Long-term analysis of evapotranspiration over a diverse land use area in northern Thailand

Evapotranspiration (ET) over a diverse land use area in northern Thailand was successfully estimated by long-term eddy covariance measurements. Some measurement gaps due to instrumentation problems and administrative difficulties were unavoidable. Monthly ET trends revealed a maximum of 150 ± 10 mm in June and a minimum of 60 ± 10 mm in January. The annual mean ET was estimated to be 1300 ± 140 mm. The interannual variation in ET reflects the response of the land surface to meteorological events and land use/cover changes (LUCC); however, the effect of rainfall variation on ET was greater than that of LUCC. Effective heterogeneity was evaluated using the Bowen ratio; such information will be useful for understanding the effect of land surface heterogeneity on latent and sensible heat fluxes.