Satellite-derived evaporation from Lake Eyre, South Australia

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Abstract
Lake Eyre is a large salt lake situated on the Australian continent, draining an area of over 1 million km2. The lake is usually dry, but it floods occasionally; the last few significant events occurring in 1984, 1974 and 1950. During the 1984 filling, satellite data from NOAA Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) were received and archived. These data have now been analysed to derive the areal extent of standing water as a function of time and hence the evaporation rate, assuming exchanges due to groundwater flow and gains due to rainfall and runoff are negligibly small. The highest levels were reached on 3 February 1984 and the lake was dry by the end of March 1985. Maximum evaporation of 280 mm occurred in February 1984 and a minimum of 60 mm occurred in July 1984. The total evaporation for the period February 1984 to February 1985 is estimated to be 2190 mm ± 100 mm for Lake Eyre North and 1980 mm ± 110 mm for Lake Eyre South. These estimates compare favourably with field data collected over the same period. It is suggested that the satellite data could provide a reasonable estimate of evaporation from shallow lakes in other semi-arid, inaccessible regions.