Equation for Calculating Evapotranspiration of Technical Soils for Urban Planting

• Main Authors: Oliver Weiss, Pia Minixhofer, Bernhard Scharf, Ulrike Pitha
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-06-01
• Series: Land
• Subjects: evapotranspiration; green infrastructure; rainwater management; nature-based stormwater management; Vienna
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/10/6/622

Equations for calculating evapotranspiration in technical soils show great differences regarding their results. Causes are the different climatic conditions and vegetation specifics during their development. Every equation of evapotranspiration only delivers 100% correct results if it is used under the same climatic condition as it was developed in. To determine the evapotranspiration, the loss of weight of different technical soils and plants was measured in a test series on load cells in a climate chamber. The result of these test series is the development of an easy-to-use equation. An equation for calculating evapotranspiration at any temperature is possible while using a polynomial correlation. To determine the evapotranspiration rate (in mm/m² per 24 h), only temperature, vegetation type, and technical soil have to be defined to obtain an output of evapotranspiration in mm/day. Using the well-known equation by Makkink, evapotranspiration in technical soils is 0.12 mm/day, whereas the newly developed equation calculates (1) 2.59–5.58 mm/day for the variant with no vegetation, (2) 3.15–4.00 mm/day for <i>Sedum floriferum</i>, (3) 4.40–4.55 mm/day for <i>Geranium x cantabrigiense</i>. The application of this equation will help to determine the evapotranspiration in chosen technical soils (used in the sector of rainwater management) with or without vegetation.