Effects of climate change on evapotranspiration from paddy fields in southern Taiwan

Abstract

The major objective of this study was to investigate the effects of climate change on evapotranspiration from paddy fields. A sensitivity analysis of meteorological variables at the Kao-Hsiung station, one of meteorological stations in southern Taiwan, was carried out using the modified Penman formula. Forty-eight-year records of temperature, relative humidity, sunshine duration, wind speed, and precipitation depth comprised the database. Trend and persistence analyses of the data were performed using the Mann-Kendall test, the Cumulative Deviation test, Linear Regression, and the Autocorrelation Coefficient. The results indicated that only temperature and relative humidity have significant long-term trends and persistence. Two climatic scenarios, viz. (1) linear extrapolation of climatic trends and (2) the predictions of General Circulation Models (GCMs), were assumed to investigate the effects of climate change on evapotranspiration. The study revealed that evapotranspiration from paddy fields increased under both climatic scenarios studied.