Assessment of pan coefficient models for the estimation of the reference evapotranspiration in a Mediterranean environment in Turkey

Reference evapotranspiration (ETo) is essential for irrigation practices and the management of water resources and plays a vital role in agricultural and hydro-meteorological studies. The FAO-56 Penman-Monteith (PM) equation, recommended as the sole standard method of calculating ETo by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), is the most commonly used and accurate model to determine the ETo and evaluate ETo equations. However, it requires many meteorological variables, often restricting its applicability in regions with poor or missing meteorological observations. Many empirical and semi-empirical equations have been developed to predict the ET(0) from numerous meteorological data. The FAO-24 Pan method is commonly used worldwide to estimate ETo because it is simple and requires only pan coefficients. However, pan coefficients (K(pan)) should be determined accurately to estimate ET(0) using the FAO-24 Pan method. As the accuracy and reliability of the K(pan) models can be different from one location to another, they should be tested or calibrated for different climates and surrounding conditions. In this study, the performance of the eight K(pan) models was evaluated using 22-year daily climate data for the summer growing season in Adana, which has a Mediterranean climate in Turkey. The results showed that the mean seasonal pan coefficients estimated by all K(pan) models differed significantly at a 1% significance level from those observed by FAO-56 PM according to the two-tail z test. In the study, ETo values estimated by K(pan) models were compared against those obtained by the FAO-56 PM equation. The seasonal and monthly performance of K(pan) models was varied, and the Wahed & Snyder model presented the best performance for ETo estimates at the seasonal scale. (RMSE = 0.550 mm d(−1); MAE = 0.425 mm d(−1); MBE = −0.378 mm d(−1); RE = 0.134). In addition, it showed a good performance in estimating ETo on a monthly scale. The Orang model showed the lowest performance in estimating ETo among all models, with a very high relative error on the seasonal scale. (RMSE = 1.867 mm d(−1); MAE = 1.806 mm d(−1); MBE = −1.806 mm d(−1); RE = 0.455). In addition, it showed the poorest performance on a monthly scale. Hence, the Wahed & Snyder model can be considered to estimate ETo under Adana region conditions after doing the necessary calibration.