Comparison of reference evapotranspiration estimation methods, on days with and without precipitation

Water is gradually becoming scarcer and more expensive. Therefore, any means that aims at a more efficient use of this substance in the most diverse sectors, becomes essential. In this context, the accurate estimation of evapotranspiration is of fundamental importance. With this in mind, the objective of this work was to compare the performance of different methodologies for estimating reference evapotranspiration in relation to the FAO Penman-Monteith method on days with and without precipitation in the region of Cambará do Sul/RS. To achieve this goal, daily data on maximum air temperature (°C), minimum temperature (°C), relative air humidity (%), dew point temperature (°C), wind speed at 2 m high (m s-1), atmospheric pressure (hPa) and global solar radiation (MJ m-2 d-1), were acquired from the automatic weather station located in Cambará do Sul/RS and divided into two sets (days with and without precipitation ). The comparison between the different methodologies and the standard method, for each period mentioned above, took place through a simple linear regression analysis to obtain the regression coefficients a and b and the determination coefficient. Subsequently, Pearson's correlation coefficient, root of the mean square of the error, Willmott index and the Camargo and Sentelhas index were calculated . For the municipality of Cambará do Sul/RS to replace the Penman-Monteith method, we recommend the use of the Penman and Makkink methods, which presented satisfactory performance in all periods analyzed.