Evapotranspiration

05/30/17

“How do we account for plants and ground bodies in the atmospheric water cycle?”

 

For every terrestrial object in the universe with a moisture filled atmosphere, there must be an exchange of water between the ground and the air. So how can we account for the water given back by ground-based objects? Well, let’s use our scientific mindsets to find out. We know that water present in soil and aquatic bodies can evaporate into a gaseous. And we also know that water from plants can transpire through its stomas. Since these two phenomena are highly similar, how about we combine these two processes in our model to form evapotranspiration? Well, it turns out that professional researchers do exactly this to simplify the water cycle model, and is one of the reasons why life can be sustained on the planet.