Evapotranspiration Measuring & Modeling in the Everglades

The overall objective is to develop a process-oriented appraisal of evapotranspiration within the Everglades drainage unit, excluding agricultural and brackish environments. Specific objectives include: 1) Field measurement of evapotranspiration at a variety of sites encompassing a regionally representative range of environmental factors.; 2) Integration of evapotranspiration estimates into a process-oriented model; 3) Verification and refinement of model using ET measurements at additional sites.

Everglades restoration efforts will rely heavily upon development of hydrologic flow models that will be used to help guide restoration and management decisions. Any hydrologic model requires an assessment of the water budget, including the amount of water removed from the system by evapotranspiration (ET). ET is a major part of the water budget in the Everglades, being similar in magnitude to rainfall. The Everglades ET project provides the necessary ET data, and methods of estimating ET throughout the Everglades system, that are required by all flow models.