Evapotranspiration Estimates for the Closed Norman, Oklahoma Landfill

Abstract

An abandoned landfill in Norman, Oklahoma has been designated a National research site for the USGS's toxic substances hydrology program. One aspect of the project is to account for all moisture fluxes at the site. An important component is the modeling of infiltration through the landfill cap as this helps determine the amount of leachate production. My particular project attempts to account for the amount of evapotranspiration (ET) from the surface, which ultimately reduces the water penetrating the cap. ET information is then used in the larger infiltration model. My work compared several models that are frequently used to estimate ET. I evaluated models from the main subgroups of ET methods: temperature-based - Thomthwaite; radiation-based - PriestleyTaylor, Jensen-Haise; and combination wind and radiation based - Blaney-Criddle, Penman Combination and Penman-Monteith.