. H. B., and Taylor, R. J. (1972). “On the Assessment of Surface Heat Flux and Evaporation Using Large Scale Parameters.” Mon. Weath. Rev., 100, 81–92.
Rana, G., and Katerji, N. (2000). “Measurement and estimation of actual evapotranspiration in the field under Mediterranean climate: A review.” Eur. J. Agronomy, 13(2–3), 125–153.
Sayed, O. H., Earnshaw, M. J., and Cooper, M. (1994). “Growth, water, relations, and CAM induction in Sedum album in response to water stress.” Biol. Plant., 36(3), 383–388.
Shuttleworth, W. J. (2007). “Putting the ‘vap’ into evaporation.” Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 11(1), 210–244.
Thornthwaite, C. W. (1948). Geographical Review, 38(1), 55–94.
Thornthwaite, C. W., and Mather, J. R. (1955). “The Water Balance.” Publications in Climatology, Drexel Institute of Technology, NJ.
van de Ven, F. H. M. (1988). “Water balances of urban areas.” In: Urban Water 88, Proc., Int. Symp. on Hydrological Processes and Water Management in Urban Areas, IHP/OHP Secretariat, Bundesanstalt fur Gewasserkunde, Koblenz, Germany.
Voyde, E., Fassman, E., Simcock, R., and Wells, J. (2010). “Quantifying evapotranspiration rates for New Zealand green roofs.” J. Hydrol. Eng., 15(6), 395–403.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Feb 10, 2011
Accepted: Jan 4, 2012
Published online: Dec 16, 2012
Published in print: Jan 1, 2013
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.