Assessment of the Relationship between Actual Evapotranspiration, Reference Evapotranspiration and Precipitation (A case study of Tono Irrigation Scheme)

2015

english

The study was carried out to assess the relationship between actual evapotranspiration, reference evapotranspiration and precipitation in the effect of optimum planting date of crops in the Tono irrigation area. The Surface Energy Balance System (SEBS) and Penman Monteith method were used to estimate actual and reference evapotranspiration and other energy fluxes in the monthly and seasonal time steps using climatic parameters. The rainfall data was obtained from the office of meteorological station in Navrongo, Ghana. The study showed that at the peak of the rainy season where there is abundant of moisture in the soil, ETa rate equals ETo. When the moisture content in the soil is limited as a result of insufficient rainfall and the crops unable to absorb water from the soil, the ETa becomes lower than ETo. Precipitation was much higher than ETo in the month of April which was the optimum planting date of most crops and October.

Sadick, A.; Gaisie, E.; Adjei, E. O.; Agyeman, K.; Nketia, K. A.; Asamoah, E.