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ARS Home » Plains Area » Bushland, Texas » Conservation and Production Research Laboratory » Soil and Water Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #263632
Title: Evapotranspiration information reporting: II. Recommended documentation

Author
item ALLEN, RICHARD - University Of Idaho
item PEREIRA, LUIS - University Of Portugal
item Howell, Terry
item JENSEN, MARVIN - Retired ARS Employee

Submitted to: Agricultural Water Management
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/7/2010
Publication Date: 4/1/2011
Citation: Allen, R.G., Pereira, L.S., Howell, T.A., Jensen, M.E. 2011. Evapotranspiration information reporting: II. Recommended documentation. Agricultural Water Management. 98(6):921-929.

Interpretive Summary: Research report quality of crop water use studies published in scholarly journals is often difficult to interpret. This paper attempts to outline the types of information needed by readers and especially journal paper reviewers and authors that can guide the evaluation of the quality and reliability of the data. It also provides information that can assist the author or authors in providing the most useful information to the public in their article. Lists of required and desired information are provided for many methods used to measure water use from vegetation. This information is essential in documenting the research as well as offering means to test and evaluate the data. This information should allow an improved quality of the published research.

Technical Abstract: Researchers and journal authors, reviewers, and readers can benefit from more complete documentation of published evapotranspiration (ET) information, including a description of field procedures, instrumentation, data filtering, model parameterization, and site review. This information is important for discerning the likely accuracy and representativeness of the reported data and ET parameters, including derived crop coefficients. Documentation should include a description of the vegetation, its aerodynamic fetch, water management and background soil moisture, types of equipment and calibration checks, photographs of the measured vegetation/equipment combinations, and independent assessments of measured ET using models or other means. Documentation and assessment should include a description of, or reference to, all weather recording equipment and parameters, including the vegetation and water management environment of the weather station. Suggestions are given for documentation describing the primary types of ET measuring systems including recommended independent testing.