Abstract
It has already been stated that precipitation in the form of rain and snow is the major source of water over the surface of the earth. Of this water, a sizable portion is lost as water vapor to the atmosphere by evaporation and transpiration. For example, of the 1170 mm of water that is received annually as precipitation in India about 597 mm (51%) of water is lost to the atmosphere through evaporation and transpiration and only the remainder is available to streams and soils and underground formations. In the United States, of the 750 mm of the average yearly precipitation received, about 70% is evaporated, thus reducing the total water obtained by about three fourth. These data illustrate the importance of evaporation for water resources development and water conservation. In countries where surface water storage is important over large areas, evaporation is even more significant.
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Rakhecha, P.R., Singh, V.P. (2009). Evaporation. In: Applied Hydrometeorology. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9844-4_13
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9844-4_13
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