Testing a maximum evaporation theory over saturated land: implications for potential evaporation estimation

Abstract

State-of-the-art evaporation models usually assume net radiation (Rn) and surface temperature (Ts; or near-surface air temperature) to be independent forcings on evaporation. However, Rn depends directly on Ts via outgoing longwave radiation, and this creates a physical coupling between Rn and Ts that extends to evaporation. In this study, we test a maximum evaporation theory originally developed for the global ocean over saturated land surfaces, which explicitly acknowledges the interactions between radiation, Ts, and evaporation. Similar to the ocean surface, we find that a maximum evaporation (LEmax) emerges over saturated land that represents a generic trade-off between a lower Rn and a higher evaporation fraction as Ts increases. Compared with flux site observations at the daily scale, we show that LEmax corresponds well to observed evaporation under non-water-limited conditions and that the Ts value at which LEmax occurs also corresponds with the observed Ts. Our results suggest that saturated land surfaces behave essentially the same as ocean surfaces at timescales longer than a day and further imply that the maximum evaporation concept is a natural attribute of saturated land surfaces, which can be the basis of a new approach to estimating evaporation.