Santos et al. (2026) Energy versus aerodynamic controls of reference evapotranspiration: a multi-regional assessment across Brazilian climate typologies

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

Identification

• Journal: Theoretical and Applied Climatology
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-09-15
• Authors: Lucas da Costa Santos, Frank Freire Capuchinho, Lucas Santos do Patrocínio Figueiró, Jefferson Vieira José, Elton Fialho dos Reis, Caroline Salezzi Bonfá, Julia Eduarda Araujo, Eufrásio João Sozinho Nhongo
• DOI: 10.1007/s00704-026-06580-6

Research Groups

Not specified in the provided abstract.

Short Summary

This study investigated the hierarchy of meteorological elements influencing reference evapotranspiration (ETo) across diverse Brazilian climates. It found that the dominant drivers of ETo variability are highly dependent on climatic context and seasonality, with no universal factor, highlighting the limitations of simplified ETo estimation methods.

Objective

• To investigate the hierarchy of meteorological elements (solar radiation, temperature, relative humidity, wind speed) associated with reference evapotranspiration (ETo) variability (Penman–Monteith FAO-56) in six Brazilian municipalities with contrasting climate typologies.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Six Brazilian municipalities with contrasting climate typologies.
• Temporal Scale: Long-term meteorological data (1990–2019), analyzed at annual and seasonal scales.

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Penman–Monteith FAO-56 for ETo estimation; Path analysis for decomposing effects of meteorological elements.
• Data sources: Observation (long-term meteorological data).

Main Results

• Path models explained a high proportion of ETo variability across all locations (R² ranging from 0.977 to 0.995).
• The hierarchy of direct effects on ETo is governed by climatic context and seasonality, with no universal driver identified.
• Solar radiation and wind speed were the dominant contributors to ETo variability, alternating in prominence among sites.
• Relative humidity consistently exhibited negative direct effects on ETo.
• Mean air temperature exerted a secondary influence in most evaluated scenarios.
• A systematic reconfiguration of radiative and aerodynamic controls was observed at the seasonal scale.

Contributions

• Provides a diagnosis that contributes to a more rigorous selection of ETo estimation methods.
• Reinforces the need for multivariate and physically consistent models for water management under contrasting climatic regimes.
• Suggests potential limitations of exclusively temperature-based approaches in environments where radiative or aerodynamic drivers predominate.

Funding

Not specified in the provided abstract.

Citation

@article{Santos2026Energy,
  author = {Santos, Lucas da Costa and Capuchinho, Frank Freire and Figueiró, Lucas Santos do Patrocínio and José, Jefferson Vieira and Reis, Elton Fialho dos and Bonfá, Caroline Salezzi and Araujo, Julia Eduarda and Nhongo, Eufrásio João Sozinho},
  title = {Energy versus aerodynamic controls of reference evapotranspiration: a multi-regional assessment across Brazilian climate typologies},
  journal = {Theoretical and Applied Climatology},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.1007/s00704-026-06580-6},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-026-06580-6}
}