EVAPORATION

Evaporation, the process by which an element

or compound transitions from its liquid state to
its gaseous state below the temperature at which it
boils; in particular, the process by which liquid water
enters the atmosphere as water vapour. Evaporation,
mostly from the sea and from vegetation, replenishes
the humidity of the air. It is an important part of the
exchange of energy in the Earth-atmosphere system
that produces atmospheric motion, and therefore
weather and climate. The rate of evaporation depends
on the temperature difference between the
evaporating surface and the air, the relative humidity,
and wind
Transpiration
 Transpiration, in botany, a plant’s loss
of water, mainly through the stomates of leaves.
Stomates consist of two guard cells that form a
small pore on the surfaces of leaves. The guard
cells control the opening and closing of the
stomates in response to various environmental
stimuli. Darkness, internal water deficit, and
extremes of temperature tend to close stomates
and decrease transpiration; illumination,
ample water supply, and optimum temperature
open stomates and increase transpiration.
 The exact significance of transpiration is
disputed; its roles in providing the energy to
transport water in the plant and in aiding in
heat dissipation in direct sunlight (by cooling
through evaporation of water) have been
challenged. Stomatal openings are necessary
to admit carbon dioxide to the leaf interior
and to allow oxygen to escape
during photosynthesis, hence transpiration
has been considered by some authorities to
be merely an unavoidable phenomenon that
accompanies the real functions of the
stomates.
Interception
Precipitation falling toward Earth’s surface
may suffer several fates. It may be
evaporated during its fall or after it
reaches the ground surface. If the surface
is covered with dense vegetation, much of
the precipitation may be held on leaves
and plant limbs and stems. This process is
termed interception and may result in
little water reaching the ground because
the water may be directly evaporated from
plant surfaces back into the atmosphere.
If precipitation reaches the ground in the
form of snow, it may remain there for
some time. On the other hand, if
precipitation falls as rain, it may
evaporate, infiltrate the soil, be detained
in small catchment areas, or become
overland flow—a form of runoff. Overland
flow (Ro) may be expressed in terms of
intensity units, water depth per unit of
time (e.g., centimetres per hour, or inches
per hour), as
 Ro = P – I
where P is precipitation rate
I is infiltration rate (rate of entry
and downward movement of water into
the soil profile). Infiltration rate will equal
precipitation rate until the limit of the
infiltration rate, or infiltration capacity, is
reached.
Depression
Storage
 Depression storage refers to small low
points in undulating terrain that can store
precipitation that otherwise would
become runoff. The precipitation stored in
these depressions is then either removed
through infiltration into the ground or by
evaporation.
 Depression storage exists on pervious
and impervious surfaces alike; however,
depression storage is much greater on
undisturbed, pervious surfaces. Standard
design and construction practices remove
these natural depressions in order to
promote drainage, which reduces
depression storage.
The volume of water in depression storage
at any time during a precipitation event
can be approximated as:
V= Sd (1- e-KPe)
Where V is the volume of water in
depression storage,
Sd is the maximum storage capacity
of the depression,
Pe is the rainfall excess, and k is a
constant equal to 1/ Sd
Depression storage assumes that all water has
had a chance to infiltrate or evaporate. As
shown on Figure, Turner demonstrated that
depression storage intensity decreases by nearly
half when there is an antecedent rainfall.

Figure 3.Depression Storage LossRate versusTime for ImperviousSurfaces

(Turner reprinted byViessman 1996)