Lysimetric evaluation of daily potential evapotranspiration models for grain sorghum

(...) two precise weighing lysimeters at Bushland, TX, were used to measure daily E 1 from well-watered, irrigated grain sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] in 1987 and 1988. Forms of the Penman, Penman-Monteith, Jensen-Haise, and Priestley-Taylor models were evaluated for prediction of potential evapotranspiration (E tp ). The Penman-Monteith model provided the best prediction of E tp and predicted well across the entire range of measured E t . Forms of the Penman model with empirically fit wind functions overpredicted E tp by 20 to 40% and attempts to fit a linear wind function to our data were not satisfactory (...)