Equilibrium evaporation was first described by Slatyer and McIlroy (1961). Priestley and Taylor (1972) later developed an equation which used the concept to estimate potential evapotranspiration. Subsequently, their equation has been widely tested with some success. Both Priestley and Taylor and soon after Davies and Allen (1973) extended the concept still further to estimate nonpotential evapotranspiration. We have further modified and developed these ideas so that the model can be applied using only regularly recorded data. We fitted the model and then tested it using three data sets from the United Kingdom: one planted with barley, one with turf, and one with rye grass. The results demonstrate, as one might expect, that the model does not provide a full description of nonpotential evapotranspiration, but this does not mean that the model may not be useful in applied hydrology. To assess the model's potential in this respect we compared the results with those obtained from the Penman-Grindley model, a model widely applied in the United Kingdom at least. This comparison suggests that despite the model's deficiencies it should still prove useful in climates similar to the United Kingdom, and with further testing, in all climates. slope of the saturated vapor pressure versus temperature curve; 7 is the psychrometric constant; R, is the net radiation, G is the ground heat flux; e• is the vapor pressure in the air, normally at 2 m; %* is the saturated vapor pressure of the air at the temperature T• measured at the same point as the vapor pressure; r•v is the aerodynamic resistance for latent heat transfer; and cp is the specific heat at constant pressure of the air. This equation combines the energy budget with a mass transfer equation to eliminate the need for humidity and temperature data at two levels, but at some cost: the resulting estimate is only applicable when the evapotranspiration rate is independent of the moisture content of the soil, that is, when the soil is quite wet. Under conditions when a lack of soil moisture does cause a reduction in the evapotranspiration rate, the application of Penman's equation with measured net radiation estimates the potential evapotranspiration: an upper bound to the actual rate of evaporation. [Brutsaert, 1982] to be applicable under all soil moisture con-Ultll, Jl13, l lib ß blllllO•ll'l¾11,Jll[•,•l[11 •lUO•[l•Jll [{1,3 1[ 13 11•J•'lt 8•,•11•,•lally known) still assumes a one-dimensional flux of vapor, but otherwise it is applicable under all conditions. The modification introduced a new term, the stomatal resistance, a resistance which results from the movement of water vapor from the substomatal cavities to the surface of the leaf. The