Grass and Forest Potential Evapotranspiration Comparison Using Five Methods in the Atlantic Coastal Plain

Abstract

AbstractStudies examining potential evapotranspiration (PET) for a mature forest reference compared with standard grass are limited in the current literature. Data from three long-term weather stations located within 10 km of each other in the USDA Forest Service Santee Experimental Forest (SEF) in coastal South Carolina were used to (1) evaluate monthly and annual PET estimates from five different methods with varying complexities [Penman-Monteith (P-M), Turc, Thornthwaite (Thorn), Priestley-Taylor (P-T), and Hargreaves-Samani (H-S)] at two grass reference sites; and (2) compare results for the grass sites with PET estimated using the P-M method for a forest reference site using measured daily climatic data for the 2011–2014 period. The grass reference sites are located at the SEF headquarters (SHQ) and in the Turkey Creek watershed (TC). The forest reference station is on a 27-m-tall tower above the canopy of a pine/mixed hardwood forest in watershed WS80 in the SEF. At the WS80 forest site, the highest...