Five representative reference evapotranspiration(RET) equations were selected, and these equations were compared with pan evaporation by correlation analysis. Pan coefficients were also estimated.Furthermore, five selected RET equations were compared to find the similarity among those at the 21 meteorological stations located in South Korea. Five RET equations selected from 4 different category were Penman(combination approach), FAO Penman-Monteith(FAO P-M) (single source approach), Makkink and Priestley-Taylor (radiation approach) and Hargreaves(temperature approach) equations. In this study, the geographical and topographical conditions were considered for the selection of study stations. The daily meteorological data measured from 1970 at an interval of 5 years were applied in this study. The evapotranspiration estimates obtained by applying evapotranspiration equations were evaluated with numerical and graphical methods. The correlation coefficients between pan evaporation and RET in study stations were above 0.9 indicating very high correlation; however, the slopes of the individual regression lines show the values greater or less than 1.0. Hargreaves equation(temperature approach) shows the most similar evapotranspiration estimates to those of FAO P-M equation from 12 study stations, which are located near to seashore except Daegu station. On the other hand, Priestley-Taylor equation(radiation approach) shows the most similar evapotranspiration estimates to those of FAO P-M equation from 8 study stations, which are located in inland.

The main purpose of this study is to understand the effects of hydroclimatic factors on annual actual evapotranspiration and to suggest the multiple linear regression (MLR) equations for the estimation of annual actual evapotranspiration from watershed. To accomplish this study purpose, 5 dam watersheds (Goesan dam, Seomjingang dam, Soyanggang dam, Andong dam, Hapcheon dam) were selected as study watersheds and annual actual evapotranspiration was estimated based on annual water balance analysis from each watershed. The estimated annual actual evapotranspiration from water balance analysis was used to evaluate the MLR equations. Furthermore, the possibility of the estimation of actual evapotranspiration using potential evapotranspiration equations (Penman equation, FAO P-M equation, Makkink equation, Preistley-Taylor equation, Hargreaves equation) was evaluated. It has turned out that it is not appropriate to use potential evapotranspiration for the estimation of actual evapotranspiration because the correlation between actual evapotranspiration and potential evapotranspiration is very low. The comparison of MLR equations with current actual evapotranspiration equations indicates that MLR equations can be used for the estimation of annual actual evapotranspiration. Furthermore, it has turned out that the effects of hydroclimatic factors on annual actual evapotranspiration from dam watersheds are different in each watershed; however, for all watersheds in common precipitation has turned out to be the most important climatic factor affecting on the estimation of annual actual evapotranspiration.

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