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Understanding the variation and magnitude of crop coefficient ( Kc) is important for accurate determination of crop evapotranspiration and water use. In this study, we calculated Kc in an irrigated maize field with ground mulching by eddy covariance evapotranspiration measurements during the whole growing periods in 2009 and 2010 in an arid region of northwest China. A semi-empirical practical approach for estimating Kc was proposed by introducing the dynamic fraction of canopy cover and incorporating the effect of leaf senescence as a function of days after sowing. The contribution of arid advection of sensible heat resulting from irrigation to Kc and the response of Kc to canopy conductance ( Gc) were investigated. The averaged values of daily Kc were lower than typical values obtained previously without mulching due to decreasing effect of mulching on Kc, with 0.82 and 0.80 for the 2 years, respectively. The maximum average Kc occurred at the heading stage, with 1.21 and 1.04 for the 2 years, respectively. The difference of Kc was attributed to the difference of leaf area index. The semi-empirical practical approach could well estimate the variations of Kc, thus could be a robust and useful tool for the practical users and water managers. The contributions to daily Kc from the arid advection were 4.4-28.0% of the measured Kc. The Gc had stronger control on daily Kc at the early and later stages than at the middle stage. When Gc, leaf area index and relative soil extractable water were lower than the respective threshold values of 20 mm s−1, 3.0 m2 m−2 and 0.5, the daily Kc increased significantly with the increase of the three factors, and almost remained constant when the three factors were beyond the threshold values. These results are helpful for quantifying contributions of individual factors to Kc, and subsequently improving water management practices according to Kc. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Penman-Monteith (PM) model has been widely used to estimate crop evapotranspiration (ET), but it performs poorly with sparse vegetation. By combining the Jarvis canopy resistance model and the soil resistance model, we have developed a coupled surface resistance model to address this issue. Maize field and vineyard ET, measured by the eddy covariance method during 2007 and 2008, were used to test the estimations produced by the PM model combined with our coupled surface resistance model and Jarvis model, respectively. Results indicate that PM model combined with the coupled surface resistance model produces higher determination coefficient and lower root mean square error when compared with the PM-Jarvis method, either for maize field or for the sparse vineyard, on half-hourly or daily time scales. Our study confirms that the coupled surface resistance model produces higher accuracy than the Jarvis model and provides a method to calculate resistance parameters for using the PM model to simulate the ET of sparse vegetation. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The partition of available energy into evapotranspiration affected by environmental and physiological factors is critical in understanding the water cycle and optimizing the water management in the field. Our study attempted to accurately quantify the environmental and physiological control on variability in evaporative fraction ( EF) based on the Penman-Monteith model. The eddy covariance method was used to measure water flux over a canopy and then calculate the EF above a maize field in northwest China in 2007. Results indicate that the EF was lower in other growth stages than in the heading stage, so the EF value in the heading stage was taken as the standard value. The decreases in EF caused by canopy conductance and environmental factors were 0.176 and −0.026, accounting for 117% and −17% of the total difference in EF, respectively. Such results were mainly due to the following: (1) the variation of maize canopy conductance was greater than that of the environmental factors, such as air temperature, air humidity, wind speed and radiation; (2) the EF of the maize was more sensitive to variation in canopy conductance than the environmental factor. Our study revealed that crop physiological factor played an important role in determining the energy partition processes and reducing the sensible heat flux in the maize field. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the transpiration coefficient and ratio of transpiration to evapotranspiration of pear tree under alternative partial root-zone drying conditions. Conventional flood irrigation (CFI), fixed partial root-zone drying and irrigation (FPRD) and alternative partial root-zone drying and irrigation; Percentages of seasonal transpiration; Need for improvements in water-use efficiency in pear orchards