Estimating reference evapotranspiration with atmometers in a semiarid environment

Reference evapotranspiration (ET₀) estimations require accurate measurements of meteorological variables (solar radiation, air temperature, wind speed, and relative humidity) which are not available in many countries of the world. Alternative approaches are the use of Class A pan evaporimeters and atmometers, which have several advantages compared to meteorological stations: they are simple, inexpensive and provide a visual interpretation of ET₀. The objectives of the study were to compare the evaporation from atmometers (ET_gage) with the evapotranspiration estimated by the FAO-56 Penman-Monteith equation (ET_0PM) and to evaluate the variability between three modified atmometers of a commercial model. Comparison between daily ET_gage measured by the atmometer and ET_0PM showed a good correlation. However, ET_gage underestimated ET_0PM by approximately 9%. Differences between ET_gage and ET_0PM ranged from −2.4 to 2.2 mm d⁻¹ while the mean bias error was −0.41 mm d⁻¹. Underestimations occurred more frequently on days with low maximum temperatures and high wind speeds. On the contrary, atmometer overestimations occurred on days with high maximum temperatures and low wind speeds. Estimates of ET₀ using the atmometer appeared to be more accurate under non-windy conditions and moderate temperatures as well as under windy conditions and high temperatures. Atmometers 2 and 3 overestimated the evaporated water by atmometer 1 with a maximum variability of cumulative water losses of 4.5%. A temperature-based calibration was performed to improve the atmometer accuracy, using maximum temperature as an independent variable, with good results.