Research cooperation mission: the applicability of the CropWat model to estimate the land evapotranspiration in different climatic regions

Abstract

Agriculture is the oldest source of geographic spatial organization and the socio-economic activity needed to obtain food and clothing. It represents an economic sector influenced by different conditions: climatic (air temperature, precipitation, evapotranspiration, etc.), relief, soil types and water sources (the volume of water disponible for crop irrigation). Evapotranspiration is one of the most important parameter in the analysis of the hydrological balance and in the estimation of the water reserve of the soil and the water supply need for agricultural crops. The main purpose of this research internship at the University of Bucharest is to test the applicability of the CropWat model to estimate the evapotranspiration from the land covered with soybean in different climatic regions (in Ohio, in Northwest Rio Grande do Sul, in North Mato Grosso and in East Madhya Pradesh). Knowledge of evapotranspiration is essential for periods of atmospheric and soil dryness, when it can be measured directly by mass transfer or the energy balance method. (AU)