EVAPORATION PROCESS

Why evaporation occurs

Evaporation drives the water cycle

A valley in New Zealand in early morning

with fog layer in the valley bottom. Heat
from the sun or a dry wind will dissipate the
fog soon.
 People make use of
evaporation

Seawater evaporation ponds on the Isle

of Rhé off the coast of France are used to obtain salt.
Evaporative cooling: Cheap air
conditioning!
What controls evaporation?

1. Temperature
2. Humidity
3. Wind
4. Energy inputs
5. Water availability
 What controls evaporation?
• Evaporation is energy intensive- latent
heat of vaporization is 540 cal/gram
• Provided mainly by
– Solar energy - radiation
– Sensible heat – temperature –transferred via
conduction and convection
– kinetic energy of water – internal energy, heat
• Energy that is absorbed during phase
changes of water is not available to
increase the surface temperature.
 Energy Budget
• Net radiation: Rnet is
determined by measuring
incoming & outgoing
short- & long-wave rad.
over a surface.
• Rnet can – or +
• If Rnet > 0 then can be
allocated at a surface as
follows:
• Rnet = (L)(E) + H + G + Ps
http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/faresa/courses/nrem600/10-02%20Lecture.ppt
• L is latent heat of
vaporization, E
evaporation, H energy
flux that heats the air or
sensible heat, G is heat
of conduction to ground
and Ps is energy of
photosynthesis.
• LE represents energy
available for evaporating
water
• Rnet is the primary source
for ET & snow melt.
 Temperature
• Measure of heat energy
• Affects vapor pressure- Saturation vapor
pressure increases with air temperature
– Can compute with an equation if know
temperature
• Saturation vapor pressure minus actual
vapor pressure = saturation deficit
– The amount of additional water vapor that air
can hold at a given temperature
 Relative Humidity (RH)
• The relative humidity (RH) is calculated using the actual water
vapor content in the air (mixing ratio) and the amount of water
vapor that could be present in the air if it were saturated
(saturation mixing ratio)
• RH = w/ws x 100%
• The relative humidity is simply what percentage the
atmosphere is towards being saturated
• Relative humidity is not a good measure of exactly how much
water vapor is present (50% relative humidity at a
temperature of 80 degrees Fahrenheit will involve more water
vapor than 50% relative humidity at -40 degrees)
• Relative humidity can change even when the amount of water
vapor has not changed (when the temperature changes and
the saturation mixing ratio changes as a result)
 Wind
• Creates turbulent diffusion and maintains
vapor pressure gradient
• Turbulence a function of wind velocity and
surface roughness
• Evaporation can increase substantially
with turbulence up to some limit that is a
function of energy, temperature and
humidity
 Water Availability
• An open water surface provides a
continuous water source
• Transpiration can provide water up until a
certain limit based upon the plant’s ability
to pull water up through its roots and out
its stomatae (rate of transpiration)
 Pan evaporation
• Class A pan – 4 feet diameter, 10 inches
deep- galvanized steel – measure daily
water loss by adding water to same level
• Evap = change in water level -
precipitation
• Pan evap > lake evap why?
• Use a pan coefficient (usually 0.6-0.8)
• Map of pan evap
http://fr.cfans.umn.edu/courses/FR3114/FieldMeas%20-%20Transpir_10_03_06.pdf