The importance of direct, automated evapotranspiration measurements to optimize water management practices

Accurate, real-time information about crop conditions can help water managers improve productivity, reduce costs, and use resources more efficiently. This information, however, is hard to gather over large land areas in a relevant timeframe and with required precision. Direct flux measurements of evapotranspiration (ET) are based on a widely used micrometeorological technique that has been automated to help decision-makers make informed crop management decisions. For example, it can help answer questions like “when should I irrigate my crops and for how long?”

In this webinar, we describe aspects of the method that make it particularly well-suited to agricultural applications as well as other water- and land-management applications. We show that specialized expertise and academic training are no longer needed to deploy direct ET systems and interpret data, and now, these formerly academic tools can be used for more practical purposes, such as optimizing irrigation and other water management practice.