A simple pan‐evaporation model for analysis of climate simulations: Evaluation over Australia
- 14 September 2006
- journal article
- Published by American Geophysical Union (AGU) in Geophysical Research Letters
- Vol. 33 (17)
- https://doi.org/10.1029/2006gl027114
Abstract
We show that a simple model of pan evaporation (“PenPan”) can be used to analyze monthly mean output from a global climate model (GCM). PenPan is based on a modified version of Penman's potential evapotranspiration equation. Very good agreement is obtained with observed annual pan evaporation for Australian sites when PenPan is forced by surface observations of radiation, wind speed, humidity and air temperature. When PenPan is forced with monthly mean output from the CSIRO GCM, the results are still satisfactory, but pan evaporation is overestimated over southern Australia, primarily due to excessive surface solar radiation simulated by the GCM. The results suggest that PenPan will be a valuable tool for reconciling observed pan‐evaporation trends with climate‐model simulations.This publication has 16 references indexed in Scilit:
- Changes in New Zealand pan evaporation since the 1970sInternational Journal of Climatology, 2005
- Varying trends in surface energy fluxes and associated climate between 1960 and 2002 based on transient climate simulationsGeophysical Research Letters, 2005
- A simulation model for predicting hourly pan evaporation from meteorological dataJournal of Hydrology, 2005
- Changes in Australian pan evaporation from 1970 to 2002International Journal of Climatology, 2004
- Observed climate variability and changeWeather, 2002
- Temperature variation in a class A evaporation panJournal of Hydrology, 1998
- Evaporation losing its strengthNature, 1995
- Estimating U.S. Class A Pan Evaporation from Few Climate DataWater International, 1994
- On the proper employment of evaporation pans and atmometers in estimating potential transpirationQuarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 1981
- Natural evaporation from open water, bare soil and grassProceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A. Mathematical and Physical Sciences, 1948