O et al. (2025) Development and Validation of a Flutter-Based Android Application for Near Real-Time Reference Evapotranspiration Estimation Using the FAO-56 Penman–Monteith Model in Nigeria

⚠️ Warning: This summary was generated from the abstract only, as the full text was not available.

Identification

• Journal: Asian Journal of Geographical Research
• Year: 2025
• Date: 2025-11-15
• Authors: Rasheed Habib O, Alabi Habeeb A
• DOI: 10.9734/ajgr/2025/v8i4339

Research Groups

Not explicitly mentioned in the provided text.

Short Summary

This study developed and validated a Flutter-based Android application for near-real-time estimation of reference evapotranspiration (ETo) using the FAO-56 Penman–Monteith model and OpenWeatherMap data. The application demonstrated high accuracy and reliability when validated against NASA POWER data, providing a portable and cost-effective solution for water management in data-scarce tropical regions.

Objective

• To develop and validate a Flutter-based Android application capable of computing near-real-time reference evapotranspiration (ETo) using the FAO-56 Penman–Monteith (FAO-56 PM) model, integrating meteorological data from the OpenWeatherMap API and utilising geolocation for site-specific retrieval.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Site-specific, field-level, applicable across tropical regions.
• Temporal Scale: Near-real-time, validated over 11 consecutive days (4–14 April 2024) using 24-hour averaged datasets.

Methodology and Data

• Models used: FAO-56 Penman–Monteith (FAO-56 PM) model.
• Data sources: OpenWeatherMap API (for temperature, humidity, wind speed, solar radiation), NASA POWER database (for validation).

Main Results

• Close agreement between app-derived and NASA-derived meteorological parameters and ETo:
  • Temperature: mean bias = +0.35 °C
  • Relative humidity: mean bias = -0.9 %
  • Wind speed: mean bias = +0.01 m s⁻¹
  • ETo: mean bias = +0.03 mm day⁻¹
• Strong statistical correlation (r = 0.93) and coefficient of determination (R² = 0.86) for ETo.
• Low root mean square error (RMSE = 0.05 mm day⁻¹) for ETo.
• The application demonstrated comparable accuracy to existing tools such as EVAPO, EvapoCalc, and pyfao56.

Contributions

• Bridges a technological gap by providing a cost-effective, portable, and adaptive system for field-level ETo estimation.
• Offers real-time mobile accessibility for ETo computation, particularly valuable for smallholder farmers and irrigation managers.
• Provides a reliable tool for irrigation scheduling, water-resource management, and crop-climate modelling in data-scarce tropical environments.

Funding

Not explicitly mentioned in the provided text.

Citation

@article{O2025Development,
  author = {O, Rasheed Habib and A, Alabi Habeeb},
  title = {Development and Validation of a Flutter-Based Android Application for Near Real-Time Reference Evapotranspiration Estimation Using the FAO-56 Penman–Monteith Model in Nigeria},
  journal = {Asian Journal of Geographical Research},
  year = {2025},
  doi = {10.9734/ajgr/2025/v8i4339},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.9734/ajgr/2025/v8i4339}
}