FRIEND: Flow Regimes from International Experimental and Network Data (Proceedings of the Braunschweij

Conference, October 1993). IAHS Publ. no. 221, 1994.

The application of a simple digital elevation model for

the determination of areal évapotranspiration

P. MIKLANEK
Institute of Hydrology and Hydraulics, Trnavskâ 32, 826 51 Bratislava, Slovakia

Abstract Evapotranspiration is typically determined as a point value,

whether measured or calculated. In most hydrological applications, it is
the areal value which is most requested. The difference between point
and areal values depends on the variability of influencing factors over the
area, and the complexity of the terrain. Therefore, digital elevation
models describing the topography of the area can be used for the areal
approximation of évapotranspiration. The elevation models give us not
only data on topographical situation (elevation, aspect and inclination of
slopes) in grid points, but can be easily used for calculation of energy
income and duration of insolation. The paper deals with the application
of a simple digital elevation model SOLEI for calculation of areal évapo-
transpiration, using relationships between global radiation and évapo-
transpiration in a mountainous environment. These relationships have
been derived from calculated point values of évapotranspiration and used
in combination with digital elevation model data on incoming radiation.

INTRODUCTION

Evaporation and/or évapotranspiration is an essential part of the hydrological cycle and

it redistributes heat energy between surfaces and the atmosphere. Evaporation involves
a supply of energy for the latent heat of fusion and vaporization and a transfer process,
which is dominantly turbulent. Evaporation commences and continues, but not
necessarily at the same rate, as long as there is a supply of moisture, a vapour pressure
gradient between the water surface and the atmosphere and a supply of energy. The
energy or latent heat is withdrawn from the most convenient source which may be the
sun, the overlying air, the ground, or from the water itself (Wiesner, 1970).
Knowledge of evaporation in high mountainous areas is still rather poor and
opinions on the role of evaporation in the water balance of mountainous areas differ.
Lang (1981) states that it is generally regarded as a component of secondary importance
in the water balance. The available data on mean areal evaporation are based on
conventional water balance estimates and suffer from inaccuracies in the determination
of precipitation. At the same time, he states that the vertical gradients of evaporation
given by different authors for different regions, range from a 71 mm to a 356 mm
decrease for each 1000 m increase in altitude. These great differences are far beyond
what can be expected from the hydroclimatic differences between these regions.
The estimates of evaporation from a water balance give the mean values over the
area studied, but there are inaccuracies due to the simplification of the water balance
equation and the accuracy of measurement. Therefore, independent calculation methods
are introduced based on meteorological data and vegetation parameters.
104 P. Miklanek

There are two basic difficulties in the determination of evaporation in mountainous

conditions. The first one is the lack of data in sufficient space and time density and the
second one is the areal representation of calculated point values in the very complex
mountainous terrain. The difference between point and areal values depends on the
variability of affecting factors over the area, which is highly influenced by the
complexity of the terrain. There are three main factors ruling the evaporation (Wiesner,
1970) : a supply of moisture, a vapour pressure gradient between the evaporating surface
and the atmosphere and a supply of energy.
The supply of moisture is usually not the limiting factor in the higher mountains of
central Europe, due to increasing precipitation with altitude. The vapour pressure
gradient can be either a positive or negative value resulting in evaporation or condensa-
tion, respectively. Its influence can hardly be detected without more detailed micro-
meteorological studies. The supply of energy in a mountainous environment is probably
the most variable factor and depends on astronomical, topographical and atmospheric
conditions.

EVAPORATION/RADIATION RELATIONSHIP

The dependence of evaporation and évapotranspiration on solar radiation was used by

many authors in the modelling of évapotranspiration. Doorenbos & Pruitt (1977) intro-
duced the radiation method, with an equation in linear regression form. The évapotrans-
piration is calculated from the solar (global) radiation expressed in mm day"1 equivalent
of evaporation. Staudinger & Rott (1981) derived a series of linear regression lines for
calculation of évapotranspiration from energy balance measurements at two Alpine test
sites.
Regression analysis was used in order tofindthe regional relationship of évapotrans-
piration to irradiation in the mountainous area of northern Slovakia. A 25-year series of
both potential and actual monthly évapotranspiration were calculated using Penman and
the complex method. The calculations were completed for the period 1956-1980 at 9
stations in this region. The stations used are as follows:
Liptovsky Mikulas 576ma.m.s.l
Liptovsky Hradok 640ma.m.s.l
Poprad 707ma.m.s.l
Tatranska Lomnica 832 m a.m.s.l
Podbanske 972 m a.m.s.l
Strbske Pleso 1360 m a.m.s.l
Skalnate Pleso 1778 m a.m.s.l
Chopok 2008 m a.m.s.l
Lomnicky stit 2635 m a.m.s.l
The actual évapotranspiration is usually obtained by the transformation of potential
évapotranspiration with regard to water supply. Thus, irradiation is critical for the
calculation of potential évapotranspiration. For the application of digital elevation
models a simple relationship between areal potential évapotranspiration and radiation is
needed.
A set of such relations (one for each month) was obtained by linear regression
 Digital elevation model for determination ofareal évapotranspiration 105

analysis of monthly series (25 years at 9 stations) of potential évapotranspiration to

irradiation. In this paper only the regression equation for June is presented as an
example:
ET = 0.001487-1.493 0)
1
where ET is the potential évapotranspiration in mm day" and 7 is the irradiation in
W h n r 2 day"1. The coefficient of correlation of both series was 0.858 and their
regression line is shown in Fig. 1.

MODELLING OF RADIATION BY DIGITAL ELEVATION MODELS

The supply of energy in a mountainous environment is highly variable and depends on

astronomical (latitudes, season of the year), topographical (elevation, aspect, inclination)
and atmospheric (air pollution, cloudiness) conditions. Therefore, the digital elevation
models describing the topography of mountainous or other areas can be used for the
calculation of energy income at individual points in the area.
The astronomical and topographical influences are, for any selected time period,
stable and can be easily described by simple mathematical equations. Also, the atmos-
pheric influence can be incorporated if data on air pollution and cloudiness are available.
It enables the potential energy income for selected points or a grid to be modelled by
means of a digital elevation model. The demands on elevation and/or terrain modelling
have increased considerably in recent times. Many papers have been devoted to these

5"

o
""S 3
'EL
in
c
re
i 2
o
Q.
re
>
LU
1

o-
2200 2600 3000 3400 3800 4200 4600
Irradiation (W h m"2)
Fig. 1 The regression line between potential évapotranspiration ET and irradiation / for
the Tatras region, 1956-1980.
 106 P. Miklanek

problems in many countries (Behr, 1988; Krcho, 1990; Moore et al., 1991). These
digital models have been used to solve many practical hydrological applications.
For that reason a simple digital elevation model SOLEI has been developed. It
allows determination for individual elementary plots of the basin, the duration of
insolation (sunrise and sunset), aspect and inclination of the slopes and potential income
of solar energy taking into account the shadowing effect of the surrounding topography.
The main input for the SOLEI model is a matrix of grid-square elevations. The
distance between the grid points is arbitrary and should be the same for all points.
Additional information on geographical position of the selection segment of the
landscape, its size, number of grid points and selected time interval is necessary. The
calculations can be carried out for any time interval within the selected day. The model
is not designed for longer intervals such as weeks, seasons. The model can be operated
on an AT 286 with EGA and 1 MB memory. The results were obtained for grid
dimensions 100 X 100 m, for a catchment 46 km2 in area with altitudes between 570 and
2170ma.m.s.l.
The solar irradiance is calculated for each grid point (or elementary plot) with a time
step for the selected time interval within the day. The calculated hourly values are
summarized for the selected time interval to obtain the quantity of solar energy
(irradiation) on the surface expressed in W h m"2.
For the calculation of solar irradiance a set of equations to according to Kittler &
Mikler (1986) was used. The irradiance on elementary plots is calculated as the total of
direct diffuse and reflected radiation:

7
= hot + hij +
hef (2)
I
dir = tdir.per C0Si
(3)

sin/?„
30 (4)
Idir per
' " 7° sin/z0 + 0.1067;
cosi = cos/3 sin h0 + sin/3 cos hQ cos (An-A0) (5)
V = 0.5/d;/>Aor[/2 (6)
J
diff,hor = k
(70 ~ J
dir,Pe) Sm
fy> (7)
* = (0.22 + 0.025 TJ (8)

w2 = sin/3 0.94ecosi + H I - 1.44 + 1 + cos/3 (9)

Iref = 0.5a(l - cos/3) ( / ^ o r + /^^sinfto) (10)

where:
J - irradiance in W nr 2 ; subscripts: tot - total, dir - direct, dif - diffuse, ref -
reflected, 0 - extraterrestrial, per - perpendicular to sun beams, and hor -
 Digital elevation model for determination of areal évapotranspiration 107

horizontal position;
i — incidence angle;
h0 - solar altitude;
T - atmospheric turbidity factor by Linke;
m - monthly value;
j8 — tilt angle of a given plane;
An - azimuth of the plane taken clockwise from the north 0° to 360° ;
A0 — solar azimuth from north clockwise 0° to 360°; and
a — albedo.
Output from the model can be graphical or digital. The graphical output from the model
represents a series of 16 colour computer maps displayed on the monitor. The requested
map can be chosen from the following set: elevation contour map, aspects, inclinations,
sunrise, duration of insolation and energy income for the selected time interval.
Digital output is possible for each selected map by storing the digital information in
the form of a matrix of grid-square data of the selected attribute (aspects, sunrise, etc.).
This numerical information is saved in ASCII format and can be easily worked up for
other purposes. These results can be summarized or averaged for selected sets of grid
elements and thus used for other calculations.
The calculated values of irradiation are theoretical values corresponding to the mean
atmospheric conditions without any cloudiness. In the mountainous conditions of the
Tatras region they vary between 3000 and 9000 W h m"2 day"1 in June depending on the
topography. These are unfortunately unrealistic values for calculation of évapotrans-
piration, due to frequent cloudiness (at least partial) over the mountains. Theoretical
radiation is transformed into actual radiation by introducing the relative sunshine
duration (the ratio of the actual and maximal sunshine duration within the day):

hot = *r hot <U)

where Iact is the actual irradiation in W h m"2 day"1, lm is the theoretical irradiation
according the equation (2) in W h m"2 day"1 and sr is the relative sunshine duration.
The mean relative sunshine duration for the Tatras region is 0.6 in June. Thus the
actual radiation in mountainous basins varies between 1800 and 5400 W h m"2 day"1.
Applying regression equation (1), the mean daily potential évapotranspiration in June
will vary between 1.2 and 6.5 mm day"1, or 36 and 195 mm month"1 depending on the
topography.
Once the digital elevation model is in operation in the basin, it is easy to use for the
calculation of potential évapotranspiration. Realistic results can be obtained only if
information on real cloudiness or sunshine duration in each elementary plot is available.
Its advantage lies in its easy use, quick operation and physical background. It can
be used for calculation of mean évapotranspiration with sufficient accuracy. But its main
advantage is that it can be used for determination of areal évapotranspiration for selected
segments of the landscape, such as a hydrological basin in very complex high
mountainous terrain.
Finally, these methods provide the opportunity for realistically representing the
three-dimensional nature of natural landscapes in hydrological modelling under the
constraints of maintaining physical rigour, simplifying the governing equations and
reducing the computational requirements (Moore et al, 1991).
108 P. Miklanek

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