The ASCE Standardized Reference Evapotranspiration Equation

Abstract

This report describes the standardization of calculation of reference evapotranspiration (ET) as recommended by the Task Committee on Standardization of Reference Evapotranspiration of the Environmental and Water Resources Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers. The purpose of the standardized reference ET equation and calculation procedures is to bring commonality to the calculation of reference ET and to provide a standardized basis for determining or transferring crop coefficients for agricultural and landscape use. The basis of the standardized reference ET equation is the ASCE Penman-Monteith (ASCE-PM) method of ASCE Manual 70. For the standardization, the ASCE-PM method is applied for two types of reference surfaces representing clipped grass (a short, smooth crop) and alfalfa (a taller, rougher agricultural crop), and the equation is simplified to a reduced form of the ASCE–PM. Standardized calculations for vapor pressure, net radiation and wind speed adjustment are recommended for application to hourly and daily calculation time steps. Guidelines on assessing weather data integrity and estimating values for missing data are provided.