Reference Evapotranspiration Through Hargreaves Method Using the Solar Radiation Estimation for Goiás State, Brazil

Abstract

This study evaluated the Hargreaves model (HG) with seasonal adjustments of the calibration coefficient (Krs) of the radiation equation to estimate the reference evapotranspiration (ETo) in 23 weather stations in Goiás State, Brazil, in comparison to the Penman-Monteith FAO (PM-FAO) standard method. The models were evaluated using Pearson’s correlation coefficient, Willmott’s agreement index, relative error, absolute mean error and root mean square error. The Krs values ranged from 0.146 to 0.189 ° C-0.5, while ETo PM-FAO ranged from 3.68 to 4.79 mm d-1; ETo HG from 3.99 to 5.16 mm d-1 and ETo HG-Krs from 4.15 to 5.02 mm d-1 in the annual period. Seasonal adjustments resulted in values of 0.144 to 0.205 ° C-0.5 for the dry period, from April to September, and 0.144 to 0.146 ° C-0.5 for the rainy period, from October to March. The first quarter (summer), presented Krs values from 0.150 to 0.175 ° C-0.5; the second quarter (autumn), from 0.154 to 0.218 ° C-0.5; the third quarter (winter), from 0.139 to 0.206 ° C-0.5; and, finally, the fourth quarter (spring) of 0.141 to 0.166 ° C-0.5. Thus, the use of the seasonally adjusted model proved to be viable for the estimation of ETo, in view of the simplicity and its good adherence to the standard method.