Hourly Alfalfa Evapotranspiration Estimation Using Variable Bulk Surface Resistance
Publication: Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Volume 145, Issue 10
Abstract
Alfalfa hourly bulk surface resistance () has been modeled as a function of crop biophysical characteristics. The new modeled allows the calculation of hourly alfalfa evapotranspiration (ET) using the Penman-Monteith (P-M) equation. In addition, another equation from the literature was also evaluated. The experiment took place during the 2009 and 2010 alfalfa growth seasons near Rocky Ford, Colorado. The results indicated that ET obtained from parameterized with leaf area index (LAI) or crop height () was more accurate than ET calculated with conventionally obtained when evaluated with lysimetric data. In addition, for less than 25 cm, ET was remarkably better estimated with the new model than with conventional . However, for greater than 25 cm, the proposed was slightly better than conventional . The value of conventional was underestimated when was less than 25 cm. These underestimated values resulted in higher hourly alfalfa ET rates (20% in 2009 and 41.5% in 2010). By contrast, the new approach underestimated ET by 7.5% for less than 25 cm in 2009, and ET was overestimated by 7%–9% for the 2010 data set. The accuracy of ET with conventional in 2010 for the same short was poor, because the Nash-Sutcliffe coefficient of efficiency was negative. Therefore, using a variable for alfalfa as a function of LAI or improved the estimation of alfalfa hourly actual ET.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful for financial support received through the Colorado Agricultural Experiment Station (CAES) and USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) (Grant No. COL00602A). They are also thankful for the contributions of Lane Simons of CSU AVRC and Colorado State University graduate students Evan Rambikur, Mcebisi Mkhwanazi, and Stuart Roy.
References
Allen, R. G., M. E. Jensen, J. L. Wright, and R. D. Burman. 1989. “Operational estimates of reference evapotranspiration.” Agron. J. 81 (4): 650–662. https://doi.org/10.2134/agronj1989.00021962008100040019x.
Allen, R. G., L. S. Periera, D. Raes, and M. Smith. 1998. Crop evapotranspiration. Guidelines for computing crop water requirements. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization.
Allen, R. G., I. A. Walter, R. Elliott, T. Howell, D. Itenfisu, and M. Jensen. 2005. The ASCE standardized reference evapotranspiration equation. Reston, VA: ASCE.
Alves, I., J. C. Fontes, and L. S. Pereira. 2000. “Evapotranspiration estimation from infrared surface temperature. I: The performance of the flux equation.” Trans. ASCE 43 (3): 591–598. https://doi.org/10.13031/2013.2739.
Alves, I., and L. S. Pereira. 2000. “Modelling surface resistance from climatic variables?” Agric. Water Manage. 42: 371–385.
Alves, I., A. Perrier, and L. S. Pereira. 1998. “Aerodynamic and surface resistances of complete cover crops: How good is the big leaf?” Trans. ASAE 41 (2): 345–351.
Al Wahaibi, H. S. 2011. “Evaluating the ASCE standardized Penman-Monteith equation and developing crop coefficients of alfalfa using a weighing lysimeter in southeast Colorado.” Ph.D. dissertation, Dept. of Soil and Crop Sciences, Colorado State Univ.
Andales, A. A., D. Straw, L. H. Simmons, T. H. Marek, M. E. Bartolo, and T. W. Ley. 2018. “Design and construction of a precision weighing lysimeter in southeast Colorado.” Trans. ASABE 61 (2): 509–521. https://doi.org/10.13031/trans.12282.
Arya, S. P. 2001. Introduction to micrometeorology. 2nd ed. San Diego: Academic Press.
Berrada, A. 2011. Direct determination of crop evapotranspiration in the Arkansas Valley with a weighing lysimeter. Fort Collins, CO: Colorado State Univ. and Colorado Water Institute.
Blanc, E., J. Caron, C. Fant, and E. Monier. 2017. “Is current irrigation sustainable in the United States? An integrated assessment of climate change impact on water resources and irrigated crop yields.” Earths Future 5 (8): 877–892. https://doi.org/10.1002/2016EF000473.
Brouwer, C., and M. Heibloem. 1986. Irrigation water management: Training manual no. 3. Rome: Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations.
Burman, R. D., M. E. Jensen, and R. G. Allen. 1987. “Thermodynamic factors in evapotranspiration.” In Proc., Irrigation and Drainage Special Conf. ASCE, edited by L. G. James and M. J. English, 28–30. Reston, VA: ASCE.
Chang, L. L., et al. 2018. “Why do large-scale land surface models produce a low ratio of transpiration to evapotranspiration?” J. Geophys. Res: Atmos. 123 (17): 9109–9130. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JD029159.
Chavez, J. L., T. A. Howell, P. H. Gowda, K. S. Copeland, and J. H. Prueger. 2010. “Surface aerodynamic temperature modeling over rainfed cotton.” Trans. ASABE 53 (3): 759–767. https://doi.org/10.13031/2013.30081.
Chehbouni, A., D. Lo Seen, E. G. Njoku, J.-P. Lhomme, B. Monteny, and Y. H. Kerr. 1997. “Estimation of sendible heat flux over sparsely vegetated surfaces.” J. Hydrol. 188–189 (Feb): 855–868. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-1694(96)03174-5.
Choudhury, B. J., and S. B. Idso. 1985. “An empirical model for stomatal resistance of field-grown wheat.” Agril. For. Meteorol. 36 (1): 65–82. https://doi.org/10.1016/0168-1923(85)90066-8.
Choudhury, B. J., R. J. Reginato, and S. B. Idso. 1986. “An analysis of infrared temperature observations over wheat and calculation of latent heat flux.” Agril. For. Meteorol. 37 (1): 75–88. https://doi.org/10.1016/0168-1923(86)90029-8.
Collaizzi, P. D., N. Agam, J. A. Tolk, S. R. Evett, T. A. Howell, P. H. Gowda, S. A. O’Shaughnessy, W. P. Kustas, and M. C. Anderson. 2014. “Two-source energy balance model to calculate E, T, and ET: Comparison of Priestley-Taylor and Penman-Monteith formulations and two time scaling methods.” Trans. ASABE 57 (2): 479–498. https://doi.org/10.13031/trans.57.10423.
Evett, S., J. Tolk, and T. A. Howell. 2003. “A depth control stand for improved accuracy with the neutron probe.” Vadose Zone J. 2 (4): 642–649. https://doi.org/10.2136/vzj2003.6420.
Evett, S. R., R. C. Schwartz, T. A. Howell, R. L. Baumhardt, and K. S. Copeland. 2012. “Can weighing lysimeter ET represent surrounding field ET well enough to test flux station measurements of daily and sub-daily ET?” Adv. Water Resour. 50 (Dec): 79–90. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.advwatres.2012.07.023.
FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization). 2003. “World agriculture: Towards 2015/2030 an FAO perspective.” Accessed April 4, 2016. http://www.fao.org/3/a-y4252e.pdf.
Ham, J. M. 2005. “Useful equations and tables in micrometeorology.” In Micrometeorology in Agricultural Systems. Agronomy Monograph no. 47. Madison, WI: American Society of Agronomy.
Harrison, L. P. 1963. “Fundamental concepts and definitions relating to humidity.” In Vol 3 of Humidity and moisture, edited by A. Wexler. New York: Reinhold.
Irmak, S. 2014. Plant growth and yield as affected by wet soil conditions due to flooding or over-irrigation. Lincoln, NE: Nebraska Extension, Univ. of Nebraska.
Irmak, S., and D. Mutiibwa. 2009. “On the dynamics of evaporative losses from Penman-Monteith with fixed and variable canopy resistance during partial and complete maize canopy.” Trans. ASABE 52 (4): 1139–1153. https://doi.org/10.13031/2013.27791.
Irmak, S., and D. Mutiibwa. 2010. “On the dynamics of canopy resistance: Generalized linear estimation and relationships with primary micrometeorological variables.” Water Resour. Res. 46 (8): W08526. https://doi.org/10.1029/2009WR008484.
Irmak, S., D. Mutiibwa, A. Irmak, T. J. Arkebauer, A. Weiss, D. L. Martin, and D. E. Eisenhauer. 2008. “On the scaling up leaf stomatal resistance to canopy resistance using photosynthetic flux density.” Agric. For. Meteorol. 148 (6–7): 1034–1044. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2008.02.001.
Katerji, N., and A. Perrier. 1983. “Modélisation de l’ evapotranspiration réelle ETR d’une parcelle de Luzerne: Role d’un coefficient cultural.” Agronomie 3 (6): 513–521. https://doi.org/10.1051/agro:19830603.
Lascano, R. J., and C. H. M. Van Bavel. 2007. “Explicit and recursive calculation of potential and actual evapotranspiration.” Agron. J. 99 (2): 585–590. https://doi.org/10.2134/agronj2006.0159.
Lascano, R. J., C. H. M. Van Bavel, and S. R. Evett. 2010. “A field test of recursive calculation of crop evapotranspiration.” Trans. ASABE 53 (4): 1117–1126. https://doi.org/10.13031/2013.32601.
Lei, P. 1998. “A linear programming method for synthesizing origin-destination (o-d) trip tables from traffic counts for inconsistent systems.” M.S. thesis, Dept. of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State Univ.
Lhomme, J. P., A. Chehbouni, and B. Monteny. 1994. “Effective parameters of surface energy balance in heterogeneous landscape.” Boundary Layer Meteorol. 71 (3): 297–309. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00713743.
Li, L., Q. Yu, Z. Su, and C. Tol Van der. 2009. “A simple method using climatic variables to estimate canopy temperature, sensible and latent heat fluxes in a winter wheat field on the North China Plain.” Hydrol. Process. 23 (5): 665–674. https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.7166.
Lian, X., et al. 2018. “Partitioning global land evapotranspiration using CMIP5 models constrained by observations.” Nat. Clim. Change 8 (7): 640–646. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-018-0207-9.
Mkhwanazi, M., J. L. Chávez, and E. H. Rambikur. 2012. “Comparison of large aperture scintillometer and satellite-based energy balance models in sensible heat flux and crop evapotranspiration determination.” Int. J. Remote Sens. Appl. 2 (1): 19–25.
Monteith, J. L. 1965. “Evaporation and environment.” In Vol. 19 of Proc., Symp. of the Society for Experimental Biology, the State and Movement of Water in Living Organisms, edited by G. E. Fogg, 205–234. New York: Academic Press.
Monteith, J. L. 1981. “Evaporation and surface temperature.” Q. J. R. Met. Soc. 107 (451): 1–27. https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.49710745102.
Moriasi, D. N., J. G. Arnold, M. W. V. Liew, R. L. Bingner, R. D. Harmel, and T. L. Veith. 2007. “Model evaluation guidelines for systematic quantification of accuracy in watershed simulations.” Trans. ASABE 50 (3): 885–900. https://doi.org/10.13031/2013.23153.
Mutiibwa, D., and S. Irmak. 2011. “On the scaling up soybean leaf level stomatal resistance to canopy resistance for one-step estimation of actual evapotranspiration.” Trans. ASABE 54 (1): 141–154. https://doi.org/10.13031/2013.36269.
Mutiibwa, D., and S. Irmak. 2013. “Transferability of Jarvis-type models developed and re-parameterized for maize to estimate stomatal resistance of soybean: Analyses on model calibration, validation, performance, sensitivity and elasticity.” Trans. ASABE 56 (2): 409–422. https://doi.org/10.13031/2013.42688.
Nash, J. E., and J. V. Sutcliffe. 1970. “River flow forecasting through conceptual models Part 1—A discussion of principles.” J. Hydrol. 10 (3): 282–290. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-1694(70)90255-6.
Penman, H. L. 1948. “Natural evaporation from open water, bare soil and grass.” Proc. R. Soci. London A 194 (1032): 120–145.
Polhamus, A., J. B. Fisher, and K. P. Tu. 2013. “What controls the error structure in evapotranspiration models?” Agric. For. Meteorol. 169: 12–24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2012.10.002.
Rambikur, E. H., and J. L. Chavez. 2014. “Assessing inter-sensor variability and sensible heat flux derivation accuracy for a large aperture scintillometer.” Sensors 14 (2): 2150–2170. https://doi.org/10.3390/s140202150.
Russell, G. 1980. “Crop evapotranspiration, surface resistance and soil water status.” Agric. Meteorol. 21 (3): 213–226. https://doi.org/10.1016/0002-1571(80)90054-0.
Seckler, D. 2003. “Appendix A: A note on transpiration.” In Water production in agriculture: Limits and opportunities for improvements, edited by W. Kijne, R. Barker, and D. Molden. Wallingford, UK: CAB International.
Shuttleworth, W. J. 2007. “Putting the ‘vap’ into evaporation.” Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. 11 (1): 210–244. https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-11-210-2007.
Shuttleworth, W. J., and J. S. Wallace. 1985. “Evaporation from sparse crops: An energy combination theory.” Q. J. R. Meteorol. Soc. 111 (469): 839–855. https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.49711146910.
Thom, A. S., and H. R. Oliver. 1977. “On Penman’s equation for estimating regional evaporation.” Q. J. R. Met. Soc. 103 (436): 345–357. https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.49710343610.
Todorovic, M. 1999. “Single-layer evapotranspiration model with variable canopy resistance.” J. Irrig. Drain. Eng. 125 (5): 235–245. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9437(1999)125:5(235).
Tolk, J. A. 1992. “Corn aerodynamic and canopy surface resistances and their role in sprinkler irrigation efficiency.” Ph.D. dissertation, Dept. of Agronomy, Texas Tech Univ.
Willmott, C. J. 1982. “Some comments on the evaluation of model performance.” Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc. 63 (11): 1309–1313. https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0477(1982)063%3C1309:SCOTEO%3E2.0.CO;2.
Yang, R., and M. A. Friedl. 2003. “Determination of roughness lengths for heat and momentum over boreal forests.” Boundary Layer Meteorol. 107 (3): 581–603. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022880530523.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Volume 145 • Issue 10 • October 2019
Copyright
©2019 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Aug 23, 2018
Accepted: Apr 19, 2019
Published online: Aug 8, 2019
Published in print: Oct 1, 2019
Discussion open until: Jan 8, 2020
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.