Surface energy exchange and evapotranspiration from cotton crop under full irrigation conditions in the Rio Grande do Norte State, Brazilian Semi-Arid.

The main objectives of this study were documenting how energy balance partitioning and ET vary seasonally along each growth season of cotton crop under full irrigation conditions in the Brazilian semiarid. The studied area was located in the Apodi Plateau, which is located on west of Rio Grande do Norte state and is an area with extensive agricultural suitability and semiarid climate. Micrometeorological measurements were taken during cotton growth season on dry seasons of 2008 and 2009 years in a cotton crop field of about 5 ha, and the energy balance components were derived from Bowen Ratio Energy Balance (BREB) method. The obtained results revealed important role of the vegetative growth of cotton crop in the energy balance partitioning. The values of LE/Rn ranged from 58% (Initial growth season) to 81% (Middle-growth season) in 2008 and from 63% (Initial) to 81% (Middle season) in 2009. These variations is in accordance to LAI variations, which ranged from 0.14 cm² cm^-2 (Initial growth season in 2008) and 0.18 cm² cm^-2 (Initial growth season in 2009) to about 5.0 cm² cm^-2 (middle season). On the other hand, H/Rn and G/Rn varied inversely with the LAI variations. The concordance between LE/Rn and LAI is evidenced by similarity between curves of ET and LAI and between curves of Kc and LAI, especially when LAI reaches values greater than 3.0. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]