3.4.

Estimation of Evaporation
Many empirical equations have been proposed for the computation of lake evaporation,
correlating the saturation vapour pressure at water surface temperature es mmHg and the actual
vapour pressure of evaporating air at certain height above water surface ea mmHg. Evaporation E
(mm/day) from lake may be calculated by any suitable equation given in Table 3.1.

Table 3.1: Lake evaporation calculation by Empirical Equations

Sl. Name of equation Evaporation rate (mm/day) Terms used
No.
(1) (2) (3) (4)
1 General equation E= k f(u) (es – ea) (3.2) K is a coefficient, f(u) is function
of wind speed. Ea and wind speed
should be measured at the same
height.
2 Meyer’s formula USA, U is monthly mean wind speed in
small lake (1915) E= 1+ ( 16u ) . C . (e − e )
s a km/h at 9 m above ground. C =
0.36 for large deep lakes and 0.50
(3.3)
for shallow lakes.
3 Rhower’s formula (USA E = 0. 771(1.465−0 . 000732 P ) P is the mean barometric reading
1931) x (0 .44 + 0 .0733 U ) (e s − e a ) in mmHg and U the mean wind
(3.4) velocity at 0.6 m above ground in
km/h.
4 Penman’s formula E = 8.9 (1 + 0.15U ) (e s − e a ) U is measured at 2 m above
(England, applicable for (3.5) ground level.
small tanks)
5 USBR Formula E = 0.833 (4.57 t + 43.3) E is mm/month, t mean annual
(3.6) temperature in 0C
6 Lake Mead formula E = 0.0046 x t x w t is number of days of
(mm/day) x [1− 0.03(ta − t s ) ] ( e s − e a ) evaporation, ta average air temp.
(3.7) in 0C + 1.90C ts is average water
surface temperature 0C, w is
1.85U,
ea and es in mb.
ea and es in mb.
7 Lake Hefner E = 0.028 U (e s − e a )
(3.8)
8 Fitzgerald E = (10.2 + 3 .14U ) (e s − ea )
(3.9)
9 Shahtin Mamboub’s E = (3.5 + 0.53U ) (e s − ea ) U is measured at 2 m above
equation (3.10) ground.
10 Kuzmin formula E = (152.4 + 19.8U ) (e s − e a ) U is measured at 8 m above
(mm/month) (3.11) ground.
11 Marciano and Harbeck’s E = 0 .918 U (e s − ea ) U is measured at 8 m above
formal (3.12) ground.
Uh=U(h1/h)1/7km/hr
Table 3.2: Saturation vapour pressure of water
Temperature Saturation vapour pressure es Slope of plot between
(oC) mmHg) mbar (1) and (2)
(1) (2) (3) (4)
0.0 4.58 6.11 0.30
5.0 6.54 8.72 0.45
7.5 7.78 10.37 0.54
10.0 9.21 12.28 0.60
12.5 10.87 14.49 0.71
15.0 12.79 17.05 0.80
17.5 15.00 20.00 0.95
20.0 17.54 23.38 1.05
22.5 20.44 27.95 1.24
25.0 23.76 31.67 1.40
27.5 27.54 36.71 1.61
30.0 31.81 42.42 1.85
32.5 36.68 48.89 2.07
35.0 42.81 57.07 2.35
37.5 48.36 64.46 2.62
40.0 55.32 73.14 2.95
42.5 62.18 84.23 3.25
45.0 71.20 94.91 3.66
(17.27∗t)
Es=4.584exp mm Hg
237.37+t
T=tempruture in centigrade(c0)
Table 3.3: Monthly day time percentage hours (P) to be used by Blaney-Criddle Formukla
Lat. Jan Feb Mar April May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec
o
N
0 8.50 7.66 8.49 8.21 8.50 8.22 8.50 8.49 8.21 8.50 8.22 8.50
10 8.13 7.47 8.45 8.37 8.81 8.60 8.86 8.71 8.25 8.34 7.91 8.10
15 7.94 7.36 8.43 8.44 8.98 8.80 9.05 8.83 8.28 8.26 7.75 7.88
20 7.74 7.25 8.41 8.52 9.15 9.00 9.25 8.96 8.30 8.18 7.58 7.66
25 7.53 7.14 8.39 8.61 9.33 9.23 9.45 9.09 8.32 8.09 7.40 7.42
30 7.30 7.03 8.38 8.72 9.53 9.49 9.67 9.22 8.33 7.99 7.19 7.15
35 7.05 6.88 8.35 8.83 9.76 9.77 9.93 9.37 8.36 7.87 6.97 6.86
40 6.76 6.72 8.33 8.95 10.02 10.08 10.22 9.54 8.39 7.75 6.72 6.52
42 6.63 6.65 8.31 9.00 10.14 10.22 10.35 9.62 8.40 7.69 6.62 6.37
44 6.49 6.58 8.30 9.06 10.26 10.38 10.49 9.70 8.41 7.63 6.49 6.21
46 6.34 6.50 8.29 9.12 10.39 10.54 10.64 9.79 8.42 7.57 6.36 6.04
48 6.17 6.41 8.27 9.18 10.53 10.71 10.80 9.89 8.44 7.51 6.23 5.86
50 5.98 6.30 8.24 9.24 10.68 10.91 10.99 10.00 8.46 7.45 6.100 5.65
Table 3.4: Mean daily maximum duration of bright sunshine hour N for different month
and latitudes (Doorenbos & Pruitt, 1977)
N Lat Jan Feb April May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec
S Lat July Aug March Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb March April May June
Sept
50 8.5 10.1 11.8 13.6 15.4 16.3 15.9 14.5 12.7 10.8 9.1 8.1
48 8.8 10.2 11.8 13.8 15.2 16.0 15.6 14.3 12.6 10.9 9.3 8.3
46 9.1 10.4 11.9 13.5 14.9 15.7 15.4 14.2 12.6 10.9 9.5 8.7
44 9.3 10.5 11.9 13.4 14.7 15.4 15.2 14.0 12.6 11.0 9.7 8.9
42 9.4 10.6 11.9 13.4 14.6 15.2 14.9 13.9 12.9 11.1 9.8 9.1
40 9.6 10.7 11.9 13.3 14.4 15.0 14.7 13.7 12.5 11.2 10.0 9.3
35 10.1 11.0 11.9 13.1 14.0 14.5 14.3 13.5 12.4 11.3 10.3 9.8
30 10.4 11.1 12.0 12.9 13.6 14.0 13.9 13.2 12.4 11.5 10.6 10.2
25 10.7 11.3 12.0 12.7 13.3 13.7 13.5 13.0 12.3 11.6 10.9 10.6
20 10.0 11.5 12.0 12.6 13.1 13.3 13.2 12.8 12.3 11.7 11.2 10.9
15 11.3 11.6 12.0 12.5 12.8 13.0 12.9 12.6 12.2 11.8 11.4 11.2
10 11.6 11.8 12.0 12.3 12.6 12.7 12.6 12.4 12.1 11.8 11.6 11.5
5 11.8 11.9 12.0 12.2 12.3 12.4 12.3 12.3 12.1 12.0 11.9 11.8
0 12.1 12.1 12.1 12.1 12.1 12.1 12.1 12.1 12.1 12.1 12.1 12.1

Table 3.5: Mean Monthly Solar Radiation Incident on Earth's Outer Space (Extra
Terrestrial Radiation) in mm of Evaporable Water per day
North Latitude in Degrees
Month 0o 100 200 300 400 500 60o 70o 800 90o
Jan. 14.5 12.8 10.8 8.5 6.0 3.6 1.3 - - -
Feb. 15.0 13.9 12.3 10.5 8.3 5.9 3.5 1.1 - -
Mar. 15.2 14.8 13.9 12.7 11.0 9.1 6.8 4.3 1.8 -
Apr. 14.7 15.2 15.2 14.8 13.9 12.7 11.1 9.1 7.8 7.9
May 13.9 15.0 15.7 16.0 15.9 15.4 14.6 13.6 14.6 14.9
Jun. 13.4 14.8 15.8 16.5 16.7 16.7 16.5 17.0 17.8 18.1
Jul. 13.5 14.8 15.7 16.2 16.3 16.1 15.7 15.8 16.5 16.8
Aug. 14.2 15.0 15.3 15.3 14.8 13.9 12.7 11.4 10.6 11.2
Sep. 14.9 14.9 14.4 13.5 12.2 10.5 8.5 6.8 4.0 2.6
Oct. 15.0 14.1 12.9 11.3 9.3 7.1 4.7 2.4 0.2 -
Nov. 14.6 13.1 11.2 9.1 6.7 4.3 1.9 0.1 - -
Dec. 14.3 12.4 10.3 7.9 5.5 3.0 0.9 - - -

Table 3.6: Reduction Factor Rf for PET to be used in Thornthwiate's equation

Month
Latitude J F M A M J J A S O N D
00N 1.04 0.94 1.04 1.01 1.04 1.01 1.04 1.04 1.01 1.04 1.01 1.04
100N 1.00 0.91 1.03 1.03 1.08 1.06 1.08 1.07 1.02 1.02 0.98 0.99
200N 0.95 0.90 1.03 1.05 1.13 1.11 1.14 1.11 1.02 1.00 0.93 0.94
300N 0.90 0.87 1.03 1.08 1.18 1.17 1.20 1.14 1.03 0.98 0.89 0.88
400N 0.84 0.83 1.03 1.11 1.24 1.25 1.27 1.18 1.04 0.96 0.83 0.81
500N 0.74 0.78 1.02 1.15 1.33 1.36 1.37 1.25 1.00 0.92 0.76 0.70

ASSIGNMENT –ONE- ON INTRODUCTION TO HYDROLOGY&HYDROMETRY

1. a) What forms of precipitation are important in water resources engineering?
b) How is the density of rain gauge to affect the accuracy of precipitation over a basin?
c) Describe how you are going to supplement a missing rainfall data.
b) What are the various methods available to record rainfall depths at a place?
e) What considerations will you make for selecting a precipitation measuring site?
f) What do you understand by rain gauge network design? Is it possible to design a rain
gauge network with zero percent error in its mean?
2. A catchment area has seven rain gauge stations. In a year the annual rainfall recorded by
the gauges are as follows:

Station A B C D E F G

Rainfall (cm) 130 142.1 118.2 108.5 165.2 102.1 146.9

For a 5% error in the estimation of the mean rainfall, determine the minimum number of
additional stations required to be established in the catchment.
3. Allowing 7% error in estimating the mean RF data, calculate the minimum number of
additional stations required over the existing 6 number of gauges to represent the basin
adequately. The annual RF data for stations are 1280, 1440, 1200, 1090, 1660 and 1030
mm respectively.
4. Precipitation station X was inoperative for part of a month during which a storm
occurred. The respective storm totals at three surrounding stations, A, B, and C were 98,
80 and 110mm. The normal annual precipitation amounts at stations X, A, B, C, are
respectively, 880, 1008, 842, 1080mm. Estimate the storm precipitation for station X
using all the methods possible.
 5. The precipitation amounts for the months of June, July, and August are missing from the
record for one gauging station in a basin. This station belongs to a network of four in that
basin. For those three months, the other three stations recorded the following:

  Station

  1 2 3

June 55 65 75

July 47 50 45

August 45 40 55

Estimate the missing precipitation values if the long-term annual average precipitation at the four
stations is:

Station

  1 2 3 4

June 60 65 70 67

July 50 55 65 60

August 45 47 60 55
Use the Normal Ratio Method.
6. A station A was inoperative during September of 1999. Six neighboring stations were
operational during the period. The coordinates of the stations on a rectangular system
superimposed on the basin map with station A coinciding (0,0) position are given below:
Coordinates of the station
Station Rainfall(cm)
ΔX ΔY
B 8.3 4 5
C 10.1 6 8
D 7.7 9 6
E 12.2 3 4
F 11.3 4 6
G 12.4 5 7
A - 0 0
Calculate the missing rainfall of station A using all the methods you know and compare
the results.

7. To check the consistency of a station “x” the following data are collected from the
neighboring stations.
Year 1994 1993 1992 1991 1990 1989 1988 1987 1986
1985 1984 1983 1982 1981 1980 1979 1978 1977
1976 1975

July ppt
Of station x 17.1 14.3 17.5 16.0 19.1 16.7 19.4 14.5 16.1
20.0 13.9 15.7 14.1 13.0 10.1 15.1 14.2 13.9
13.1 14.0
Seven
Station avg. 14.2 13.1 14.7 14.8 16.2 15.6 15.1 11.8 12.9
Precipitation 19.4 15.7 16.5 15.6 14.4 11.2 13.6 16.4 13.4
For July (cm) 14.3 12.9
Is the data of station” consistent? If no, correct the data &find out the mean precipitation over the
sub –basin.

8. The following data from a self recording gauge during a storm are an obtained
Time (hr) 10.5 10.3 11.0 11.3 12.0 12.3 12 .45 13.0
Cumulative 2.2 4.0 5.1 6.7 8.8 9.1 9.5 9.7
Rainfall (cm)
Plot the rain fall hyetograph .also plot intensity –duration curve from the data.

9. An experimental rectangular plot of 10km *12km has five rainguage station .fit a coordinate
system to the plot such that the side 10km represents the abscissa. The storm rain fall
&coordinate of the station are as follow

Station station coordinate normal annual rainfall (cm) storm rainfall (cm)
A (1, 3) 128 12
B (8, 11) 114 11.4
C (3, 10) 136 13.2
D (5, 8) 144 14.6
E (7, 5) 109 ?
Compute the missing rainfall of station “E”.find the average rainfall of the plot by thiessen
polygon & isohytal method.

10. The coordinates of four precipitation gauging stations are A = (3,4), B = (9,4), C = (3,12),
and D = (9,12). The observed precipitation amounts at these gauges are PA = 15 mm, PB = 23
mm, PC = 10 mm, PD = 19 mm, respectively. These stations are located in a rectangular basin
whose boundaries are defined by the following coordinates (0,0), (14,0), (14,16), (0,16).
Compute the mean areal precipitation over this basin using the Thiessen polygons method and
the arithmetic average method.

(1)
 (2)

Using Thiessen polygons, the areas of influence are AA = 48; AB = 64; AC = 48; AD = 64. The
basin area is Abasin = 224

11. The isohyetal map of 24hrs storm gave the area enclosed between different isohyets.
Determine the average rainfall over the basin

Isohyetal 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12
in(mm)
Enclosed 543 1345 2030 2045 2955 3280 3535 3710 3880 3915
area in
sq.km

12. The sketch below represents a catchment area with precipitation observed in a year. Calculate
the mean precipitation by thiessen method& check by arithmetic mean method

16km

10km A 10cm B 15cm

E4cm 6km 16km

10km
D 6cm C 8cm
EA= ED=10KM, AB=DC=AB=BC=16KM