Water balance in tropical regions

Abstract

Within this chapter relative air humidity, evaporation, transpiration, evapotranspiration, hydrologic cycle and water balance are discussed for the Tropics. In general, atmospheric water is of high climatological importance due to its capacity to control precipitation as well as to its influence on absorption and reflection of solar and terrestrial radiation. When water changes its state of aggregation, energy is either produced or consumed. This is crucial for the tropical atmosphere where the condensation of large amounts of water vapor leads to the release of latent heat energy. The global hydrosphere consists of a couple of different water reservoirs which are connected by water fluxes in various phases. From these reservoirs, water moves in a great series of continuous interchanges of both physical state and geographical position, known as the hydrologic cycle. Evapotranspiration is one of the most important factors for the water budget and physical processes in the tropics. It specifies the total flow of water into the atmosphere which is composed of two processes: evaporation and transpiration.