Evapotranspiration and crop coefficient for a temperate desert steppe ecosystem using eddy covariance in Inner Mongolia, China

✍ Scribed by Feng Zhang; Guangsheng Zhou; Yu Wang; Fulin Yang; Christer Nilsson

• Book ID: 102862320
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2011
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 584 KB
• Volume: 26
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0885-6087
• DOI: 10.1002/hyp.8136

✦ Synopsis

Evapotranspiration (ET ), which links water, energy and the carbon cycle in terrestrial ecosystems, is an important ecohydrological process, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. To determine the crop coefficient (K c ) over a 2-year period for a temperate desert steppe in Inner Mongolia, China, ET was measured using the eddy covariance method and the reference evapotranspiration (ET 0 ) was estimated from site meteorological data. The results showed that the seasonal variation of ET differed on an annual timescale between the 2 consecutive years, exhibiting a multi-peak curve in 2008 and a single peak in 2009. The mean daily K c values were 0Ð15 and 0Ð17 in 2 years, varying from 0Ð009 to 0Ð75 in 2008 and from 0Ð005 to 0Ð58 in 2009. The 5-day moving average for K c values was mainly affected by SWC 10cm and R n , and the regression coefficients (R 2 ) were 58Ð9 and 69Ð5%, respectively. These results will aid in making accurate and quantitative assessments of the vulnerability of the sparse vegetation to climate change.