Evaporation and Evapotranspiration

Keywords

Boreal biome | Lakes and reservoirs | Eddy covariance | Scintillometry | Sap flow

Evaporation is certainly one of the least known hydrological fluxes at the watershed scale, despite the fact that it corresponds to ≈ 60% of the annual global precipitation. In addition to connecting the terrestrial and atmospheric components of the water cycle, evaporation links the water and energy balances at the earth's surface. Our group is interested in better understanding evapotranspiration/evaporation processes over a wide range of landscapes, including the boreal forest, hydroelectric reservoirs, the subarctic tundra and rivers. To do so, we are using a variety of approaches in the field, such as eddy covariance towers, sap flow sensors and microwave-optical scintillometers. In addition to field observations, we are also working at developing better modelling tools of the heat and water exchanges used for climate change studies. These tools include physically-based land surface models and energy partitioning statistical approaches (the maximum entropy production model).