Evaluation of evaporation losses during sprinkler irrigation in conditions of high water deficit

Abstract

Evaporation losses during irrigation are evaluated on the basis of literature results and using two simple methods. The first method focuses on the advection phenomenon while the second deals with the additional evaporation induced by air saturation. For extreme climatic conditions, both propose evaporation losses of around 15%. The latter is in agreement with some pertinent literature results. Under such conditions and for water saving purposes, irrigation shortages should be recommended from 11am to 15pm and from a general point of view, irrigation should be avoided when the wind speed reaches the threshold value for the used irrigation system. Under usual conditions, these losses are much lower than 10% during irrigation using water application depths in the range of 30 mm.