Reference Terms
from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Evaporation from plants
Evapotranspiration (ET) is the sum of evaporation and plant transpiration. Evaporation accounts for the movement of water to the air from sources such as the soil, canopy interception, and waterbodies. Transpiration accounts for the movement of water within a plant and the subsequent loss of water as vapour through stomata in its leaves. Evapotranspiration is an important part of the water cycle.
Potential evapotranspiration (PET) is a representation of the environmental demand for evapotranspiration and represents the evapotranspiration rate of a short green crop, completely shading the ground, of uniform height and with adequate water status in the soil profile. It is a reflection of the energy available to evaporate water, and of the wind available to transport the water vapour from the ground up into the lower atmosphere. Evapotranspiration is said to equal potential evapotranspiration when there is ample water. Evapotranspiration is a significant water loss from a watershed.
Related Stories
1
2
Earth & Climate News
March 25, 2026
Mar. 23, 2026 People often get the environmental impact of food wrong, according to new research. While many assume processed foods are the worst, they tend to overlook the surprisingly high impact of items like nuts and underestimate how damaging beef really is. ...
Mar. 23, 2026 Tiny plastic particles aren’t just choking oceans and cities—they’re quietly infiltrating forests too. Scientists discovered that most microplastics arrive through the air, settling onto treetops before being washed or dropped to the forest ...
Mar. 22, 2026 Beavers may be unlikely climate heroes, but new research suggests they could play a powerful role in fighting climate change. By building dams and transforming streams into wetlands, these industrious animals dramatically reshape how carbon moves ...
Mar. 21, 2026 A hidden freshwater system deep beneath the Great Salt Lake has been revealed using airborne electromagnetic surveys. Scientists found that freshwater extends much farther under the lake than expected, reaching depths of up to 4 kilometers. The ...
Mar. 21, 2026 Antibiotics are accumulating in a major Brazilian river, especially during the dry season when pollution becomes more concentrated. Scientists even detected a banned drug inside fish sold for food, raising concerns about human exposure. A common ...
Mar. 20, 2026 A mysterious spike of platinum buried deep in Greenland’s ice has long fueled theories of a catastrophic comet or asteroid strike 12,800 years ago—possibly triggering a sudden return to icy conditions known as the Younger Dryas. But new research ...
Mar. 19, 2026 Tropical peatlands, some of the planet’s largest underground carbon stores, are now burning at levels never seen in at least 2,000 years. By analyzing charcoal preserved in peat across multiple continents, scientists discovered that fires had ...
Mar. 18, 2026 Pink granite boulders sitting mysteriously atop Antarctica’s Hudson Mountains have led scientists to a stunning discovery: a hidden granite mass buried beneath Pine Island Glacier, stretching nearly 100 km wide and 7 km thick. By dating the rocks ...
Mar. 18, 2026 AI’s growing energy use sounds alarming, but its global climate impact may be far smaller than expected. Researchers found that while AI consumes huge amounts of electricity, it barely moves the needle on overall emissions. The real impact is more ...
Mar. 15, 2026 The asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs didn’t keep life down for long. New research shows that microscopic plankton began evolving into new species within just a few thousand years—and possibly in under 2,000 years—after the ...
Mar. 14, 2026 Spiders and insects may not be fan favorites, but they are vital to the health of ecosystems—and scientists barely know how they’re doing. Researchers found that nearly 90% of North America’s insect and arachnid species have no conservation ...
Mar. 12, 2026 Researchers have uncovered a universal pattern showing how temperature affects life on Earth. Across thousands of species—from microbes to reptiles—performance rises gradually with warming until an optimal temperature is reached, after which it ...
Latest Headlines
updated 12:56 pm ET
Mar. 21, 2026 Scientists have uncovered the oldest direct evidence yet that Earth’s tectonic plates were on the move 3.5 billion years ago. By analyzing magnetic fingerprints in ancient rocks, they reconstructed ...
Mar. 15, 2026 A new detection method called “Jerk” could dramatically improve how scientists forecast volcanic eruptions. By using a single broadband ...
Mar. 14, 2026 Scientists may have finally solved the mystery of strange plume-like structures hidden deep inside the Greenland ice sheet. New research suggests ...
Mar. 12, 2026 Decades of data from over 80,000 great tits reveal that extreme weather can shape the fate of baby birds. Cold snaps soon after hatching and heavy rain later in development shrink nestling body mass ...
Mar. 12, 2026 Scientists at Curtin University have uncovered a new way to read the deep history of Earth’s landscapes using microscopic zircon crystals from ancient beach sands. These incredibly durable minerals ...
Mar. 11, 2026 As deep-sea waters warm, scientists expected trouble for the microbes that help keep ocean chemistry in balance. Instead, researchers found that Nitrosopumilus maritimus can adapt to warmer, ...
Mar. 11, 2026 A long-running debate about the Silverpit Crater beneath the North Sea has finally been resolved. Scientists now confirm it formed when a roughly 160-meter asteroid struck the seabed about 43–46 ...
Mar. 9, 2026 Global warming has picked up speed in the past decade, according to a new analysis from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). By removing short term natural influences such as El ...
Mar. 7, 2026 Gravity may seem constant, but it actually varies across the planet—and one of the strangest places is Antarctica, where gravity is slightly weaker than expected. Scientists have traced this ...
Mar. 6, 2026 Scientists have discovered a newly identified marine fungus that can infect and kill toxic algae responsible for harmful blooms. The microscopic parasite, named Algophthora mediterranea, attacks ...